Verlan Heberer was a soft-spoken man. He was a gentleman who had a love of old equipment – in particular, John Deere. This past August, Verlan passed away after a farming accident.

Although techni-cally retired from farming, Verlan was always doing something with his machinery and he spent a lot of time at auctions and antique tractor events. Many will recall Verlan hooking up one of his two-cylinder tractors to an ice-cream maker and offering free ice cream to those attending antique tractor shows.

He not only collected antique machinery, but shared it with others by showing his collection and putting it to work. Verlan traveled to antique tractor shows, taking his collection on the road using a car hauler – it was like watching a tractor ballet, as friends and family worked with him to load and unload.

Verlan didn’t say much, but he always had a kind word or a nod for everyone. This family man, who had three daughters, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, had decided to scale back before his death and had arranged with Polk Auction Co. to sell the bulk of his collection.

The sale took place on Oct. 30-31 at Eckert’s in Belleville, Ill. This is the second auction Polk conducted for Verlan; the first was 12 years ago when he sold off 25-30 duplicate tractors.

Jeff Polk said Verlan was a lifelong friend who worked from sunup to sundown. To get ready for the auction, Polk said, “We rolled in on Monday with a crew of eight guys. We made multiple trips, bringing items from 13 different farms.”

This auction was a special one. “We have done auctions from all over the country, and this is the biggest and rarest. Verlan had a collection of many museum-quality pieces that he acquired over 60 years. Verlan could find the rarest antiques.

“You could never do this again. He had a vision; he was a genius in collecting.”

For a chance to look at this collection and buy some of Verlan’s antiques, collectors from all over the United States and even the Netherlands came to Belleville. Among the items auctioned were many low-production tractors. Polk expected the Waggoner WA17 to be the highest-dollar tractor sold: “Many of his tractors were under-50 built.”

Low-production tractors included a John Deere 330 U industrial with turf tires, a three-point hitch, rear wheel extensions, a front guard and a down draft exhaust, and was one of 84 made. There was a Deere 1010 orchard with new sheet metal and remote hydraulics that was one of 63. There was a Deere 2010 LP Utility that was one of 177 built, and a JD 2020 DSL grove tractor that was one of 200.

A John Deere 3020 LP Utility was one of only 16 built. Verlan also had a rare Barber Green rock picker – these tractors were Deere 50s that the Barber Green company used to attach rock pickers to – and the list goes on.

There were so many rare items in the collection it is difficult to mention them all. While Verlan was known for Deere, he also had several David Bradley items at the sale, including a few Handiman tractors and tri-tracks. There was even an early Fairmont railroad car.

Verlan owned an array of Deere primitives and items that Polk and many collectors had never seen. He also had a collection of John Deere Reliance buggies and wagons. There were hundreds of horse-drawn implements.

One item that many who knew Verlan would have recognized was his 1960 F100 Ford Panel Van he traveled around in with his dog. “He would come to auctions and when we pulled in at five in the morning, Verlan was right behind us. He would sleep in the van with his dog,” Polk said.

On the brochure there was an auctioneer note that read: “Verlan Heberer is the predecessor of John Deere collecting.

To know Verlan is to know a man that is an extremely hard-working individual and has been passionately collecting for over 60 years, putting together one of the finest collections in the world.”

For additional information about the auction, log on to www.polkauction.com

Readers with questions Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.