Believe it or not, there are people out there who are more than a little interested in those icons of Americana known as duck tape, barbed wire, and WD-40. And while these items have a thousand and one practical uses, some individuals actually fashion collections around them.
WD-40 had its origins in 1953 when the 3-person staff of the Rocket Chemical Company attempted to perfect a new solvent and degreaser. They named it WD-40 (Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try), and it has become one of the best selling products in the world. It is estimated that up to 80% of US households alone have used the product at one time or another. The company changed its name to WD-40 Company in 1969, offering a convenient way to date the old cans, which are collectible, as are advertising pieces and some contemporary items like the WD-40 transistor radio.
Though there is some disagreement on which word variant came first, there is no disagreement on the versatility of duck/duct tape. Developed for the US military in 1942 to seal ammunition cases, it was not long before GI's adapted it for a multitude of other tasks. After the war, civilians continued inventing novel uses for the tape, a practice that flourishes to this day. (It was even used to save the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts. MacGyver would be proud.) Old advertising copy, duck-tape calendars, and duck-shaped dispensers are just some of the items sought by collectors.
Invented to prevent livestock from roaming the range and being lost to rustlers, predators, and accidents, barbed wire appeared in the American West in the later half of the 19th century. Between the 1860's and the 1990's, over 500 patents were issued for wire alone, along with over 2000 patents for wire working tools. Collectors can spend years acquiring samples of the more than 2000 variations of wire, and the tools can sometimes run into the hundreds of dollars for the rarer specimens, but this "practical" collectible is not out of the financial reach of most.
Three fun, funky, interesting collectibles - would you like to learn more about them? Then check out these resources:
Books:
"Barbs, Prongs, Points, Prickers, and Stickers; A Complete and Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Barbed Wire," by Robert T. Clifton http://tinyurl.com/yryugs
"The Duct Tape Book," by Tim Nyberg and Jim Berg http://tinyurl.com/28jhru
Not a collectibles book - just for fun.
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
