Janice Harbaugh shows a favorite replica in her collection.
Items in the collection are from around the country with roughly half being from Midwestern states.
By Rich Wicks | Panora Times
Companies that create and sell items that are part of a set or collection have often used the phrase “Collect them all” to encourage customers to do just that. For many collectors, the search is the thrill. Another frequently used term is “Limited Edition” to encourage buyers to act quickly before supplies run out. Those marketing approaches are often successful, as shown in this example from Janice Harbaugh.
Each miniature barn is cast in porcelain and hand painted.
“My husband and I had an acreage at Mitchellville. After we retired and moved, we would go to farm sales, and he would look at tractors. While he was doing that, I would go to antique shops or flea markets,” Harbaugh said. “I noticed these little barns every so often, and I saw they were part of a collection, and I decided to try to collect them. I thought this could be something fun to pursue.”
At first, Harbaugh added to her collection mostly by chance, when she would happen upon a piece that she had not yet obtained. Later, she was actively searching.
“At first, I started finding them every so often. And, eventually, I had to go on eBay to find the ones I was missing, and the last one I found was the ultimate one, the Frank Lloyd Wright barn,” Harbaugh said. “I started collecting them in 2010 and finished about five years later.”
Janice Harbaugh’s collection includes barns from 13 states.
Harbaugh noted that the miniatures are replicas of actual barns, and she believes each of the full-size barns is still standing. She added that the one Iowa barn in the collection (Elkader, Iowa) was deteriorating but received renovations some years back.
“There are 17 in the collection, and they’re made by Ertl,” Harbaugh said. “That’s a farm toy company that started in 1945, and in the 1990s they made this collection of barns. The barns are historical and architecturally significant, too.”
Included in the collection are George Washington’s 16-sided barn (Mount Vernon, Virginia) and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Barn (Spring Green, Wisconsin).
Each barn is labeled with its name and location.
Although Harbaugh didn’t collect the items for a monetary investment, she is aware that the value has increased over time.
“The Frank Lloyd Wright barn has been listed for $150, but I didn’t pay anywhere near that much,” Harbaugh said.