Word: wiring
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...hissing rattlesnakes on his farm to recover a small piece. A tourist from Camdenton, Mo., wanders through a live minefield in Israel intently snipping specimens. All of these "barbarians," as they call themselves, are hooked on one of the more unlikely but fast-growing hobbies in the U.S.: barbed-wire collecting...
Lured by the dubious romance of the rusty wire, some 65,000 collectors are now in the field, many of them members of one of the two dozen local, state or regional barbed-wire associations. The Barbed Wire Association of La Crosse, Kans., has crowned a Miss Barbed Wire and sponsors a world championship barbed-wire splicing contest...
Wide Variety. To the uninitiated, barbed wire is, well, barbed wire. But collectors know that there are some 1,500 varieties of the metal fencing, used for over a century to keep cattle from destroying farm lands. Early manufacturers created a wide variety of prongs, prickers, stickers and other barbs. An expert can easily distinguish a brand known as the Dodge Rowell from, say, Hunt's Double Plate Lock Link. Prices vary according to the age, condition and variety of the wire, and range from giveaways to more than $100 for an 18-in. segment. Rare varieties like...
...Barbed-wire buffs often rationalize their pastime by insisting that it gives them a sense of American history. Says Edward Mulcrone, a collector from Hometown, Ill.: "I wish every piece could tell me what it's gone through...
...Kalb, Ill., which was a major manufacturing center for barbed wire in the late 1800s, is a favorite hunting ground. Armed with metal detectors, collectors forage through old farm land, overgrown ravines and even garbage dumps. Most obey a strict credo: ask permission before snipping a barb, and splice new wire in its place...