LAC LA PECHE, Sask. – Bill Nemish’s collection grew out of his basement and is now threatening to overflow the space he built for it on his north-central Saskatchewan farm.
“It’s a hobby gone crazy,” says his wife Vivian, who has also contributed to a collection that is consuming their three-year-old 240 sq. metre General Store Memories building.
“It’ll be a long time before we can make a living off it,” Bill added.
Not that farming has been doing any better lately, with BSE and drought taking their toll.
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The Nemishes raise 85 cows and their calves and grow feed grain and wheat on a farm in the aspen-clad hills near this lake resort.
Bill started collecting four years ago, attending auction sales and taking donations from friends and family.
The Nemishes now attend auctions within a 300 kilometre radius and have become antique sellers as well as buyers. They take a pick-up truck to the sales and return with it full.
“In five years we’d hope to double in size, but I could use another building right away,” Bill said.
He won’t say how much the collection is worth, but holds up a blue Edgesworth tobacco tin can that is listed at $500 in a reference catalogue.
According to a pamphlet they have produced, their collection includes old tools, glass jars and insulators, children’s toys, records of all sizes, calendars, jewelry, stamps, tins and farm work pieces. They also have a 360 kilogram safe that they found in a store in nearby Marcelin, Sask. The buyer will also get the combination.
A museum located on the their building’s upper level contains items too sentimental or personal to sell.
“We started this because we found so much of the local heritage was leaving,” Vivian said.
“It was being sold in auctions.”
She said a visitor to the museum was amazed to discover an auction poster from the 1960s of his uncle’s farm dispersal sale.
The Nemishes have unique items dating from the 1920s that were used as promotion pieces by local restaurants, garages and machinery dealerships.
Vivian said she would like to start school tours that could co-incide with the annual drive to Saskatoon to visit the Western Development Museum.
The museum and store are open from May 1-Sept. 1, Thursdays to Sundays, at no charge. They dress up the business on Canada Day with food concessions and craft demonstrations and drew 300 people last year. Their guest book from the past two years records visitors from seven provinces and 11 states.
This day an Albertan has stopped in and bought a soup can from their collection.
“You can never be amazed at what people collect,” said Vivian.
She supports Bill’s habit and adds with a smile that the good thing about having a husband who likes antiques is that he’ll be more interested in her as she ages.
