Collectible Sewing Thimbles

All You Need to Know About Collectible Sewing Thimbles

Collecting sewing thimbles is a great way to take your love of sewing to a whole new level without taking up a lot of space. Collectible thimbles for sale explore the history and culture of sewing over eras and regions, incorporating a variety of designs, materials, and imagery reflective of specific peoples, places, and passions. To develop your own thimble collection requires sorting through the abundance of collectible thimbles available on eBay to choose the ones you want for your own.

There are many different materials from which a thimble may be made. Which you prefer depends largely on your personal tastes and preferences, unless you're collecting for objective collector's value, in which case the rarity and preciousness of the material matters. Common materials from which collectible thimbles are made include:

• Metal - Such as aluminum, brass or bronze and other copper alloys, gold, iron or steel, pewter, and silver
• China, porcelain, and glass
• Plant - Such as bog oak, vegetable ivory, and wood
• Other materials - Including bakalite, celluloid, gutta percha, papier-mâché, plastic, resin, and rubber
• Stone - Such as alabaster, agate, amber, cinnabar, diamond, jade, marble, meerschaum, moonstone, onyx, ruby, and sapphire among other minerals
• Animal - Such as bone, horn, ivory, leather, mother of pearl, and tortoiseshell

When collecting thimbles, there are many different ways to build your collection. You could collect only thimbles made by one particular factory or you could collect decorative thimbles sharing a common theme, such as cities, animals, resorts, or museums. Some thimbles for sale commemorate special occasions and events while others advertise particular companies or products, and still others serve as souvenirs for particular travel and tourism spots. You can collect humorous novelty ones, sentimental and nostalgic children's ones, intricately designed art ones, or valuable silver and precious stone ones, depending on your tastes and collecting objectives. One-of-a-kind hand-painted thimbles can also be desirable both for their originality and rarity.

Some thimbles for sale are highly sought after by collectors, such as commemorative thimbles of events and occasions like the 50th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth, Prince William's birth, the lunar eclipse of 1999, and the Kuwaiti people's liberation. Nineteenth century ones made by Fabergé are also a catch for collectors, as are 18th-century steel English Dorcas thimbles and Bisque Enesco porcelain figurine thimbles.