My Brass Candlestick Collection

I’ve been looking for a reason to share my growing collection of brass candlesticks with you, so I invented one! I started a “Collections Tour” with some of my blogging friends, and it kicks off today! Whoop woo!

I’m so intrigued by the things people decide to collect and why. For instance, I have a friend who collects Santa Clause figurines because his mother was SO good at making Christmastime magical, he actually believed in Santa until 7th grade. I have another friend so obsessed with Disney that every single room in her home is top-to-bottom, wall-to-wall Disney, not exaggerating.

So today, not only can you hop around from blog to blog and see what your favorite bloggers are into collecting, you can use the hashtag #whatIcollect on instagram or twitter to share a peek of your collections too! I would seriously love to see it. Please, won’t you let me be a voyeur inside your head?

Unfortunately, there’s no scandalous story or magical childhood memory behind my collection. I recently started collecting brass candlesticks simply because I like them and they are easy to find. Every time I swing by the thrift-store there is usually an assortment to choose from.

And here they are! Such a cute little group.

I’m now learning that the quality of brass can vary wildly, so I’m starting to be pickier about which ones I’ll buy.

I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite because they are all like little baby children to me. HA! Kidding. They are just candlesticks. Of course I have a favorite. It’s the first one on the left of the picture above.  I’m pretty sure it’s the highest quality brass in the bunch. It’s much heavier than it looks and has a really lovely warm tone when it’s all polished up. (It could use a bit of polishing right now).

The one next to it is some kind of candlestick mutt which I’m pretty sure was pieced together from three separate candlesticks of various metals, same with the other long and skinny one.  The third from the end and the little one on the end are probably the cheapest quality, and it shows in their yellowy brassy tone that is not my fave. They were probably some of the first ones I bought when I didn’t know any better.

It’s also hard to tell what you are getting when you find them at the thrift store, because they are all in desperate need of polishing and look super dull and brown. Like this:

But going by their weight is a good way to judge if you’ve found a worthwhile one. Just pretend you are playing Clue and ask yourself if your candlestick could viably be used as a weapon or not. Easy!

Here is Mr. My Favorite up close and personal, and you can see exactly where it needs some polishing again. I just use Brasso, which you can find in the cleaning aisle, but honestly, I’m not THAT impressed with Brasso.  It still takes a ton of elbow grease to really shine them up.

I plan to keep adding to my collection whenever I find any that are especially unique. Now I just need to collect more candles!

Ok! Now it’s your turn! Snap a picture or two of something you love to collect and share it with us on instagram or twitter. Just use the hashtag #whatIcollect, and if you tag me @betterafterlnz (or @betterafter on twitter), I’ll be sure to come by and say hi!

Check out the rest of the bloggers on the tour by clicking on the linky thing below. Yay fun!