Grass Valley, CA — Area trinket collector, “oriental” food connoisseur and occasional racist Terry Adkinson was featured on A&E’s new show called Oddball Collectors for having the world’s largest collection of soiled handkerchiefs. According to producers of the show, Mr. Adkinson has hoarded over 12,000 snot-rags in his Empire Street home since 1967.
“I can’t take full credit for it,” said Mr. Adkinson speaking to The Fazzler on his covered porch over the weekend. “My Father used to go around to all of the Orientals and the blacks and gather their snot rags. He kept them in a box for some reason. Not sure why he did that, but her had hundreds of them. He said something about the John Birch Society or something like that. I dunno, but after he passed in 84′, I kept up the tradition, except now I just take them from homeless people.”
Although just an estimate, the producers of Oddball Collectors didn’t actually count all the dirty handkerchiefs, but given that there is no official record for such a collection, and the fact that no one else has come forward to claim such a filthy distinction, Mr. Adkinson has claimed the top spot. Most of his collection originates in the Nevada County era, with some snot-rags dating back to the Gold Rush.
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“See this one here,” said a mood-elevated Mr. Adkinson has his pulled a crusty and stiff piece of cloth from his shirt pocket. “This one’s from the Empire Mine. Sometime around 1892. Some Cornish miner used this one thousands of feet down to clear out his nose. I think that’s really swell. And take a look at this one,” continued Mr. Adkinson pointing to a nearby table with a red and black square cloth. “This one is a Nazi handkerchief I got off eBay. It was used by an SS officer in Germany in 1942. I was going to have the DNA tested, but I haven’t gotten around to it.”
According to Oddball Collectors producers, Mr. Adkinson’s segment will air later this winter after being heavily edited to remove much of the “racially insensitive language” from his lengthy interview.
