NAPIER PHILATELIST WITH OTHER COLLECTING HOBBIES

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28371, 2 September 1957, Page 7

NAPIER PHILATELIST WITH OTHER COLLECTING HOBBIES

‘The Press’ Special Service

WELLINGTON, September 1. A philatelist, a collector of matchboxes, a collector of miniature bottles and miniature trees —Mr D. P. Ronberg. of Napier, is all of these. He gives no reason for this love of collecting, saying simply “I’ve always collected things.” He began as a boy, collecting stamps and first-day covers. He still has an excellent collection of stamps from British possessions, and among his first-day covers he includes one from the South Pole. As he grew older, he began to collect matchboxes—his collection today numbers 8000—and in the last six years he has collected about 5000 miniature bottles Three yeats ago he began experimenting with miniature trees and tree grafting. Today his home is a miniature museum.

Mr Ronberg’s collection of miniature bottles is one of the best privately-owned ones known. Some of the tiny, perfectly-formed bottles contain brandy as old as 100 years, and others are miniatures of bottles of liquor seldom seen in New Zealand. Bottles in the collection come from France. Italy? Russia. Holland, England, Australia, Jamaica. Portugal. South Africa. Germany. Spain. Scotland, and Czechoslovakia. Since the smallest amount of liquor which can be brought into New Zealand at a time is two gallons, whisky miniatures are brought, into the country 92 at a time —they hold three and a half ounces. Others are also brought here in bulk or smuggled into the country by enthusiasts returning from abroad. Mr Ronberg finds matchbox

collecting just as interesting. His matchboxes come from all over the world and include books of matches given away by firms, novelty boxes, and many types that are no longer produced. Some time ago Mr Ronberg read a book about growing miniature trees. He experimented, and today has a small collection of trees no bigger than seedlings though they are two or three years old. He expects them to mature in a few more years like the tinv trees grown by the Chinese. To keep the trees small he has not only to trim the branches but to trim the roots too. This he does usually each June or July. His oldest specimen is a three-year-old maple tree which is less than six inches high.