COLLECTOR Glynn Price

Alarge white house with a bright red door is nestled on South Central Avenue in Alexander City, and behind that eye-catching red door lives Glynn Price who has collected old signs, clocks, thermometers and other timeless memorabilia, since his teenage years.

Born in Alexander City, schooled in Hackneyville and raised in the Red Barn community, Price moved to Sylacauga for a short time but returned to the area in 2012 to display his collection in a restored house with his wife, Patsy.

“When I was living in Sylacauga, I had all this stuff in boxes, sheds and buildings. I sold the house there and moved here just to display this collection. It’s the reason I bought this old house,” Price explained.

South Central Avenue is a main thoroughfare and was the perfect location for passersby to spot a few of the signs and memorabilia Price has collected, including an old Shell gas station sign.

The covered front porch offers a mere glimpse of the collection, most of which is tucked away inside the house, giving each room a unique blend of old, treasured items he holds dear. Though Price has never

One Item at a Time

Previous Pages: Signs, clocks and thermometers are among Price's favorite items to collect; Top: He displays most of the memorabilia at his home in Alexander City; Above: He has collected Russell Brands memorabilia, too; Facing Page: Clockwise from top left: CocaCola items can be found throughout the home; The bottle collection came from the attic of the Cozy Corner Drug Store before it became Carlisle's; Price found these gears, which came from old textile mills; The Colonial Bread clock is a prized possession; He has a large collection of old threads; He had Charles Forbus restore the vibrant colors of this iconic sign.

kept up with the number of pieces in his collection, he estimates it to be around 3,500 pieces.

“I love finding vintage, antique thermometers. Clocks are my second passion. You can find a lot of old bread signs, too. Bread is a good one. But I have no rhyme or reason as to why I do like these things,” Price said.

He adds to the collection through a number of different avenues. Trade shows and interaction with other collectors are the main ways he comes across additions to his collection. He also finds attentiongrabbing items by browsing through the aisles of antique shops.

One of the most treasured items in his collection is a Colonial Bread clock that hangs on the wall in the couple’s kitchen. It’s an original clock from the 1930s, and it still runs to this day. He stumbled across this find at an antique dealer in Woodbury, Georgia.

One of his recent exciting finds is an original Frosty Root Beer clock for which he searched five years.

“I found it a few weeks ago. The Frosty items are very collectible, too. The price has just gotten crazy over the .years. Sometimes ,you’ll see an item and just can’t afford to get it,” Price explained.

Though his collection has been growing since his teens, Price believes it’s getting harder and harder to find the truly rare items, as the market has grown over the last decade.

“This market has just exploded. It started rising 10 years ago, but it exploded in the last five years. There are items in my collection that I bought at antique stores, pawn shops that you can’t go out and buy now,” Price explained.

With more collectors emerging in the market, Price said he is always excited when he finds another item worthy of his expansive collection. He doesn’t typically like to sell items from his collection, but every now and then, he makes a trade among his collector friends.

“We swap and trade among ourselves. I do not like to sell; I rarely ever sell anything. I will trade something, especially if I have a duplicate. It’s hard to find a duplicate of an original item. My collection is probably 95 percent original. I’m not a fan of reproductions. The reproductions I do have, I like them, and if I were to get the original, it would be far too expensive,” Price said.

He doesn’t limit his searches to Alabama but has traveled to Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky several times to find items.

“A lot of my collection comes out of Tennessee. My wife and I love going there and doing the Longest Yard Sale every year through Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky,” Price explained.

Though he is willing to travel to nearby states to find something he likes, Price also loves finding local pieces.

“I love local pieces. I did a bit of remodeling on this house when I bought it to put it back to the original house that it was when it was built in 1910. The previous owners had updated it, and I didn’t like the update, so I found a contractor, Steve Busby, who put it back as close to original as he could, including cast iron sinks and clawfoot tubs,” Price said.

With a close resemblance to the original house, the timeless features mesh perfectly with Price’s collection.

Price retired from the convenience store industry in 2019 after 25 years of service. He enjoyed the work, but now that he’s settled in a house that fits his style and his ever-growing collection, he spends his time searching for treasures to add to his collection.

Whenever you’re passing by on South Central Avenue, look to your left and search for the red door. You might be able to spot a few pieces of his collection leaning against the white siding. And if you ever get the chance to meet Price, you’ll find the collector is as interesting as the collection itself.

Part I

Spring is in the air. The flowers are blooming; the breezes are blowing; and we’re all starting to get headaches and feeling pressure. No, not from allergies but from Medicare Advantage advisors. I’m talking about the incessant phone calls, emails and – yes – even text messages from your friendly neighborhood health insurance salesman, or as they like to refer to themselves (inaccurately, I might add) as Medicare counselors.

for-service or FFS).

When you turn 65, you automatically qualify for Medicare A, provided you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years. If you don’t meet the 10-year requirement, you can purchase Medicare A, but the premiums are as much as $506 per month in 2023.

In addition, you pay a monthly premium for Medicare B, which for most people in 2023 is $164.90. The federal government typically deducts that premium from your monthly Social Security check.