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
Michele Alice is AuctionBytes-Update Contributing Editor. Michele is a freelance writer in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts. She collects books, science fiction memorabilia and more! Email her at makalice @ adelphia.net eBay ID: Malice9
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