By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Myron Watkins of Sidney, Ohio, started collecting Ertl farm toys when he was 60. He’s now 78 and has no interest in parting with any of his 25,000 piece collection.

“It gets in your blood,” said Watkins, who retired from farming in 1993. “I always said I’d get into the hobby when I had more time because I had those same toys when I was just a kid.”

Watkins is not alone. There are an estimated 5,000 collectors in the U.S. and Canada and there are roughly 1,000 farm toy brands on the market.
Watkins was one of more than 5,000 who attended this year’s Expo - Ohio Farm Toy Show in Columbus last weekend. These true-to-scale items are treasured by more adults than children nowadays. And these small replicas are not just for the boys.

“I sold Ertl toys for a while, but in 1985 I started going with First Gear,” said Jean Lohnes, 70. “My husband is 83, and we’ve been coming to this Columbus show since the late 1980s. I’d hate to really guess how many toys I’ve collected and still hung on to. I had boys so we always had tractors and other farm toys. I don’t collect them like I used to, but I still deal with them.”

The couple resides on a farm in Newfane, N.Y. and in their younger days grapes were their chief crop. The pair now thinks nothing of touring the country with the toys in their large van.

“We look at this hobby as our health club,” Lohnes laughed. “We load the truck, put up our displays then take them down. We load the truck, put up our displays ... you get the picture.”

Dave Simmons, 47, of Utica, Ohio has been collecting for 15 years. What started out as a business has turned into a hobby for this man.

“I’ve found that with farm toys it can be an expensive hobby if you make it one,” said Simmons, who has a 15,000-piece farm toy collection. “I’ve specialized in collecting John Deere, International Harvester and Allis-Chalmers toys. I collect anything in red or green.”

These collectors admit they played with such farm toys when they were young. And while adults frequent these shows more than children, youth can be spotted examining the new and used toys.

“Young kids are collecting toys, but many more are buying them as a toy to play with,” Simmons said. “When they’re with their parents they’re encouraged to keep them in the package. I hear parents say all the time ‘why did I ever take mine out of the package’.” I even say that to myself all the time.”
Bob and Joan Greene, of Knoxville, Tenn. began collecting in 1952 when the two were small children.

“We still collect the toys, but we do it as a family now,” Bob said, adding that children Matt and Jessica now are into the hobby. “The odd thing is when I got out of college I went to work for the John Deere company.”

Bob specializes in toy tractors, which were made to celebrate the various branches of John Deere throughout the country. Many of those branches have since been closed, increasing the value of his collection.

“I can’t begin to tell you the number of toys I have in my possession, but my wife has given me instruction to downsize from this point on,” Bob said. “She said to sell more than I bring home each weekend. I’m not getting out of the hobby of collecting these things, I’m just concentrating on the commemorative pieces and any toy built prior to 1973.”

Future farm toy shows in the FarmWorld readership area include:
•March 1 — Olivet FFA Farm Toy and Craft Show, Oliv#et High School, Olivet, Mich.; 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. 269-749-3671.

•March 11-13 - Lafayette Farm Toy Show, Indianapolis, Ind.; Fri.-Sun. 2217-247-2644.

•April 2 - Farm Toy Show at Hampton Fire Co., New Oxford, Pa.; 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 717-624-7886.