Dear Lee,

Every flea market has unusual or even one-of-a-kind collectibles for sale. No matter how odd the item, there’s a buyer who can find a use for it. We came across quite a few unusual collectibles in Connecticut. For $40 we bought something we’d wanted for years-a Monta Mower. It’s a strange lawnmower that was popular in the early 1900s. It is now leaning on a wall in our garden, causing questions from every visitor. Then there was a dealer with a surrealistic display of doll heads, arms, and legs that were molds for rubber dolls. Each piece was covered with black dripped rubber. The molds were selling well at $25 apiece-to photographers. A croquet set by Spalding, complete in the original box, was marked $650. It was specially made for night play-each wire wicket had a candleholder at the top. A croquet enthusiast was debating about the wisdom of organizing night games. A three-ball sign, the traditional symbol of a pawn shop, was offered for $495. It was made of large copper plumbing-fixture floats suspended from an iron frame. It will hang like a mobile from the ceiling of a modern room. A mysterious tilting stand we couldn’t identify was priced $445. It had a large black base supporting a tilting chrome column with a hefty chrome ball at the top. We were told it was a ship’s stand-up ashtray. The column moved with the ship. When you pressed down on the ball, the ashtray opened and then emptied into the base of the stand. It sold the first hour of the show to a collector of cruise ship memorabilia.

P.S. Do you wonder why this space is titled “Letter to Lee”? Many readers write to ask who Lee is. So to solve the mystery, we explain every so often that Lee is our son. The letters started when he was in college. They have become a tradition in our 28-year-old newsletter. It’s a good thing we started back then, because today we would be writing e-mails.