Collection Essentials

[fishb0y]

What items would you feel necessary for the beginnings of a vintage scuba collection? Of course I will collect what I would like to have (for example, I will most likely not buy older wetsuits), but I’m curious what other people would find valuable. I find my biggest problem with my new collection is hiding my credit card bill from my wife.

[simonbeans]

My personal opinion on collecting/using vintage dive gear is basically this: If you are trying to represent a certain time in vintage diving, i.e., a certain year, say 1964, then do some research as to what was available during that year. If you are using a USD regulator, you would use a Royal Master, Aqua-Master or a mistral, all with black hoses and black curved mouthpiece. Your backback could be a newer "shell" with shoulder and waist strap only or the "dog bone" aqua-lung pac or a "bac-pac" sometimes called a dolphin pac. Masks still have the screw clamps and fins are slowly becoming adjustable. USD introduces the Otarie fin. Waist belts were nylon and using a metal quick release (like today's). No BCs yet, but a "snorkeling type" safety vest.
Brian has recently added a CD to the store that has all the 1960's USD catalogs on it as well as 1961-1963 Dacor.
That is how I would collect, IMHO.
Allan

[fishb0y]

Wow, that's a pretty neat way of doing it... Unfortunately it is far too organised way for me do collect, although you have given me an idea.

[Creed]

My thoughts on this are simple.
1) Will I use it?
2) Can I afford it?
I tend to pick up more stuff than I can use, and I sell off what I can't use. I don't concentrate on any particular time period, since I am way too young to have used any of this brand new.

[Nemrod]

I am not so much a collector of vintsage gear as I am a diver of vintage gear--I make that distinction but like everyone here there are things I collect. I like old guages. I also like old knives. I also collect non vintage Tekna stuff in a small way. I do not have huge collections like some do.
I began diving in 1966 at 12 yo. I was not actually certified until 68 because I was sorta little and my instructor would only allow me to dive with him which he took me diving several times. By 68 though I had sprung up and gained considerable strength-lol--as happens during that time of life. Therefore I am most attracted to equipment from the late 60s and early 70s or at least equipment common to that time. I try to model that time period and in some respects try to model myself from that era, here and there I cheat. My double 50s are set up to look vintage but they really are not for example--faux vintage----lol. I also like the idea of trying to model a time frame that your interested in, say, the beginning era of your club or something.
Oh, while the name Nemrod was given me by my nun teachers and my first scuba gear was Nemrod brand I have no functional Nemrod gear, I am a USD sorta guy with some Voit tendencies.
While I would love some real USD or Voit small doubles, thanks to William , I can't afford them . I am working on a set of triples, they will look like Nemrod units but they will use modern aluminum tanks on a Nemrod triple manifold because a friend of mine from that time had some and I liked them. Still down the list though. I know what you mean with that credit card . BTW, some of the gear I use is gear I bought new or which was given me during late 60s so when I dive it, it is the real deal and I have a real connection with it. Course, I raid ebay too.
Nemrod

[captain]

I am somewhat like Nemrod, a user more than a collector. Some of my gear I have had since the 50's when I was 13. Some are things I have had since I closed my shop in 73 such as my Cyclone compressor. Mainly what I have bought lately are things that I had had at one time or another in the past.

[pearldiver]

I'm like you guys. I still have my original gear (except wetsuits and drysuits and a few regulators that were lost when the old dive shop owner died and the new owner wouldn't give us our gear we had in for service work) and I probably won't part with any of it even if I quit diving. I don't really collect anything diving gear related unless I have a use for it. I know a few of my dive buddies have double hose regulators on their wall in the basement gathering dust and looking like But to collect things as a hobby, no... I only collected shipwreck artifacts and cargo off the ships as a hobby. All that stuff except for my ships wheel, a few lead bars off the Kate Kelly, deadeyes and port holes, everything I collected is now in the museum. Kind of like my dive gear. I kept the things I really liked. It's different when you found the artifact or bought the gear yourself when new or someone gave you something as a gift. I think those types of items mean much more. Especially the ones given as a gift of friendship or goodwill.

[pearldiver]

PS: If I was just starting out now, I would probably pick one year and one brand and work on a complete set for myself to dive with. And if I had alot of money, I would probably try and find all the items in one catalog along with the catalog. That would be neat.

[simonbeans]

That is basically what I was driving at. Pick a year, pick a company or two in that year and then try to collect the items to complete a vintage dive gear set. At this time, except for a couple of vintage regs, everything I have acquired is diveable. So when I show up in FL or WI or OH, I have to decide WHICH equipment to dive. I use my gear. That is why when you do decide which piece you are trying to get, make every attempt to get dive gear you will use. And, if you need the catalog of a particualr year, the store attached to this forum has available CDs of USD catalogs from 1960-1970, my golden years.

[JES]

Like several others have said I'm more of a user and not really a collector.

My gear is a mix and match lot from various years and I just purchased items that I actually wanted want to dive.