The hobby of beekeeping is enjoying a resurgence today. It is a reminder of the era when farmsteads were diversified operations, producing almost everything a farm family needed to survive. Livestock, poultry, garden, orchard and hive were carefully tended to ensure a farm family’s sustenance.
Vintage beekeeping equipment is scarce today, and many collectors have little knowledge of the category. Collector Jim Lacey is an exception. Jim has a few beekeeping accessories tucked away in the vast collection he and his wife, Joan, have amassed in their Little Village Farm museum near Dell Rapids, South Dakota.
“These pieces were given to us by neighbors and friends,” he says. “Most people who come through our museum use honey and find these pieces very intriguing.”
Common 19th-century beekeeping accessories include 1-pound honey…
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Farm Collector (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2018