Collectors of barbed wire, grain cradles, horseshoes and copper
kettles can find some informative reading in a new book,
‘Collecting Farm Antiques’, by Lar Hothem.
The book contains many photographs of objects anything from
butter paddles to hay hooks to yarn winders to grain sieves which
can help some new collectors especially identify items they own or
Hothem seeks to provide broad coverage of the artifacts of our
agricultural heritage, many of them now rare and rising in value.
Grandpa would be astounded to see what people are paying for things
he made himself, or bought cheap at the general store.
For those who demand figures, Hothem tries to please. He ranges
between a high and a low, and suggest that fair market value would
be somewhere in between.
The book does not go into large machinery such as steam traction
engines or tractors.
Hothem notes that objects you want do not come seeking you out;
it’s up to you to do the searching.
The author graduated from Ohio State University; he specializes
in writing about American Indian artifacts and life ways, but also
enjoys antiques and collectibles. The volume is published by Books
Americana.
