Of the 30 or 40 who came to the auction, only a few were local. Barbara Flynn of nearby Nixa, Missouri, bought her first head vase in 1993 for a nickel and was hooked. Donna Martin of Ozark, Missouri, had gotten one when she was nine years old and getting her appendix out. Auctioneer Richard Ness claimed to have about 250 mail bids, as well. She demurely casts her eyes downward, giving her audience a clear view of long black applied lashes, which are easily broken.
Most collectors prefer the ladies to babies and children.
The collection auctioned by Richard Ness belonged to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, collector Dee Strous. Although it contained quite a few kiddie heads, it was still attractive enough to bring in collectors from the Midwest and West, including Michael Tillison of Long Beach, California, who had flown in for the sale. He estimated that there are at least a couple of thousand different head vases. I live in California, and heads are harder to find there, but they seem to be cheaper. On the East Coast, especially in Pennsylvania, they're everywhere, but the prices are double and triple on common heads what they are in California.