When did serious vac collecting start??

[hoover119dude]

I am not sure if this question has been asked on here or not but I came up with this thought. It might get everyone thinking, it might not.

Seeing a photo of Jeff's collection of hoovers from the 541 through to the 825 made me think that if there were serious vac collectors even way back then when these models were new in the shops,

what would they have collected??

The oldest Hoovers were obviously very expensive to buy new and I am sure only the wealthiest hoover nut would have had the $$$ to buy multiple machines if even only for display purposes.

There were non electric cleaners before them but I am sure people stored them away in the attic after buying a new fancy electric cleaner, not knowing if anyone would actually want it.

So I was wondering when it all really started??

Any thoughts??

 

[kenkart]

Stann Kann

Started collecting years before most of us were thought of.

 

[electrolux137]

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Yes, I was going to say that vacuum cleaner collecting began on the day Stan Kann was born.


 


 



http://1377731.com/stan

 

[ultralux88]

I always wonder if anyone else in Stan's time had shared the obsession, my main reason for doubting that any other serious collectors back that early is that none have ever been heard of since, or surface back then as Stan became more well known for it. Obviously many of the older members on this site probably started their childhood fascinations with the vacuums in the 50s-60s.But I do still wonder if there were others like us back then that just hid their fascination rather than embracing it the way Stan did. But I don't think anyone else really collected them to any extent before he did, I do know that many like us have existed before his time, however their obsessions and collecting behaviors were directed towards many other things over the years, vacuums had to become common enough in homes across the world to get them around people who would be likely to immediately become fascinated. So my theory is that Stan was the first to really have the opportunity to become a vacuum collector.

Hopefully I was able to write this down in a way that makes sense... lol

 

[dysonman1]

In 1968, Stan and some of his collection, were on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I asked him if any other collectors contacted him after the show. He said no. He really thought he was the only serious collector until he met a few others like Charles Lester in LA. And of course, when he became a member of the VCCC.

 

[turbo500]

Vacuums were also a lot more expensive back then than they are now and the vintage models not as widely available due to vacuums not really being around all that long in the mainstream. The opportunity to even own a vacuum was, for a lot of people, still out of the question until the late 40's/early 50's.


 


When Mr. Kann started collecting, many of the machines we now consider vintage and collectable would have still been in daily use with owners reluctant to part with them due to the high cost of purchase.


 

 

[dysonman1]

Stan started collecting vacuums in the 1930's. Many of his friend's mothers were buying their second machine, and gave the first machine to Stan. That's how Stan got such really, really vintage stuff. Things like 1912 Frantz Premier, Hoover Senior, Royal Standards, America, Ohio Tuec, etc. These were machines made the first decade of production, used twenty years, then replaced. He told me about getting an America from a doctor's wife who bought two new Hoover 425's, one for upstairs and one for down.

Stan went to the Goodwill store in the early 1950's where he would find incredible numbers of 1930's models. He'd pay fifty cents a piece for them. He even ran his bike, as a kid, into the Singer store's garage behind the store, in order to 'remove' a red cloth outer bag for a twin motor Air-Way Super Chief.

He was one of a kind. I'm proud to have called him my good friend, and proud to have spent virtually every Sunday with him after he moved back to St. Louis from LA.