Fall of the House of Bobble

Bobble Shrugged.

For nearly two decades, I have been collecting Supreme Court and other bobbleheads. I proudly displayed my collection in two cases mounted to the wall in my office. Notice how I used the past tense. Here is how the cases appeared a few months ago.

On Friday, I visited my office for the first time in several weeks. When I opened the door, I saw it. One of the two cases had fallen off the wall. More than a dozen bobbleheads fell to the floor. They were shattered, broken, and decapitated. This was like a reign of terror for bobbleheads.

The anchors on the wall were still holding. But the brackets on the back of the case were attached by screws, and those screws fell out. My guess is that the case simply became too heavy for those screws. The last bobblehead I added was Justice Kagan's new bobblehead. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. The only remedy for this injustice, of course, is for Justice Kagan to resign. But I repeat myself.

I then spent some time picking up all the pieces. The entire experience was very sad.

The bobblehead that was damaged the most was poor Justice Thomas. His head shattered:

I am hopeful these bobbleheads can be reassembled with crazy glue. If anyone has any suggestions, please email me.

In the interim, I've posted on the wall a photograph of how the bobbleheads appear.

Humpty Bobbly sat on the wall. Humpty Bobbly had a great fall. All the Chief's horses and all the Chief's men, couldn't put Humpty Bobbly together again.

Comments

[Malika the Maiz]

This kind of thing must be tough for any collector of collectibles. On Chris Jericho’s podcast there was a guy from LA who collected all these plastic collectibles (I want to say action figures, but I’m not sure). When he had to evacuate because of the wildfires he left some in a safe because he thought they’d be safe (it was wild as being fireproof). Well, when he returned the safe was fine but its contents melted. He had not gotten extra insurance to protect his collections so he was trying to get the word out to fellow collectors to consider doing that.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

When I bought a floor safe 25 years ago, I discovered there are/were apparently two kinds.

The paper-protective ones are only guaranteed to keep the contents below 350F or so. Solder flows at 360F (all figures from 25-year-old memory), so these safes are only good for paper documents, metal (like guns), and so on. They are no good for electronics, like backup disk drives or USB sticks. Some of the high temperature may be due to having small holes for power cords for lights and dehumidifiers, but that wasn't clear.

The safe I got was rated at 120F for many hours. What impressed me was their warranty of replacing safes which had had their houses burn down on top of them. They had two returns. One showed singing along the carpeted front of the top shelf, which was the result of the expanding braid liner not expanding well enough or holding up well enough over a long fire. The other showed singing at the two top corners where the brass corner pieces had similarly failed. The one I bought supposedly had both problems fixed.

I also bought two portable fire safes, about the size of an old portable typewriter case, for some backup disk drives. These go into the safe for added protection.

[DaveM]

"Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the cabinet that had fallen from the wall. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the wall hangers had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual shelves of inexpensive particleboard. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible loosening of screws, which, extending from the back of the unit, slowly pulled the cabinet further and further until it became lost in the sullen waters of the floor."

- With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher"

[Frank Drackman]

If I remember my Auburn Freshman Materials Engineering class (big “If”, part of why I switched to Poultry Science) it’s called “Metal Fatigue”. Think about that next time you get on a 757 with 37,000 hours on the Airframe.
I only have baseball cards from 1969-1973, and in whatever condition it is when you handled them frequently and flipped them with other “collectors” (not re-selling, actually tossing them in the air and the one who’s came up face side up got the other guys card)

Frank

[JoeFromtheBronx]

MeTV has a collector's corner show with one of the Facts of Life cast members as a host. Is there someone to fill in her shoes for legal collectibles?

[Frank Drackman]

"Blair" I believe, how about that Emily Campagnos from Fox News??, she's easy on the eyes.

[TheAmazingEmu]

I have four GreenBag bobbleheads:
Clarence Thomas I won through a charity auction
Ruth Bader Ginsberg I won at a George Mason casino night
John Jay (mini bobblehead) I got by donating blood
Elena Kagan was super lucky, some law firm was giving it away first come first serve.

I thought about buying a Scalia bobblehead on ebay, but it was several hundred dollars. Needless to say, seeing this is extremely painful.

By the way, if you have any pull, tell them to make a William Brennan bobblehead. Either do a Richard the Lionheart thing or straight up give him a lion (as a nice contrast with Scalia) as the Liberal Lion.

[Frank Drackman]

Checking my collection, I do have Chipper Jones and Tom Glavine Bobbleheads.
I was supposed to get a Bobby Cox, but he was ejected (Rimshot)
See, Bobby Cox holds the MLB Record for Career Ejections by a Manager (162) more than Leo Durocher and Dick Williams combined.
Oh, and a BJ Upton one, but he was out with an injury

Frank

Frank

[Frank Drackman]

Are you sure you're not Dexter Morgan and the Ice Truck Killer is trolling you?
And My Man Clarence's Head Wound looks eerily similar to JFK's....
Let the Conspiracy Theories begin!!!!!!!!

Frank

[Stuart]

It was the bobblehead of Josh Blackman that broke the camel's back.

Use Crazy Glue gel not the liquid as it gives you a bit more time to work it. Be careful.

[Mike Adamson]

Oh, the humanity!

[NvEric]

Poor attachment points and lack of full attachment.
Consider if in sheet rock: attach to studs only !!! The rest will be easy.

If in sheet rock only: good luck, will need molly screws and at minimum four (4), six (6) is better.

In conclusion: trust studs, for objects stay as erected.

[kenwanobi]

This.

Except you can't trust any anchor to hold heavy cabinets. You'll want to run lag screws directly into the studs.

[LeviPWoodbury]

My heartfelt sympathies. I am a collector of Greenbag Justice bobbleheads, and only recently finally obtained the original J Rehnquist bobblehead to complete (or bring current) my collection. They ain't cheap, as a visit to eBay will show you (and confirming that lawyers have too much disposable income).
My preferred display platform for the bobbleheads is a grounded bookshelf supported by its own weight on the floor, rather than any wall attachment. However, these things can vary according to your office and landlord...

[Mark In Florida]

Living in Florida, when we build our new house, I had an interior "hurricane room" room built entirely of concrete blocks, filled with concrete, with a concrete ceiling and steel door, to protect my beloved collection of political campaign memorabilia (thousands of items from Washington to date). Now that I've sold the best stuff I sleep even easier.