A Case of Entrapment:

Image Gallery Dave Huffman describes the mouse trap

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Dave Huffman says that feeling 'trapped' by a hobby is not necessarily a negative emo¬?tion. The Galesburg, III., resident, after all, has collected almost 400 mouse traps in all sizes and shapes.

Dave and his wife, Marian, are avid antiquers. About 13 years ago, she bought him a mouse trap at an antique show. Although Dave is a man and not a mouse, he loved the trap and was pleased when one of his daughters bought him another one. After that, he began trapping the traps himself.

After a while, he ran into an elderly man at an antique show and learned that the man had more than 300 mouse traps.

'That got me excited,' Dave said. 'He inspired me.'

'A lot of people don't like to think about the gory part,' he said.

Dave especially enjoys collecting handmade traps exhibiting fine work¬?manship.

'I like the thought that went into them,' he said.

Some wood traps have dovetailed cor¬?ners, wood pegs and square nails. Although his collection includes a large number of fac¬?tory-made traps, he avoids the common flat, springboard traps unless they have good advertising on the board.

He doesn't catalog his collection.

'I can about tell where I got every one, and within $4 to $5 of what I paid for it,' he said. He buys a few duplicate traps to trade with other collectors.

Dave's oldest trap is dated 1877, but most of his traps were made between 1890 and 1920. Although most of his traps are American-made, he has some from Canada, France and Germany.

The collection proves that people have been trying for years to 'build a better mouse trap.' One trap looks like a clip for a potato chip bag. Another resembles a guillo¬?tine. Some traps are called 'chokers.'

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