No Method To This Madness | Stuff.co.nz

WARWICK SMITH/FAIRFAX NZ

COLLECTIBLES: Stuart Schwartz at home, with just a few items of his kiwiana collection.

American-born collector Stuart Schwartz blames his obsession with all things Aotearoa on his ?deprived Kiwi childhood".

In short - he didn't have one.

But the New Jersey native has filled that void in his own history and his Palmerston North home - much to wife Phyllis' affectionate chagrin - with relics of New Zealand from days gone by.

?He tidied up for you,? says Phyllis, carving a path through lounge furniture piled high with wooden Kiwis, Weet-Bix tins and miniature glass bottles. Barely a surface is free of some curiosity that marks a point in history. But she's not joking.

?I have always teased Phyllis that someday I will be a minimalist,? Schwartz says, as he ponders whether a blank home represents a similarly hollow state of mind.

For the present, the Schwartzes are champions of another form of Kiwi culture, as the owner-operators of Taylor-Jensen fine arts gallery in The Square.

Mr Schwartz is vice-president of the Collectors Club run by the Wanganui-Rangitikei Antique Bottles & Collectibles Club Inc, which meets monthly, giving collectors a chance to show their specialty memorabilia, or their latest find - the only prerequisite, as a throwback to the club's beginnings, is that every member must bring some type of bottle.

In the Schwartz home, the kitsch takes pride of place next to the antique, and strewn among the family photos, stuffed toys are arranged with no less reverence than considerably grander collectors' crockery. Kiwiana is like glitter to a magpie for Schwartz. His pieces are an eclectic mix of antiques, vintage and retro items, American art, and, as he explains, contemporary pieces of New Zealand, because it is important for a collector to be able to put his or her finger on what of today's junk might be tomorrow's treasure.

In his collection, everything, from Maori flax skirts to chrome-plated miniature model cars, are considered treasures.

?They certainly are sentimental. Things that my mother had, that sort of thing, we have a lot of truly historic items and just the everyday collectibles that say they are a part of an existence.?

When asked what items from his considerable hoard Stuart might save from a house fire, he is momentarily lost for words.

?My will and testament,? the collector quips. The scale of his collection is so great - as the Schwartz garage piled high with boxes where a car should be testifies - asking him to locate the pieces most dear to him is futile.

There is no method to the madness, he says, but the theme is ultimately clear.

Few New Zealanders would fail to associate the distinctive Edmonds baking packaging, a wooden ?buzzy-bee? toy, or paua jewellery with the term ?Kiwiana.?

Perhaps it takes an ?outsider? looking in to make sense of what makes us Kiwi, and visually speaking, Stuart has captured exactly that. He and his wife are in no doubt that New Zealand is their home, and Stuart dreams of The Schwartzonian Museum of Kiwiana ?safeguarding our everyday heritage? in Palmerston North.

Currently there are about 20 members in the Collectors Club, which meets on the fourth Thursday of every month to compare finds over tea and nibbles. Their next meeting is tomorrow and calls for collectors to show off their Royal Memorabilia finds, and bottles with royal words or crests.

* People interested in joining can contact the club president, Janet, on 06 326 8681, or Stuart, on 06 355 4278.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/features/7524963/No-method-to-this-madness

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