Collecting Letter Openers

When we owned our Flea Market & Antique Store we had a dealer that came fresh from an auction with a box of letter openers. All of these letter openers had a religious theme. Like Jesus on top, or Mary, or the three Wise men. There were several of Jesus on a cross that decorated the top of these letter openers, each a little different from the next.

I remember thinking who in the world would collect something like that and who would buy them. She had dozens of them. She priced them between $3 and $5 dollars and it just amazed me that within a few weeks she had sold most of them.

Letter openers come in a huge variety of subjects usually sitting on the tip-top of the opener. Some letter openers are made by fine crystal companies like Waterford and there are probably thousands that were given as incentives with company advertising on them. They come in assorted designs, textures, color and sizes. Collector's like letter openers that are both old and new and there does seem to be a market for them.

Collecting letter openers is a relatively inexpensive hobby. They are pretty easy to display or store. You can find them in most flea markets and eBay has a slew of them. Ever since that religious letter opener incident I buy them whenever I find them at yard sales or thrift shops. I'm not into collecting them but I do like to have variety in my flea market booths.

To sum things up, letter openers are made of many different types of materials and the variety of subjects are limitless. The letter opener pictured above is pewter, it is unusual, unique and interesting! Now where are those letter opener collectors?