by Eavin Moore

Boy, do I love checking my email. I never know what opportunities await when I click on the flashing envelope on my computer screen. Will I be off to examine meat packing memorabilia in the land of the 238’ers, or Goetz brewery paraphernalia on the north side?

I was tickled pink last week when I heard from retired Psychologist, Ken Hines, who told me a little about his various collections as well as those of his wife. I called for an appointment and loaded up the CLAMS van to go take a peek.

These empty nesters have filled their east side home with a wide variety of collections. My first thought was to combine them all into one comprehensive piece. As I was shown around, I saw the glass hats and the ceramic cats. There were coin collections, stamp collections comic books and beanie babies. Some were his, some were hers and some were theirs. I was afraid I couldn’t do justice to them as a whole and decided to pick what I considered the most unique, and that was Ken’s collection of duck neckties.

It started innocently enough, like it often does.

His original office had a framed print on the wall, of a rural scene featuring a duck on a pond. Just the kind of nice peaceful image to put a patient at ease. Someone suggested that a duck decoy on the desk would tie the room together nicely. He could have just bought one, but instead purchased a kit, and spent several weeks carving, sanding and painting it. His young daughter noticed how devoted to the project he was, and gave him a duck necktie for Christmas.

In hindsight, maybe his gratitude was just a little overdone, because after that, a duck tie became the preferred gift for all occasions. Before long it became a trademark of sorts, and he got rid of all other ties that didn’t fit the waterfowl theme. (You thought I was going to say something about “getting his ducks in a row” didn’t you?) (Full story)