COLLECTIBLES : Antique Hatpins Make a Point of Nostalgia

It didn’t take long for Deena Zachritz to get stuck on collecting hatpins.

She says she was at an antiques show and “walked around a corner and saw these hatpins on display, and I thought, ‘What in the world are those?’ They were just so unique.”

What began as an interest that day in 1980 has turned into a collection of 5,000 to 6,000 hatpins.

Zachritz, 46, owner of the Rocking Chair Emporium in Orange, is displaying part of her collection at the store. Some of her hatpins will be on sale there through the end of the month.

Zachritz’s hatpins are made from sterling silver or gold and decorated with jewels, mother of pearl, carved ivory, carved horns and rhinestones, among other things.

Hatpins were most popular from the 1890s through the 1920s. Because the fashions at the time were wide-brimmed hats and long, thick hair, the pins were necessary to hold women’s hats to their heads. The pin part, called a shank, comes in varying lengths.

Zachritz says most of her pins date from 1900 to 1915. Her collection includes many vanity hatpins, in which the pin’s top part doubles as a container.

“There’s one that opens up and is a compact, with a powder puff and a mirror,” Zachritz says. “There’s one that holds straight pins, and another that has a thimble. Then there’s one that holds vinegar, to be used as smelling salts in case a lady felt faint.”

She says she’s bought her hatpins one at a time as well as in bulk.

“I’ve been very lucky; I’ve bought some really wonderful collections. . . . When you get started, you buy whatever you see. Now I’m just buying ones that are usually in the $85 to $100 range,” Zachritz says.

Antique hatpins range from about $15 to thousands of dollars, based on the materials used and the pins’ rarity.

Zachritz says she belongs to a couple of hatpin collector clubs and is in touch with many longtime collectors, which helps her in setting the prices of the pins she sells.

“We all sit around and talk, and when you buy it’s usually from a longtime collector, and they have stories to tell,” Zachritz says.

Hatpin collectors should inspect potential purchases, making sure the shanks aren’t bent, the mountings between the shanks and the top parts are secure, and that the pins are free of rust, chips, flakes and tarnish.

When asked if she had any favorites she just couldn’t part with, Zachritz laughingly says, “about 5,000 of them.”

She says she’s particularly fond of “the figural ones, the ones with animals. And I like the ones with rhinestones as well.”

Zachritz has also collected many hatpin holders--enclosed jars with holes to poke the shank part of the hatpin through.

“It gets to be a game, though,” she says of using just hatpin holders to display her collection. “Each holder has just six holes, and that kind of limits you.”

She makes her own displays for the hatpins around the house by using cushions set in crystal bowls.

“It’s just incredible, the look of 100 pins with rhinestones displayed together,” Zachritz says.

She says her family has become used to sharing space with her collection.

“And, yes, everyone in my family has gotten a tetanus shot,” she says with a laugh.

* The Rocking Chair Emporium

* 123 N. Glassell St., Orange.

* (714) 633-5206.

* Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.