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Auctionbytes-Update, Number 197 - August 19, 2007 - ISSN 1528-6703     Previous Story | Contents | Next Story
	Collector's Corner: Thermometers Are Hot Items By Michele Alice AuctionBytes.com August 19, 2007
One of the fun things I learned in kindergarten - besides tying my shoelaces and telling time - was how to read a thermometer. Over the years I've seen a number of interesting and unusual thermometers offered at yard sales, estate sales, and retail stores. How I wish I'd bought just a few of them and tucked them safely away, because thermometers have become hot collectibles. (Do you know why most liquid-in-glass-tube weather thermometers contain red-colored alcohol rather than mercury? Because mercury freezes at -39 C (-38.2 F), while it has to drop to -80 C (-112 F) to freeze alcohol!) There are many different kinds of thermometers utilizing different scales - Fahrenheit, Celsius (aka centigrade), Kelvin - for different purposes - meteorological, medical, scientific - but the most popular among collectors are advertising thermometers. Automobilia thermometers (Hudson Car Parts, $715), grocery products (Five Roses Flour, $204.01), and tobacciana (Mail Pouch Tobacco, $192.50*) are just a few of the categories that are high on collectors' wish lists. But of all advertising thermometers, soda brands have to rank as the most sought after. Many are garnering more-than-respectable bids up to $200+ at online auctions, but one especially nice "cigar"-shaped (tall ovoid) Coca Cola specimen recently fetched $600, a round glass Pepsi Cola (by the Pam Clock Co.) sold for $875, and a Dr Pepper (also by Pam Clock) tallied an astounding $1,412! (Rarity, and condition, condition, condition always count!) Of course, most thermometers don't reach anywhere near such stratographic heights, but the next time you see one in a pile of yard-sale odds-and-ends, you might want to give it a second look. *Recent online auction results For more information on this collectible, the following resources are recommended: Books "Advertising Thermometers: Identification & Value Guide," by Curtis Merritt http://tinyurl.com/2lvmwq "A History of the Thermometer and Its Use in Meteorology," by W. E. Knowles Middleton http://tinyurl.com/2tfnfz Websites Brannan - Who Invented the Thermometer? http://www.brannan.co.uk/thermometers/invention.html Concise history of the thermometer. The Galileo Project http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/instruments/thermometer.html A more detailed discussion of the early development of the thermometer. NPL Beginners Guides to Measurement http://www.npl.co.uk/publications/posters.html http://www.npl.co.uk/publications/temperature/temp1.html The UK's National Physical Laboratory offers easy-to-understand explanations of a variety of measurements, including that of temperature and of the instruments used to measure temperature. National Weather Service, Buffalo, NY http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm Fahrenheit to Celsius converter Science Museum http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/Search.aspx?keywords=thermometer&results=10 Interesting photos and details on the many thermometers in their collection. Thermometer Museum http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/sets/1152502 A portion of Richard Porter's 5000+ piece collection is on view in this collection of pics.