I was looking on our Just Sheds Flickr Group the other day and noticed a great shed…. well the shed was a normal metal shed in Sydney, Australia, but it was what was stored inside that took my shed breath away.

I will leave it to sheddie Alex to explain.

As you will see what I collect is varied.

It may be easier to list what I don’t collect, which is glassware & porcelain (unless it holds beer of course)

I try to group things together in themes and like a good bower bird everything is placed ‘just so’

I can spend a LOT of time displaying a new addition – making a frame/shelf/cabinet/bracket. Sometimes just wire and magnets. I have recycled quite a few old fence palings to make picture frames and shelving.

MY COLLECTIONS: You could place the word Old (or Vintage) in front of everything listed below;

Tools: workshop / garden / unusual tools (rustier the better – de-rusting is a favorite pastime)

Oil Cans, oilers, grease guns.

Still Cameras / Movie Cameras / Slide Projectors / Movie Projectors and related items.

Breweriana: drink trays, tankards/steins, cork screws, soda siphons, coasters, bottles etc

Militaria: esp trench art

Weaponry: faux: guns, swords, spears, jousting lance, mace, battle axe, war hammer etc

Native Spears n Bows (some real and some faux)

Maritime: boats, oars, rowlocks, telescopes, ship lights, ship candle holder etc

Fishing: rods, reels, baskets, hooks, floats, lures, nets, spear-guns etc

Pirate related (how do you know if you’re a pirate? . . . you just argh!)

Kitchenalia (yes it’s sad – but I like anything old – and they’re sort of tools?)

Ned Kelly / Gold Fields / Colonial.

Sydney Harbour Bridge / Sydney Opera House.

Cowboy / American Western, cap-guns, holsters, injun arrows, covered wagon etc

Snow Domes.

Sporting Equipment (which is a bit odd as have never played or followed sport)

Calculators: Manual, electronic, abacus, and a 1992 ‘vintage’ laptop

Oil Lamps (any old lamp really)

Robots (just toy ones)

Electrical: microphones, earphones, large light globes, valves, telegraph etc

Games, Puzzles, Toys.

Music: instruments (gourd-xylophone, thumb-piano etc) records, cylinders, piano rolls

Transport: Model boats / model cars / model trains / model cable cars / model planes

Ink Wells, Ink Pens, Writing / Drawing instruments and gadgets / typewriters

Tins: biscuit tins, sweet tins, tobacco tins, big tins, little tins.

Tobacco related: pipes, pipe tools, cheroot holders

Coins and Tokens (esp for Sydney Harbour Bridge)

Pretty much anything old / unusual / interesting.

Most items I purchase are usually damaged, grubby or rusty. I very much enjoy reviving them and have often saved an item from certain land-fill.

I like to research and tag items where I can. I now have quite a few mystery items and have included a section for some of these. I would appreciated any information that could help identify them.

My personal favorites:

– Matchstick model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (very old – 1932 halfpennies inlaid)

– Jousting Lance – made from scrap (a homage to the movie: The Castle)

– Zulu Shield (¾ size tourist souvenir from Africa)

So I emailed Alex the owner and he kindly Shared his shed with you the sheddies on readersheds.co.uk, you can see more of the amazing collection here, Alex also has a site for his shed here.

ManBower

What unique things to you collect in your shed? let me know via thattwitter or in the comments.

Of course if you think you have a better shed than Alex or the sheddies then why not Share your Shed for Shed of the year 2011!