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    From the Library of Scale Tales
  Scale Collecting: How It Became a Part of Me







Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me
Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me

Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me

Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me


It all started back in 1985, because of the discovery of some mechanical gadgets I received when I became the owner of a truckload of "stuff" to sell in my antique booth. The discovery was a group of five scales that had been used in the Hills Brothers Coffee packing facility in San Francisco, California. They dated back to the 1920s when the facility was built as the West Coast base of operations for the company.

Having caught my attention, I set the scales aside for about a year rather than selling them. Then the bug hit. I like mechanical hardware, and once I started looking, I found so many different ways of doing the same thing, i.e. weighing an object, that I wanted to have one of all of them. Guess what? I will never get one of every kind, but with my collection now numbering over 800 examples, I have a pretty good start on that quest.

My story has stages of progression. What comes after you start collecting? I was having trouble keeping track of what I had and keeping them clean in my shop. The confusion of it all made me want to clean up my act and do more than just collect. That led to building a stand-alone museum in my back yard. Space to spread scales out, organize them, and most important, keep them clean.

Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me

 

Now that I had a museum, what do you do with it? Hoarding it to myself did not seem to be enough. It had been a lot of work getting to this place. I was not only proud of what I had collected, but also proud of what I had built to display these items I had come to enjoy so much. SO, then came the next stage which was to share my collection with others.

Over the years, my wife Judy and I have invited many groups to visit our home and museum allowing us to spread the word about scales. In turn it has provided others the opportunity to enjoy an experience not found elsewhere. It is not every day one can see a unique collection of this type.

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We hosted ISASC in 2013 during their annual convention in Riverside, California. We have held very successful fundraisers for quite a few charities where my scale collection has been one of the drawing cards to get people to attend. In addition to having these groups over, it is always fun at family functions to discuss the scales.

The result of all these gatherings is many individuals have learned about scales by seeing my rather unusual collection. While all seem to have enjoyed the visit, some showed real interest, and some said "that's nice." Didn't really expect to win them all, but it has always been a personal pleasure to show my scales.

What is the point? I have found an interest that is satisfying to me. I have learned amazing new things about these things called scales. And, I have met many new friends, because of collecting scales.

Satisfaction in life, as we get older, comes in many ways. Through collecting scales, I have found one more unexpected way to be satisfied with what life has sent my way and excited about sharing part of that life with others.

This Scale Tale was written by Greg H., a self-described collector at heart.

For more stories, see our Scale Tales Library

Scale Collecting - How It Became a Part of Me