Collectors

'Traditional, Modern, International" at Joan Perkes Fine Art is the commendable debut exhibition of a new gallery that opened its doors April 1 in a Lambertville neighborhood with a decidedly Cape May feel to it. From the start of this new venture, Perkes says, she was amazed at the phone calls she got from neighborhood people saying they had heard about her plans and wanted to know how they could help. Her enterprise was warmly welcomed as she set up shop in a large 1891 building where, once upon a time, spokes for automobile wheels were manufactured.

Books are always good holiday gifts for collectors. Basic references are updated annually to record new coin issues, mintages, market trends, and prices paid at sales and auctions. A solid standard reference is Coin World's 1993 Guide to U.S. Coins, fifth edition (Amos Press, $4.95). This paperback includes the prices realized during the year's sales, as well as essays on U.S. numismatics. Errors and flaws, those coins that defy the odds and leave the mints clipped, blank, off-center and double- struck, fascinate collectors of all stripes.

At the antiques show sponsored annually by St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Cherry Hill, the antiques are almost secondary to the food. That, at least, is what the promoter says. The food, prepared by church volunteers, has been the big draw at the show during its seven-year existence. But collectors won't go hungry for the lack of antiques. At this year's show, at the Cherry Hill National Guard Armory tomorrow and Sunday, they'll find a wide assortment of merchandise: prints, china and glassware, country and Victorian furniture, jewelry and more, offered by more than 40 dealers.

"Perfins" are one of the stamp hobby's inexpensive and challenging collecting subjects. Perfins - the term is collector's shorthand for perforated insignia or perforated initials - are stamps punched with tiny holes. The holes form outlines of letters, numbers, logos, coats of arms, animals, musical instruments or any of thousands of other designs. The perforations are used to identify the buyer of the stamps, and to discourage theft or misuse of stamps by employees of corporations, government agencies and organizations that buy postage in large quantities.

If the advance hype on two of the more interesting shows is any indication, collectors are in for a twin treat this weekend. The Philadelphia Antiques Show and Sale opening today at Twelve Caesars should attract collectors interested in a wide variety of antiques. Up for inspection and purchase are the collections of some 60 dealers from throughout the country. Estate and antique jewelry, "museum quality" artwork, cut glass and crystal, 18th and 19th century European antiques, furniture, art deco and nouveau and Oriental pieces highlight the selection.

Collecting dollhouse miniatures is the second most popular hobby in the United States. And that, no doubt, has to do with the anticipated convergence on the Holiday Inn in King of Prussia Sunday of some 500 to 800 collectors and hobbyists. The fifth annual Greater Philadelphia Area Dollhouse and Miniatures Show and Sale is set to get underway at 10 a.m. in the hotel's ballroom. Vendors from eight states are expected to show up with all manner of miniature merchandise, including authentic reproductions of furniture and such other teeny items as clay food and candelabra, mini-dolls and more.

For dedicated fans, the Star Trek adventures on television and film show an optimistic blueprint for the 21st century. The flip side of science fiction might be the industrial grimness of a film like Alien, but it's the crew of the Starship Enterprise that offers diversity, positive ideals, and a strong prime directive that promises a harmonious future. That goodness brings the series into the hearts of collectors. John Tenuto, collectible editor of trekmovie.com, is among the fans who consider finding memorabilia from Star Trek a family passion, one shared by his wife and son. On the site - launched in July 2006 to follow the movie that opened this week - Tenuto reviews collectibles and toys and serves as the resident "Shatnerologist," covering anything connected with the original Captain Kirk actor, William Shatner.

Beads are a perfect collectible. They are intriguing, durable, portable and available in infinite variety. Some are beautiful and valued objects of adornment; others unlock secrets of civilizations. Until now, there has been no comprehensive book on beads. Bead collector Lois Sherr Dubin has filled the need with The History of Beads From 30,000 B.C. to the Present (Abrams, $60). With the cooperation of museums, researchers and collectors, Dubin delves into the history of beads in nearly every part of the world.

For fans of Renninger's Extravaganzas, this is it - the final weekend of the thrice-yearly megashows, on the grounds at Renninger's Kutztown site. More than 1,000 dealers from the East Coast traditionally come to the extravaganza, hawking all manner of antiques and collectibles, primarily of the portable kind, although there is usually a fair selection of furniture for those seeking an occasional piece. An additional 250 permanent dealers can be found in the building on the grounds, located on Noble Street, about one mile south of the center of Kutztown.

Books are still a collector's best friend, although the Internet and a growing list of software products seem destined to supply collectors with information, history and photographs essential to making the right choices. Traditional holiday gifts start with the latest "Red Book," A Guide Book of United States Coins, 51st edition (Whitman Coin Products, $11.95). The standard and handy reference for collectors of U.S. coinage, it answers most questions and is the basis for launching more sophisticated searches elsewhere.

WILKES-BARRE - At one time, several amusement parks were within a short drive for Wyoming Valley residents. Now, it takes at least an hour to reach a roller coaster, and the local parks are just memories. Local enthusiasts and historians are working to make sure those memories - of days spent at Angela Park in southern Luzerne County, Hanson's Amusement Park in Harveys Lake, and others - are preserved. Jim Fichter has mint-condition Angela Park memorabilia that he sells to those looking to hold on to a piece of history.

'Traditional, Modern, International" at Joan Perkes Fine Art is the commendable debut exhibition of a new gallery that opened its doors April 1 in a Lambertville neighborhood with a decidedly Cape May feel to it. From the start of this new venture, Perkes says, she was amazed at the phone calls she got from neighborhood people saying they had heard about her plans and wanted to know how they could help. Her enterprise was warmly welcomed as she set up shop in a large 1891 building where, once upon a time, spokes for automobile wheels were manufactured.

THE PERSON who collected Ryan Braun's urine sample that tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone said he followed the collection program's protocol. Dino Laurenzi Jr. issued a statement yesterday confirming he handled the sample submitted following a playoff game on Oct. 1. He says he has been a collector for Comprehensive Drug Testing since 2005 and has taken more than 600 samples for Major League Baseball's drug-testing program. "At no point did I tamper in any way with the samples," he said.

Freeman's will start the new year this month with a gold rush, not for the coins currently hawked in newspapers and on television as hedges against inflation, but Spanish treasure from 16th- and 17th-century Caribbean shipwrecks. Aside from the five-figure prices the half-dozen gold and silver bars are expected to bring, they also evoke the Spanish exploitation of the New World's riches and the perils of the high seas. The sunken treasure will be featured in a sale of English and continental furniture and decorative arts beginning at 10 a.m. Jan. 25 at the gallery at 1808 Chestnut St. The 500-lot auction also features fine porcelains from the Far East, silver, and some bronzes, as well as a large collection of walking canes from the collection of Robert Pearson.

Indigenous folklore traditions have had a rough enough time surviving in the modern world. A man-made disaster requiring the permanent resettlement of an entire region's population doesn't help. Following the calamitous Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident of April 26, 1986, 160 Ukrainian villages in the contaminated zone were effectively wiped out. There was fear that the area's already fading, thousand-year-old polyphonic singing styles and ancient folk songs, some believed to be pre-Christian in origin, had suffered a cultural death-blow.

A FEDERAL judge ruled yesterday that disgraced ex-Police Inspector Daniel Castro can remain free on bail until he reports as ordered to prison Nov. 15. Federal prosecutors wanted U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III to lock up Castro immediately for allegedly threatening potential extortion victim Wilson Encarnacion and FBI informant Rony Moshe after being sentenced Oct. 4 to five years on extortion charges. Castro lashed out at both men outside the courthouse. He said he was the "victim" and displayed their photos to assembled media.

It's a good thing Theodore Young is as slender as he is. A larger man might find it difficult to maneuver in an apartment so lovingly engorged with art, artifacts, collectibles, and memorabilia. Actually, it's two apartments. Young, 75, owns adjacent spaces at a Germantown co-op. What the spaces aren't is subdued, or colorless, or boring. What they are is filled with rainbows of color, myriad designs, fabrics, textures, and materials, and both the valuable and the affordable.

Tempers flare when you even mention debt collectors. Some consumers who have steered clear of this unloved business blithely dismiss its targets as "deadbeats" or "shirkers. " Some in the sights of debt collectors - especially unscrupulous ones - readily use words we won't print in a family paper. But let's leave the denunciations aside for a moment and focus on the practical problems facing many thanks to stagnant wages, high joblessness, and the overhang of the housing bubble. More than 140,000 people complained about debt collectors last year to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly double the number who complained in 2007.

By Erin McKean P apabile . Biophilia . Do-ocracy . If you don't recognize any of these, don't worry: They're not (yet) household words. Papabile is used to refer to those cardinals who are considered good candidates for popehood. Biophilia - coined by biologist E.O. Wilson - is the idea that we have a deep human need to connect with nature. And a do-ocracy is an organizational structure in which people choose what to do and then do it. The very nonhouseholdness of these words is what caught my eye and made them worth collecting.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Debt collectors. Next to the dreaded taxman, they're probably the most-feared financial folks around. And chances are, if you owe money on a delinquent loan, a credit card bill or a medical payment, you've heard from a debt collector. Some work in-house for creditors; some are hired to collect on a company's behalf; others buy up bundles of old debts and try to pursue repayment. To look at how they work and what you should know, we sat down for a Q&A with Robert Tavelli, former president of the California Association of Collectors Inc. and owner of a private debt collection firm in Santa Rosa, Calif.