NELSONVILLE, Ohio — More than 175 brick collectors — some from as far away as Texas — gathered in Athens County on July 29 for the 12th Nelsonville Brick Festival, one of the largest and most successful brick swaps in the country.
The first festival was held in 2011, hosted by Ralph Boll under the sponsorship of the International Brick Collectors Association. IBCA, which has nearly 700 members worldwide, sponsors three brick swaps in different U.S. locations each year.
Southeast Ohio was one of the nation’s largest brick producers in the early 20th century, so collectors find lots of older and rarer bricks here. Athens resident Boll decided to continue hosting annual swaps in Nelsonville without IBCA sponsorship, and has done so every year since.
The first event drew 300 brick collectors to Hocking College. Boll said this year’s edition drew 178 collectors, including enthusiasts who had traveled from Indiana, Texas, Missouri, Illinois and North Carolina.
“Even the IBCA rarely has that kind of turnout, so it’s been very successful for us,” Boll said.
A brick swap is just what it sounds like: Collectors exchange unwanted bricks for ones they’d rather have. At the Nelsonville swap, participants brought up to 12 bricks, which they placed on the ground. At 9 a.m., collectors begin searching for the brick they desire the most. When they find it, they put their foot on it to claim it — and must remain in that spot until a horn blows at 10 a.m., marking the end of the swap.
Tyler Hampshire, who works at a brick factory in Hanover, Ohio, arrived at the swap location behind McDonald’s at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
“I had to get the first spot,” said Hampshire, who has collected over 5,000 bricks since 2016.
Every collector is looking for something different, he said. Hampshire generally looks for building bricks, which he can make similar designs with as a brick creator.
“I mostly collect building bricks because I make bricks myself, and so I’m actually able to emulate the style of building bricks,” Hampshire said. “Whereas pavers were made with a repressed machine — I’m not able to emulate that myself with my own techniques.”
Hampshire estimates his rarest brick, a New York Central Lines paver, is worth between $200 and $300.
Julie Bear began collecting when she joined the IBCA. Bear has collected 4,000 different bricks; some collectors have 30,000 bricks, she said.
Collectors especially prize bricks made between 1880 and 1930, Bear said, because manufacturers marked their bricks to indicate their origin.
Experienced collectors like Bear look for specific bricks.
“They don’t make them very much anymore with names on them or designs, so that’s what we’re looking for, not just ordinary bricks,” Bear said.
Don and Joyce Stivers made the short trip from Meigs County for the Nelsonville swap. While some display their collections on shelves, the Stivers use some of their favorite bricks, called bullseye bricks, on the walls of their kitchen.
Don’s favorite bricks are the bubble bricks made in his hometown of Middleport, Ohio. He used those for their sidewalk.
At the Nelsonville Brick Swap, Don was attempting to track down bricks to complete a snowflake pattern.
“We got some good bricks, but we’re looking for one in particular which we need three more,” Stivers said. “We have three and we want three more to make a pattern on our patio.”
Boll has found that for most collectors, the hobby is less about the bricks’ value or the finished collection than the journey and the memories that correspond with each brick.
“Now for a lot of brick collectors, it’s the hunt that is really important,” Boll said. “That hunt is so important to them to be able to tell that story, and that brick is that little piece of memory now of their story that they get to tell to somebody else.”
