May is a great month for the collecting spirit. It bursts into full bloom with the warmer weather, amplifying the urge to get out and about. Thats when collectors like the late Don Stine were shoveling coal in the boiler to get the locomotive steamed up to start hitting the auctions and the shows. An avid train collector, Stine was well known among the train collecting community in the Midwest and belonged to many of the collector clubs. His massive collection will be a featured highlight in the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 12, 13, and 14, Rich Penn Auction Event. The auction will be held at the Waterloo Convention Center in Waterloo, Iowa. Expect to see a large selection of electric and windup trains with associated layout pieces. The Stine collection had multiples of the same items, so theres a broad and deep variety to choose from. All the major train names will be found. He also had hundreds of tin litho windup toys, many of which are in excellent condition in the original boxes. The late Ray Reetz also collected toys. He loved both battery-operated and tin windups, including a variety of trains, planes and automobiles. Mechanical banks like the Columbus Worlds Fair, Uncle Sam, Magician, William Tell, Paddy & the Pig, as well as dozens of others will be sold. An important collection of mid- to late-19th-century tobacco and brewery advertising lithography from the collection of Dave and Bonnie Libby is among the featured offerings. The Libbys loved rare, scarce and hard-to-find works from the pre-prohibition era, such as early Budweiser pieces. Advertising and country store collectors always have choice items to bid on at Rich Penn auctions. Display cases and cabinets, a mid-century beauty bar, soda fountain items, old candy jars, a round back classic restored Koken Barber chair and Coca-Cola material are all well represented. The Coca-Cola items include many rare pieces like perfumes, lipstick holders, early bookmarks, trade cards and a 1906 stamp holder. In small towns across middle America where the Soda Fountain serving Coca-Cola may have been the social center, the business hub was often the local and regional stock yards. Farmers had to show their livestock at expositions, fairs and stock shows. When it was time to take them to market, sellers went through commission agents at the stockyards. Featured in this auction is a great variety of early stockyard advertising and promotional materials, and just like Coca-Cola, that includes signs, posters, watch fobs, and publicity photos. During the mid-20th century, sign maker art changed in form, materials and size, with bigger being better. Porcelain and neon became popular among sign companies. Petroliana connoisseurs will find an impressive selection of porcelain and neon signs in this auction, but theyll have other choices too: clocks, displays, oil bottles and carriers. Among the special rarities is a ca. 1920s Splitdorf Spark Plug Display in excellent condition. Ford lovers will appreciate the rare cast aluminum Ford Golden Jubilee Crest dealer wall sign. Pump collectors will love the restored Tokheim 850 clock face pump. Among the neons will be a rare mid-1950s Pontiac Strato Streak V8 in three colors and a Commander V8 neon from the same era by Studebaker. All are original, in working condition, and a dramatic backdrop for the seven classic cars selling, to include a restored 1971 Mustang Fastback, a 1958 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser and an original 1964 Ford Galaxie 500. Victorian era lighting, porcelain, glassware and furniture including centuries-old pieces are coming from the United Kingdom estate of the late Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton and Member of the House of Lords. Furnishings from his Iowa summer home are 17th and 18th century pieces. It will be another wonderful auction with a very wide assortment for collectors. There are a number of great pieces in this auction that weve never sold before. Itll be a fun education watching them sell, commented Rich Penn. The newly renovated Waterloo Convention Center is just 100 yards from our office. The center is a great facility and is connected to a hotel and parking ramp by an enclosed skywalk. Its within easy walking distance to some great restaurants. The hotel gives our guests a special $84 room rate, and I think well have some other fun things lined up too. Were really looking forward to it! The site is conveniently located in downtown Waterloo, just one block off the freeway, added Penn. For those who cant make it, Penn offers multiple bidding options, including absentee, telephone and live bidding online through LiveAuctioneers. For additional information, contact Rich Penn Auctions at 319-291-6688 or visit www.RichPennAuctions.com.