04/28/08 Collecting Cowboy

Collecting Cowboy. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. When I was much younger my grandfather gave me his old leather chaps. They were dried, cracked and in pretty bad shape. Sadly, I don't have them today but a lot of other old cowboy gear is becoming highly collectible including items from the silver screen cowboy we all grew up with. Joe Caro is the author of Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles and says that right now the cowboy is a hot item. CARO: I found growing up in that era that it was a fun era. Everyone liked their cap guns but everyone needed a hero and cowboys were always the American hero and I think children gravitated towards that because they were exciting and the horses and the chases and the fun scenes. But now it probably has more to do with the philosophy of everyone knew what was right and wrong and there was always the good guys and the bad guys and the good guys wore white hats except for Hoppy sometimes, he wore black. Growing up I like many of us had the cap guns, holsters and the ever present cowboy hat. While those are prized possessions for the collector Caro says it's the tip of the iceberg. CARO: In my latest book, Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles, there were over 1300 color photographs of different items that you would not directly relate to cowboy hats and boots and spurs. And Hopalong Cassidy of course had merchandising and he did everything both for boys and girls that were fun to collect. William Boyd who was Hopalong Cassidy as far as we were concerned really created the merchandising world with product endorsements from bread and milk to savings and loans. So many items were produced that even today some unknown items surface and will command top dollar. CARO: I was at the Hopalong Cassidy Festival back in Cambridge, Ohio and this one collector came in and he opened up a bag and he produced a can of Hopalong Cassidy cut string beans in the original can. I've never saw it. I'd never heard of it. Before he walked out he drew a crowd of Hoppy collectors and was offered $1200 for a can of green beans that had Hoppy's label on it. A lot of collecting items comes from the fond memory associated like the white mug with Hoppy on it I used at my grandmothers. My small Hoppy collection really started with finding one of those mugs. CARO: It just depends I think what people like to collect; what they're comfortable with and what they enjoy the best. Whatever you collect, make it fun and if you have any Hoppy items&my email is gmartin@aginfo.net That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.