Out to Lunch Archives
 
Issue 86 - Gone fishing
 
Issue 85 - Adrian Tinline and Stefan McKey represent new generation of antique dealers
 
Issue 84 - Brenda McNeilly, an avid collector of Halloween memorabilia
 
Issue 83 - A tribute to Jay Telfer, founding publisher of the Wayback Times
 
Issue 82 - Richard Bennett, owner of the Horseless Carriage Museum, Bobcaygeon
 
Issue 81 - Marshall Gummer, the Canadian Personal, Property Appraisers Group
 
Issue 80 - A recap of Out to Lunch columns
 
Issue 79 - Bob Murton, builder of a 1912 Model T Ford - in his basement
 
Issue 78 - Sven Kraumanis of Cobourg's Legacy Vintage Building Materials & Antiques
 
Issue 77 - Sandy Neilly, editor of the Wayback Times - a second anniversary lunch
 
Issue 76 - Steven Lloyd, head of the National Decoy Information Centre
 
Issue 75 - Bill Dobson, promoter of the annual Odessa and Kingston Cabin Fever shows
 
Issue 74 - Cal Earle, aka Juke Box Cal, a collector and restorer of vintage juke boxes
 
Issue 73 - Harold Carlaw, owner of a unique - and free - Canadian military museum
 
Issue 72 - Jeff Gadsden, Canadian antique show promoter, with his wife Wendy
 
Issue 71 - Janice Griffith, manager of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough
 
Issue 70 - Les Brittan, former auctioneer of the year and one of the most entertaining auctioneers
 
Issue 69 - Pam Ferrazzutti, Canada's majolica expert, talking about her dealings
 
Issue 68 - Mike Filey, noted Toronto historian and long-time Toronto Sun columnist
 
Issue 67 - MacGregor Roulston, a touching interview with the 90-year-old vet
 
Issue 66 - Lee Caswell, an appraiser on the Canadian Antiques Roadshow TV series
 
Issue 65 - Rene Huard of TV's Antique Hunter fame, talks about how he was chosen by producers
 
Peter Neilly is Out to Lunch
Breaking bread with interesting people
 
Out to Lunch!
with Peter Neilly
I originally met Tony Klompmaker, this issue’s Out to Lunch guest, several years ago when he was in our antique shop purchasing a few vintage barber related items, including a glass-topped Gillette razor display case.
 
We got talking and he mentioned he owned a barbershop in Bancroft that was full of barbering-related antiques and that the entire shop was created to reflect what a barbershop looked like in the early 1900s.
 
It took me a number of years, but I finally got up to see it - and it was well worth the trip.

Peter: I’m glad you invited me up, Tony. This place is amazing. When did you start this business, and where did you find all this stuff?
 
Tony: I started this from scratch back in 2003 and have been adding pieces ever since. Before that I hadn’t worked as a barber for almost 30 years. Most of the pieces were purchased from antique shops. Some of the more rare and harder to find pieces were bought on eBay and some people brought in items to the shop when they knew what I collected.
 
Peter: You have two full-size adult barber chairs and you have one child’s that must be fairly rare. I have never seen one like that before. How old are the chairs?
 
Tony: The large chairs are from the 1920s and the child's chair is a little newer. It’s probably from the 1940s. The same company manufactured all three. Some of the things here are newer, like the barber poles. They would be from the 1950s. The oldest item here is the lather dispenser. It would be from the 1800s and a barber back then would place it on top of the wood-burning stove in his shop to heat up and dispense hot shaving lather.
 
Peter: You have acquired a huge collection of different vintage shaving mugs. Some have unique designs and some have names on them. Can you tell me about the different types?
 
Tony: Back in the old days, many businessmen would go into their local barbershop two or three times a week to be shaved and if you were a regular customer the barber would have a shaving mug with your name on it along with your brush on the shelf. The rarest type of shaving mug and hardest to find is what is called an occupational mug. A blacksmith’s occupational mug might have a horse design, or a picture of his tools on it. A carpenter’s mug might have a saw or hammer image on it.
 
Peter: Thanks for talking the time to show me your shop. You have a great collection. It's certainly worth the drive to Bancroft to see it.
 
I wasn’t able to take Tony out to lunch because he had a steady stream of customers while I was there. Just as I was about to leave, a customer arrived and removed his hat to reveal a mostly bald head and asked Tony, “How much to cut my hair?” Tony looked up at the nearly bald man and answered, “Not much for the hair cut, but I’ll have to charge you a finder's fee.”
 
If you are ever in Bancroft, Ontario, drop in to see Tony at his shop. It is located at 15 Station Street right in town. He doesn’t sell items from his collection, but he is more than willing to show you what he has collected.
 
He also gives great haircuts and 10 weeks ago added the expert services of his daughter, Sarah, to his unique business.
 
 
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