Shellers by the Dozen:
Illinois collector builds array of corn items
By Leslie C. McDaniel
Photo by C. Wayne Walker Jr.
No offense to the wheat guys, or rice, or oats. But corn items, says Ronald Hug, Dupo, III., are where it's at.
There's just no other kind of grain as attractive as corn," he says. "I don't know why. It's like gold, or diamonds. Why is one more attractive than another?"
The more I get in to this," he says ruefully, "the more I see, and the more I want."
His collection started about eight years ago, with an old grinding stone. Now he's a regular on the show circuit, going to at least 15 shows a year ("sometimes two a week," he says). He also goes to a lot of auctions. "That's where I get most of my shellers," he adds. "If you go to a flea market, you'll pay a lot more than at an auction."
Paying more is not something he's prepared to do.
"Fifty dollars is probably as much as I've paid (for a sheller) at an auction," he says. "$75 or $80 shellers are getting pretty common. I saw a sheller they wanted $475 for, and I heard about a guy buying one for $700. That's too much; they're in too big a hurry. If you wait, it'll come around again. You just have to be halfway patient."
Ronald leaves his corn shellers in the condition he finds them.
"Most of them have been laying around the barn or corncrib for 50 years or more," he says. "I've seen displays where they're all painted, and they're real attractive. But I like them just the way they are."