It’s not weird to collect things, lots of people collect things. For a while I was collecting really bad mugs from op shops until I realised that I live alone and owning more than like five mugs is just super weird. But on the whole, collecting things is normal and fine.
Collecting mannequins? Certainly not common, and you would need a lot of space, but kinda cool I guess. Collecting mannequins and then doing custom bodywork to give them (sorry about this) big-ass titties? Yeah my dude, that’s weird.
The late Mike Martin took to mannequin-collecting after buying some for a party in the 90s, and continued to do so until he passed away in July – now his obscenely buxom army of plastic women is up for auction.
He’d buy up any he saw for sale and apparently his wife was not a huge fan, according to his daughter:
“My mom tolerated it. By no stretch of the imagination did she like it. He got up to 10 and told my mom he wasn’t going to get any more. Then time went by and he found a couple more, and he found a couple more, and he found a few more.”
After acquiring the doll he’d go to town on their bust with a resin called Bondo until each breast was roughly the size of a human head, before dressing them up in elegant eveningwear.
As Rich Ranft of Beloit Auction & Realty said in a few more words, you’ve gotta fill in the time somehow:
“Some people are making fun of it online. But everybody collects something. Whenever he heard there was a mannequin for sale, he’d go get it.“They had a small Ford or whatever it was, and he would strap them to the top or put them in the backseat, wherever he could put them.”
Fair enough I guess, at least I feel less weird about the mugs thing now. Around 60 of them are for sale and they could be yours if you feel like paying for the shipping costs.
Source and photos: Milwaulkee Journal Sentinel.
