Meet: Jim Bennett
Location: North Central Ohio
e mail: jim@oldrelics.com
Auction Handle: "Woodman32"
About me!
Howdy! - many of you know me as the original founder of this association - and the webmaster of this site - but with almost a thousand members now, many have no idea who I really am :-)
So first things first - I am an avid collector of flints and stone, and prefer collecting celts, adzes and axes - but cannot pass up a nice Ohio arrowhead. I am 36 and have been married for 16 years and enjoy my four kids immensely! I work for an insurance company full time, and I used to own Custom Displays Mfg. - a display case company I started in 1988, but sold several years ago to devout all my time to my family, insurance career and collecting and dealing in ancient relics.
How I got started collecting!
I am an avid collector of artifacts ever since I found an arrowhead 15 years ago while hunting groundhogs at a local farm. I bent down in a cornfield to tie my boot and while doing so a piece of flint caught my eye. It was a very crude arrowhead - I was so excited! I showed my friend J.C. who hunts with me, and he agreed. Later that day I went to dinner and J.C. snuck back to the same field and picked up a perfect pentagonal corner notch! That was it - we were both hooked! Trips to libraries soon followed then to other collectors houses and now we both have virtually traded in our rifles for walking sticks.
What I like to collect!
I like to collect Midwest flints and stone implements. Preferably Ohio, but I cannot pass up a nice celt, axe or pestle if it is from nearby. I like Adena flints the most, and unlike most collectors, Paleo relics do nothing for me. I am currently working on a frame of intrusive mound points as I love the style.
I enjoy reading any material whether it be about Paleolithic or archaic culture sub-complexes, but when it comes to collecting - I truly love woodland era relics. I have started a collection of pottery lately, mostly mississippian and Caddo culture items. I am not a big Southwest fan as I prefer the look of shell tempered clay :-)
My favorite relic!
One day back in 1992 an Amish boy walked in
the shop while I was making cases and said he heard I bought
"Indian things" and he found an "Indian
rock". This was it! It is a humpback adze found about 6
miles from my house in Ashland Co., OH. I paid him $45.00 for it.
In 1993 I bought 2 points for $600 and both were fake. I was so disappointed I quit collecting and sold off most all my collection and didn't collect again until 1995. I sold this piece for $120.00 to a collector I did not know. When I started collecting again I was very upset at my self for selling off so many local items I had, including this adze. I put the word out that I wanted to buy this piece back and offered $250 to anyone who could find it and procure it for me. In 1997 while at a show a man walked up to my table and said he would trade me an Ashland Co. adze with the catalog #92-330 on the bottom for $250.00 - he smiled and pulled this piece out of his pocket :-) As you can see, I paid more for this relic than its market value, but to me it is priceless and one day I will hand it down to my kids for their collection, and hopefully they will hand it down to theirs. This is what collecting is all about.
A few pics!
The frames with a blue background are my personal found items from Ashland and Wayne Co. Ohio. The frames with burgundy backgrounds are all Ohio relics I have procured over the years.