When history hunters comb garage sales today for some good finds they may want to pay a visit to avid antique collector John Casey’s place.
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Historic firefighters’ paraphernalia, newspapers from the 1900s, toy cars and tins are among curios going on sale.
Mr Casey said he wanted to get rid of surplus stuff and make a bit of room.
“I’ve had a good run with those (firemen’s) helmets over there. There could be a collector around who might like a few,” he said.
Mr Casey had been building his collection for years and had laid his hands on a wide variety of antiques.
“You get the blokes who like to specialise. I was the bloke who collected everything,” he said.
“I probably should have specialised more in one thing. I had 800 tins at one stage of the game.”
“It was just one of those things I took on. I wasn’t a gambling man or anything like that and sport doesn’t interest me.”
Mr Casey said collecting had been good to him.
“I have a lot of good friends who are good collectors,” he said.
Mr Casey loved the thrill of the chase.
“You go to swap meets some weekends and you get nothing. Then, at the next one, boom boom, you come across a few little bits and pieces,” he said.
“So yeah, it’s the thrill of the chase. I’ve got birds and it’s the same thing – trying to find that one bird that you you’ve wanted and get your breeding stock up again.”
He had also been motivated to help preserve older things at risk of being lost forever.
“I’ve been lucky, I’ve had about three houses which I have been able to clean up. You have no idea about the stuff that would have otherwise been thrown in the tip,” Mr Casey said.
“There’s a lot of stuff I have rescued and passed on to op shops and whatnot.”
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His favourite items were the one-offs, like a World War Two era fire officer’s hat found around the Bendigo Ordinance Factory about 30 years ago and saved from the tip.
He had been given permission to rescue it, but still remembers the items that remained in the shed and were scrapped.
“It is a shame because it was history.”
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
