snakecollector,
WOW! I've read your posts on TM's Trap Collectors Forum and before I ever saw your photos, knew that you were a guy with some DEEP knowledge of old traps, especially Newhouse! No BS, just straight answer, backed with experience.
Beautiful, artistic way of displaying your passion.
I'm 76 and have a 55 year collection of Pre-64 Winchester rifles and shotguns, and have them displayed in my den. Every morning in go in there to check my computer for mail, and do our banking, and have to stop and look around and wonder what stories some of these guns could tell.
I noticed the desk in your "cave", and I'm sure that you do the same thing. What most non-collector never realize, is the amount of work it takes to ferret out the stuff we collect. I have to add that besides the hard work, there's a great amount of LUCK involved to just be in the right place, with the financial mean at the time, to consummate the purchase.
I'm sure that you feel that, although you know the value of your collection, that's not the reason YOU COLLECT! I hate it when a close friend sees my collection for the first time and asks, "What's your most expensive gun?" I just look at him and explain that I really don't know!
Again..... Beautiful, artistic tic display. I'm sending you a PM
Muskrat Love