4. Stories for our 1000th+ newsletter !!!   
      
   We try to post stories and comments from our readers each week. Send your   
   story to newsletter@tias.com and we'll publish it in an upcoming newsletter.    
   Please share your story about what you collect and what got you started   
   collecting.  We *love* to hear your stories!  If you have a story you'd like   
   to share, tell us about it and if you have any photos, we'd love to see them!    
   Send us an email to newsletter@tias.com so we can share your story with the   
   rest of our readers.   
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   The Sewing Machine   
   I had a beautiful White Sewing Machine black with gold lettering, very heavy.    
   It was in my detached garage.  I was camping with my boys and my upstairs   
   tenant used my Smoker to cook while I was gone for the weekend.  Before he   
   left to go golfing, he dumped the ashes that he thought were cold into a   
   garbage can and left.  Within seconds my garage caught on fire, everything   
   burned to the ground with my beautiful antique sewing machine in it.  I lost   
   everything and had to rebuild.  The only thing I could not bear to throw away   
   is the sewing machine which was severely damaged, but it is now a yard   
   decoration and sits amongst my flowers.  I get a lot of comments and   
   compliments on it.   
      
   Adrienne Z   
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   The Shoe Collection   
      
   I have a miniature shoe collection which was started in 1949 when I was 13   
   years old.  We lived in Kansas and every summer we would go to Calif.  to   
   visit my dad's family.  On one of the places where we had stopped to eat, it   
   had a gift shop attached next to the dining room. My brother and I ate in a   
   hurry and went to look at all the stuff in the gift shop.  I spotted the   
   darling little shoe for 49 cents.  I went in to ask dad if I could have 50   
   cents.  He asked me what for. I told him and he told me he'd think about it.    
   After he paid the bill for our meal he followed me to the gift shop to look at   
   what I wanted.  He told me I didn't need it.  I was crushed and went out to   
   the car.  Mom, dad and my brother followed me.  After we got in the car my dad   
   said, "I suppose I'd better go use the restroom before we take off".  He went   
   back in and came out a few minutes later carrying a little bag and handed it   
   to me.  Bless his heart, he had planned this all along as a surprise, he had   
   bought that little shoe for me. I almost cried.  That was 66 years ago and I   
   will never forget that first shoe.  Now I have well over 100 little shoes that   
   friends and other family members have given me.  They are all displayed in a   
   glass corner what-not shelf.  (Seven glass shelves with mirrors on the inside   
   walls.) I love my collection.  Win a blue ribbon at the fair one year when I   
   displayed part of them.   
      
   Bev B   
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   Green Glass Collection   
      
   I had my glass and foxes, my brother had his Antique/Fancy grill electric   
   fans.  We were checking out a store in Wells on the Post Road and I picked up   
   some beautiful glassware.  It was clear soft green with swirls in the glass   
   and what I thought was a British pound sign on the bottom [ +ú }.  During the   
   years I looked for more and drifted away from pretty New England to find   
   myself near Charleston, SC.  I again was living near my other brother who   
   collects license plates.  We were junkinCÇÖ when I found 4 MORE of the   
   glasses, only bigger!  I was then told that the CÇÿLCÇÖ on the bottom was for   
   LibbyCÇÖs. I was ecstatic!  I now could search for more LibbyCÇÖs glasses and   
   get a whole set.  I still get excited seeing clear green glass, whether its   
   sea glass or lamps.  I have all my glass collection in a lighted corner   
   cupboard in our library.  But those have a special place in my heart as I   
   found them with my 2 brothers in a younger time that will never come again.   
      
   Sarah B   
   --   
      
   More stories and winners next week!   
      
   These writers of these stories are all winning one of these: htt   
   ://on.fb.me/1BMIdwz Submit a story about your favorite antique or collectible   
   to support@tias.com today and you may win one as well !   
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   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Dada-2   
    * Origin: Prism bbs (1:261/38)