You don’t need a garage of classic cars, a wall of priceless art or a wine cellar of vintage reserves to call yourself a collector.
The value of a collection isn’t just in appreciating monetary value — it’s in an object’s meaning, be it historical, whimsical, curiosity, sentimental, or something in between. The most seemingly mundane objects can take on irreplaceable value. Think about the adage: if you had to grab only one or two things from your home to save (outside of important documents or money), what would they be?
Many of us collect things that represent places with deep meaning in our lives — from the off-handed amassing of matchbooks to coffee mugs and concert T-shirts that get stowed until we stumble across them one rainy organizational afternoon. But for some collectors, those things become a unique part of carefully curated home decor far more personal than your typical Big Box-store accents — and more beautiful, too. We rounded up some North Fork residents with a broad range of personal collections, all with interesting tales to tell.
Vintage Ads, Signs and Tins
Larry “Doc” Schulz has always had a thing for advertising memorabilia. As a kid, he’d rummage through his dad’s stack of National Geographics from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, fascinated by the old ads within. When his father was ready to toss the magazines, Larry, who by then was already a young collector of stamps and coins, tore off each back-page Coca Cola ad as keepsakes. In the ’80s, he says, he got into metal and porcelain advertising signs for “pretty much anything country-store related, like gas stations, soda, cigarettes, cigars and tobacco.”
Today, he says “virtually every inch” of his North Fork home is covered with antique signs and bottles, as well as colorful tin cans that used to hold branded pretzels, popcorn and other snack foods.
But Schulz’s collection isn’t just a fascination, or even an obsession: it’s also a business. He sells some of his collectibles online and to his employer, Small Holdings Farm antiques store in Aquebogue.
The internet has been a boon for collectors, but Schulz, who’s also an authenticity expert, prefers to buy in person so that he can inspect dents and dings up close. “You have to be careful buying on eBay, for example, because some people will take new items and put chemicals on them or bury them for months in the ground to make them look old,” he cautions. “But the trained eye can spot a fake.”
Schulz finds camaraderie with other collectors via online groups formed across Facebook Marketplace. Members help each other source missing pieces for their respective collections, meet up in person and make trades when they need a refresh.
Schulz can’t name a favorite item from his extensive 1,000-plus piece collection, but he always enjoys the hunt and the process. “I recently went up to Connecticut to get a 1935 Coca Cola sign which was in really bad shape, but I figured I could give it some alignment hygiene with some hammers and some persuasion,” he says. “It was $150 off the asking price, so it was like a little of a challenge to myself. And a day out.”
Vintage Fans, Cameras and Radios
In a modern world where temperatures can be adjusted with voice activation and there’s a camera in everyone’s pocket, there’s something comforting about the old-fashioned real deal.
“It’s the sound of the fan running on classic ball bearings or the feel of the switch as you turn them on or off with a very comforting click that is tactile,” says Jerry Cibulski, Associate Real Estate Broker of Century 21 Albertson Realty in Southold, who houses dozens of vintage items inside his Greenport home.
“I started collecting vintage pieces for the style and design elements that you don’t see today. Old fans have a fundamental function, and also a feel and aesthetic of metal product, versus today’s plastics,” says Cibulski, who has been known to borrow from his vintage collection to stage homes he’s selling. And with most fan finds running under $30, Cibulski notes that his passion makes it easy to explore and quick for him to decide whether to buy something. Plus, his purchases are great conversation pieces.
“Somebody always has a story to tell about a fan that was in their journeys over time, where they would be in the grandmother’s kitchen or in their bedrooms as hand-me-downs,” he says. “You just never know what you’re going to hear.”
Vintage cameras also loom large in Cibulski’s collections, even if solely used as nostalgic decor. “Just as vinyl records came back, we’re starting to see the same trend in photography — a resurging sign of the times,” he says. “Cameras are part of people’s lives, memories, and they connect with each decade. Most of us use them in our phones, but now the new trend, as I’m going through the camera shops, is a resurgence in film camera photography.”
North Fork Maps
The North Fork is a collection of charming small towns, and Judith Klipp’s collection of vintage maps at her Wading River home is a celebration of this unofficial fact. Purchased at White Flower Farmhouse in Southold and displayed in multiples around her house, the historically detailed maps honor the region’s history.
The framed maps are the work of Southold resident Patrice Mackesy Conklin, who sources old photos and prints at local flea markets, estate sales and yard sales, then sells them as framed art at White Flower Farmhouse. The maps are from Conklin’s original 1873 Beers Atlas.
“I started framing these maps at the suggestion of Lori Guyer, who owns White Flower Farmhouse,” said Conklin. “I love that the maps have the family name on each property. Now I know where our street names originated — Horton, Beckwith, Terry, Corwin, L’Hommedieu—and exactly where the families lived! It preserves a history, even though the area continues to change.”
Klipp — who used to own the Country Pet Boutique in Mattituck and, along with her husband, has deep roots in the community — agrees with that sentiment. “I’m originally from Mattituck and my husband is from Greenport, and he especially loves these maps because instead of tax numbers, they have the names of the owners, and he knows a lot of the names,” she says. “I have these spread all over my house and they’re conversation pieces, especially for people from the North Fork. I’m working with Patrice to get the towns that I’m still missing.”
Vintage Vessels
No matter the bottle’s size, shape or purpose, if it’s very old, made of glass and has an interesting patina, Valerie Mnuchin, the owner of Léon 1909 restaurant on Shelter Island, will want it.
Mnuchin started her collection of vintage vessels after a friend introduced her to a renowned seller known simply as “Sam the Bottle Man” who had amassed an enormous collection of bottles from the late 1800s. “Having grown up on Shelter Island, as a kid he would search the woods and properties and dig up vintage bottles,” Mnuchin says. “Sam explained to me that the antique bottles were often found at the locations of old latrines. As is true today, people generally took medicine from a bottle in their bathroom or toilet.”
Mnuchin met up with Sam at his mother’s house on Shelter Island (he now lives in Pennsylvania), where he pulled out paper towel-wrapped bundles of bottles in all shapes and sizes. “Those are what you see in the restaurant today,” says Mnuchin, who has recently augmented her growing collection at Léon 1909 to about 50 bottles, with additions from Nellie’s of Amagansett, an antique shop owned by Connie Dankmyer. “Connie has some other bottles and vintage glassware, plus lots of wonderful dishware, furniture, prints and drawings —a little of everything, including the best peanuts that she sells from Virginia.”
Many customers comment on the bottles in the restaurant, says Mnuchin, loving that they were found locally on Shelter Island and Greenport. And while the bottles can’t be traced to any specific businesses or area households, she loves her collectibles and has a particular soft spot for any that are blue and those with a heavy patina. “Older is always better!” she says.
Artisanal Pottery
What started as a small dish collection for dining has exploded into a full-on passion for Orient resident Charles Dean.
“When family friend and renowned potter Beth Bolgla housesat for us with her husband, Jack, while we were away, she mentioned that our modern commercial tableware seemed incongruous with our 18th-century house,” says Dean. “I took her critique seriously, so there is now no commercial tableware in the house.”
Indeed, Dean’s tableware collection includes more than 700 pieces of studio ceramics from 79 potters from around the world — items made for daily use such as plates, bowls, cups, platters, teapots, vases, jugs and more.
“My intent was to furnish the house with necessary tableware, all handmade, but it has gotten a bit out of hand,” he admits. “For example, I don’t really need 34 teapots!”
Dean’s collection may have started with Bolgla’s work, but it has expanded internationally to include pieces by many other acclaimed artisans, including Danish potter Anne Mette Hjorthshøj while she worked on Bornholm in the Baltic Sea (“I have more than 80 pieces of her work,” Dean says); British potters Norah Braden, Mike Dodd, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie and Phil Rogers; Canadian potter John Reeve; and American potters Rob Barnard, Mary Bowron and Dean’s friend Dena Zemsky, who lives in Greenport. Young potters who are starting their careers, including Hamish Jackson and Jonathan Steele, are also favorites.
The pottery is displayed in various places around Dean’s house. A plate rack holds a representative set of more than 150 plates, while a cabinet houses the teapots. Built-in shelving holds cups and mugs, and a large shelving unit displays vases.
“I have always been interested in ceramics,” says Dean. “For a while in the 1990s, I built a small collection of American art pottery from the early 1900s, but this new ceramic collection began about eight years ago.”
And where did Dean find all the blank wall space to display his ambitious pottery collection? He made room by moving another collection out of the house. “My collection of American Abstract Expressionist prints was purchased in 2009 by the Library of Congress, and I go to Washington to see my collection there,” he says.
