Harley Spiller

NEW YORK—Harley Spiller is probably one of the most diversified collectors we have featured on ArtInfo. He describes himself as, “just a guy who loves to collect stuff, all kinds of stuff,” but that rather understates his acquisitive enthusiasm.

His alter ego is “Inspector Collector,” (www.inspectorcollector.com), in whose guise he does extensive education work with children using collecting as his theme. And among his own collection, Spiller lists autographs, postcards, spoons, scissors, maps, bottle caps, toy boats, New York City Metrocards, fortuneteller handbills, miniature cast-iron frying pans and Chinese restaurant menus. (In fact, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most menus.)

Harley Spiller also collects art, and—unadventurous though it may seem—we asked him to focus on that.

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My First Acquisition:

[It] was a pair of etchings by Robert Henri—they were a gift from my parents. My two sisters, Lora and Jill, also got a pair each. I can’t tell you how much they cost—my parents won’t reveal such information! They’re hanging in the den in our childhood home, where they’ve always been. Whenever we are all at home we discuss at length which ones we want—who gets which two is still up in the air!

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My Most Recent Acquisition:

A handmade custom two-drawer box for my spoon collection, with a small compartment for chocolates. It was the first Valentine’s gift from my girlfriend, [sculptor] Micki Watanabe. She’s now my fiancée, and we’re getting married at the end of December. It only cost a kiss.

She said it was easy to get presents for me because I have many of my collections listed on my Web site. She just trolled around ’til she found that I wanted a Welsh love spoon, so she got one and carved our names in it and it rests in the top compartment. A couple of other lovely spoons she scored on eBay are also part and parcel of the sculpture.

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Favorite Item in My Collection:

I treasure the “Thank you” note I received from Art Spiegelman that includes a drawing of one of [Spiegelman’s] now-famous mice.

He had sent some information about his new project, Maus, to the chief curator of The Jewish Museum. I was her assistant in the early to mid-1980s. She passed on including it for a show she was curating, called “Jewish Themes: Contemporary American Art.” I showed it to her again. Again she passed. I tried a third time, and she agreed to visit his studio. When she saw his collection of comic books, organized in a fastidious library, she was wowed and began to understand the importance of this new work. She included his work in the exhibition, and he was given a glass case to display the preliminary drawings.

He also asked to display a real mouse that had been stuffed by a taxidermist. We had to check with the head rabbi of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (The Jewish Museum is under its auspices), and, lo and behold, it was indeed kosher to display.

Art went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for [his Maus] work.