Meet the thimble queen | queen, simply, many - Burlington Times News:
"Blaylock has at least one thimble for each of the 50 states and multiple countries, all the holidays, a
Morton Salt and an
Aunt Jemima thimble. She has a soda pop collection with Coca-Cola, Pepsi and
Dr. Pepper thimbles, the months of the year in which her family members were born, and thimbles made from pewter, silver, tin, copper, cedar and even seal skin.
And the thimbles aren’t just limited to the ones in the cases.
“The presidents are in a box,” Blaylock said, indicating the collection she ordered while Bush was in office. She said her Obama thimble is on its way, to make the set complete."
Blaylock’s sister, Blanche Wrenn, is partially responsible for building her thimble collection. Blaylock said she showed an interest in thimbles after a friend brought one back from Texas 30 years ago and started picking them up at yard sales, sometimes scoring five for $1. “Unless you’re collecting them, they don’t mean anything,” she said.
Blaylock also began picking up thimbles anywhere she visited, including The Petroleum Museum in
Midland, Texas. “Anywhere that I would go that had a thimble, I’d buy it,” she said. Then her sister started ordering from Gimbel & Sons collectibles catalogs, Blaylock said.
As a thimble collector, don’t forget about other related items, like the original Monopoly thimble game piece, which is no longer in production.
"No one seems to know who actually invented the thimble, but it is believed they were introduced around 7000 BC, at the time when people started using cloth and needles."
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