On your mark, get set — hit the back shed.
I imagine this column will inspire folks to dig up old Coleman lanterns or stoves in the barn or garage.
I didn’t know that collectors sought old Coleman products. Crystal Harman of Arlington has joined a collector’s group and tastefully accents her small home with some of her finds.
Apparently, lots of other folks know about the hobby. Tuesday morning on eBay, there were 1,832 lanterns for sale. I saw listings for 736 stoves.
I saw a 1940 Coleman lantern for $20. An unused 1968 200A lantern, in the box, could be bought for $135.
As with any collectible, folks can go big or go small.
Harman, originally from Colorado, appreciates her snowmen lanterns. That’s a particular type of Coleman wearing what looks like a hat.
To learn more about the variety of products, Tim Murphy of Sea-Tac offers an online forum.
“I often read about how someone remembers going camping with their family when they were growing up,” he said. “And they always mention the parent lighting the old Coleman lantern as the sun went down for light and cooking meals on a Coleman stove.”
Murphy said he is selling one lantern, to an Amish collector, that in 27 years has never been lit.
“I like single-burner stoves, lanterns from the mid-1930s to the early 1970s and, of course, the rare items,” Murphy said. “As an example, Coleman started making the Model 200 single-mantle lantern in 1950.”
He said the green 200A is revered by collectors. He has different models of lanterns painted in different colors that cause them to vary in value.
“The hobby does bring out a passion for detail in me,” he said. “It’s an affordable hobby that doesn’t consume too much space, say, compared to restoring classic cars or travel trailers.”
Harman didn’t set out to collect anything. She eyed an old iron at an antique store.
“There was a Coleman logo on the handle,” she said. “Like millions of other people, I took Coleman for granted.”
She didn’t buy that iron, but she said she became curious about the manufacturer. She researched online and read forums.
“My first buy was an iron,” Harman said. “The more I got into it, it wasn’t the irons I was fascinated with, it was lanterns.”
Different colored lanterns were made by the company founded by W.C. Coleman back more than a century. According to his online history, the typewriter salesman, with poor eyesight, noticed a lamp light in a drugstore window in Alabama. It was fueled by gasoline, rather than kerosene.
He admired the steady white light and was inspired to build a company that “put farms and ranches in a new light.”
That’s a pretty sweet story.
We thank Coleman for sleeping bags, tents, ice chests and camping chairs.
“I guess vintage Coleman products bring out the nostalgia in us,” Murphy said. “When things were simpler, slower and less complex than they are today.”
Something fun about collecting is that Coleman stamped a month and date on the bottom of the lanterns. That would be a niche angle. Harman said it’s fun to find goods at garage sales and flea markets, the older, dirtier and dustier the better.
“I’ve found a few that way,” she said.
Using her lanterns can be a tricky matter. White gas can be $10 a gallon, Harman said. Some lanterns use fuel canisters that can be hard to find.
Harman, who works for CheckSum in Arlington, has a daughter, Sarah, 17, and her son, Dustin, 13, who is into fixing Coleman stoves. He bought his mother a lantern for Christmas.
That is one nice thing about collectors: They aren’t difficult to shop for. There are books about the hobby and folks can buy commemorative Coleman products.
There are Web sites devoted to selling parts to make repairs.
At a recent national convention, Harman enjoyed meeting those who attended.
“People are really nice,” she said. “They are so accommodating and friendly.”
As the gathering came to a close, they kept tradition alive: There was a light-up event where folks set up dozens of lanterns to illuminate a field. They strolled around and chatted about their valuables.
If this prompts a trip to the shed, check to see if you have a pink Coleman water cooler that held grandma’s picnic ice and Kool-Aid.
Collectors might pay you $175 for that model. The hobby has created one dilemma for the Harman family.
When they go camping, they don’t know which lantern to pack.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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