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Woman's Passion For Collecting Spans Categories And Eras

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST NEWS

Freda Abrams, in mirror, checks out her collectibles in one of the cabinets of her home. She estimates she has about 150 plates.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: June 25, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Freda Abrams looked shocked.

"You've never heard of Hummels?" she asked, gazing at her visitor as if not quite believing an ignorance of Hummels is impossible.

For the record, M.I. Hummel ceramic figurines of children are based on the drawings of the youngsters by an early 20th century German Franciscan nun, Maria Innocentia Hummel, and have become beloved by many collectors.

Abrams has a number of the figurines.

She lovingly points out Hummel salt and pepper shakers and her Apple Tree Boy and Apple Tree Girl.

"People that know Hummels will know them."

But they must compete with a host of other collectibles ranging from thimbles to a slot machine that make Abrams' New Port Richey home a whimsical museum of this country's past and present.

About 150 plates with various themes, 70 Avon collector bottles, some still containing the original cologne, Russian collector plates with the childhood stories they depict written in Russian on their backs, blue and white willow-patterned china, and the painter Thomas Kincaid's art are among the many things Freda Abrams loves.

Abrams is at a loss to explain her passion for collecting. "I like pretty things," she said after reflecting.

Her house isn't big enough for all her loves, but her heart is, and so some of them sit in boxes in her garage until Abrams can find either good homes or more room for them.

The others sit in one of the 13 cabinets and various nooks and crannies in the Abrams home.

Abrams, who retired last December as senior secretary to Pasco county commissioners, observed her collectibles represent many parts of herself. "I like them for different reasons."

Her "Gone with the Wind" plates come from her love of that movie. Her "Wizard of Oz" plates bring back memories of her three children, Jack, Clark and Joe, all grown now, but all of whom delighted in that film as children. Some of her thimbles remind her of the ones in her grandmother's sewing machine back home in Fayetteville, W. Va.

In fact, many of Abrams' collectibles awaken memories of that West Virginia life, reaching back with aging arms of porcelain, wood and glass to a bygone era and gently carrying it into the 21st century.

Abrams was one of six children growing up in a house her grandparents had built on their property for her parents. There was always time for fun in Abrams' childhood. She remembers making candy in big black pots with her family and listening to her father play in a spoons band.

Her passion for collecting started early. As a teenager, she collected Elvis Presley items.

One of her brothers, John Wimmer, lived on the family property until his death in 2006.

He left his sister the family heirlooms. "He knew I would take care of them," Abrams said.

They have made her collections even bigger.

Her grandmother's set of 100-year-old Minton China cups and saucers and an 1896 pitcher she received from Wimmer now occupy the place of honor on Abrams' own dining room table. The pitcher rests atop a doily belonging to her grandmother.

"You have to keep those kinds of things," said Abrams.

Abram's collecting passion is evidently contagious. It has rubbed off on husband Joe, who collected flea-market finds to make his own bar room. The room sports a slot machine, Coca-Cola glasses, a range of hats and caps and menus from restaurants throughout Florida.

Her sons call the collectibles "dust collectors," and they are, both Abrams admit. Just dusting them can take a full day.

But in the end, it is worth it. Sometimes, Joe said, he goes into a room and turns off all the lights except for those in the cabinets so that all the objects his wife loves are highlighted. "I just sit and enjoy them," he said.

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