By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent KELLOGG, Iowa — John Deere collector Dale Lenz loves the history of his hobby. This collector began about 35 years ago and has amassed an amazing array of JD items.
Lenz is a retired farmer who found he worked too hard and didn’t play enough. That lack of fun made him start checking out garage sales and picking up Deere items here and there. It was when he found watch fobs that he knew he was hooked.
The past few years, he has let go of a few items and sells to buy more. The farmhouse where he lives has a John Deere room where he has some amazing collectibles. One notable item was a rare John Deere statue, of which he said not many were made.
Lenz also has some Deere family pieces among his collection, including some that belonged to the William Hewitt family. Hewitt was the last family president of Deere, married to Patricia, daughter of Charles Deere Wiman. Lenz has some personal stationary that belonged to Patricia, as well as her garden hat and a bottle of Hewitt private label blend Scotch.
He also has a few farm toys that once belonged to Hewitt. The toys were given to a co-worker when Hewitt got tired of them gathering dust on his desk.
While Lenz collected many items himself, many he has he credits to the late Jesse Quinones, a friend of who passed away a little over a year ago.
“He came to the U.S. when he was around 17,” Lenz said. “He would talk about this country with tears in his eyes, because it was so good to him.”
When Lenz began collecting, he said, “Back then, no one wanted these items.” It was easier to find rare collectibles, and to add to his collection, he had a secret weapon.
“When I got serious about collecting, I recruited ladies that lived in John Deere factory towns to buy at garage sales for me,” he said.
These days, there are only a few individuals officially looking for Lenz, though friends and sources keep him posted on great finds.
The advent of eBay changed garage sale collecting.
“In the Quad Cities area, there are tag sales and a guy sometimes will still find items,” he explained.
Items from the Deere family and factories fascinate Lenz. He has rare items from Deere’s involvement with war efforts, brochures and a wide range of factory promotional items. Paper is his true love. He shared some rare Lanz literature that was pre-World War II because as he said, “All the plants were bombed during the war.”
The advertising literature can be beautiful and was often clever. Lenz is willing to share his collection and often sets up at shows. Occasionally, he sells an item or two and these days quality Deere items are selling so well that he noted, “Don’t price it or it may sell.”
This farm news was published in the April 9, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
