Within the narrow world of collecting local artifacts, some objects are an easy sell. Others are harder to move, whether for dullness, triviality, obscurity or the fact that they weigh over 40,000 pounds.
This framed photo of an empty lot, for example, isn’t likely to start a bidding war, even if what (I think) it shows is an important place in New Haven’s story: the site of the city’s historic wholesale food market, which had chaotically bustled, albeit not at the moment this lifeless image was captured, from the late 1800s to 1964. It doesn’t help that the print, which the seller tersely dates to about 1918, takes up less than 10% of the sales image, forcing you to squint, zoom and squint some more.
At first glance, a three-inning lot of New Haven Ravens memorabilia offers a late-’90s window into the absurdity of popular merchandising. A branded seat cushion (what won’t we slap a logo on? And were the stadium seats really that uncomfortable?) leads things off, followed by a game program. But it’s the third item that fascinates me, albeit not enough to want to own it: a two-sided sheet of “talking trading cards” published by the New Haven Register. To hear the newsprint cards “talk,” readers could, as the sheet instructs, call the newspaper’s “Register Connect” phone line and, after punching in a four-digit code and a player’s uniform number, prompt playback of a relevant recorded message. But wait, there’s more, as a corner callout notes: Readers could also dial up Register Connect to access, for free, “more than 2000 informational lines ranging from Dining to Horoscopes to Lottery Results to Local News & Sports Results.” Can you imagine—or, as the case may be, remember—trying to navigate those lines as a caller, let alone trying to maintain them on the other end?
Also, can you imagine wanting to piece together an old Yale New Haven Hospital security guard uniform? If so, this retired-design shoulder patch/tie clip combo may be for you—and possibly only you. If you’re a completionist, there’s also this period YNHH parking token.
Parking is quite a headache for the final object in this list: a 40-foot, 20-ton “New Haven” caboose built in 1944 and presumably, at some point, used on the New Haven line. I reached out to the seller, who says he doesn’t know much about it; the caboose, which is currently displayed, in lovingly good condition, on a section of track next to what may be a mock station, came with a property he bought in western New York, whose previous owner was, to nobody’s surprise, a “railroad buff.” But, the seller says, “From what I can tell, it appears quite original. The interior has original gauges and controls and the coal stove, cabinets, table, desk and beds”—possibly also the sink, wall lanterns and first aid kit—“appear original.” What were once the live/work accommodations for long-haul conductors could now make it a viable tiny home or themed AirBnB rental, as an attempted eBay auction suggested earlier this year. Which could take the sting off the $45,000 asking price and a reported “$10,000+” transport cost.
Then again, if you can afford to spend $55,000 on a collectable object, money probably is no object.
Written by Dan Mims. Image, sourced from Facebook Marketplace, features the caboose.
