Yes,coathangers - they have become his
passion and he reckons he has the world's most impressive array
of them! Bob Browning Is Coat Hanger King
When it comes to shopping,Bob Browning loves flicking through the rails to see what takes his fancy.
It is not clothes the 62-year-old is frantically searching for...but coathangers to add to his collection!
Yes,coathangers - they have become his
passion and he reckons he has the world's most impressive array
of them!
Most people don't give them a second glance but Bob thinks they are objects of beauty.
His love of hangers has become so great that even his family have resigned themselves to it.
He said "My wife thinks I'm mad,but goes along with it.She even bought me one for Christmas last year."
Since he started collecting them more than 15 years ago,he has amassed a collection of hundreds from around the world.
The best ones are kept in his Wiltshire
wardrobe,while the rest are stored in dozens of boxes in his
garage,each carefully catalogued.
He confessed "There is nothing I enjoy more than visiting charity shops,but it is never the clothes I am after.
"The shop assistants all know me and must think I'm a bit mad,but some of the hangers I get from these places are amazing."
He even gives talks to local Women's Institutes.
"I do not take money - I just ask them to bring along any unusual hangers they may have in their wardrobes and drawers.
"I want people to know that collecting things need not be expensive.When I hear about these youngsters being charged £10 for cards based on the latest cartoons,I can't understand it.
"Hangers are great little items and
I do believe they are part of our social history.Each one has a
story to tell and that is what I am really interested in."
In case you're interested,coat hangers were first used in the 1870s when wardrobes became popular and people found hanging clothes on hooks caused creases.
Bob's earliest evidence of their use comes from a Sears Roebuck brochure dated 1897,advertising wire hangers at the turn of the century."It just goes to show how long they have been around" he said.
Among his favourites he includes promotional hangers featuring life-sized cardboard heads of the Beatles,although he only has Ringo Starr and George Harrison,so he is desperate to make up the whole band.
He also loves his two 1930s children's hangers,one with the three bears stencilled on and the other with Red Riding Hood.
"The one which I feel is the most
precious was sent to me by the widow of a German man.It came with
a letter explaining that it used to belong to the man's first
wife who was a refugee in Germany in 1946.
"It was one of the few possessions she held on to after losing everything else.It must have been a link to her past she could not leave behind."
Over the years Bob has carefully catalogued each hanger and stores them in carefully marked boxes.
"I have boxes of plastic and wooden hangers,from hotel ones to ones used on famous ships,and made with different types of wood.
"I have hundreds featuring advertising slogans and logos,and there are even ones which are inflatable."