Griswold man may have world’s largest spittoon collection

Jim Kinner doesn’t chew tobacco. Never has. But deep in the basement of his home, he keeps spittoons.

Glass spittoons, brass spittoons, porcelain spittoons.

Spittoons that look like fish heads.

Spittoons large enough to hold umbrellas and show dents from men’s boots.

Spittoons small enough to pass as ink wells.

They cover every space on 11 metal shelves, stacked six racks high, plus the floor in an 8-by-12-foot room he built in his basement, because his wife won’t let him keep them upstairs. 

All told, Kinner, 71, has more than 350 spittoons and chamber pots, more than the Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Tobacco Museum in Durham, N.C., which has one of the few spittoon exhibits in the country, said Alison Holcomb, assistant site manager.

“I can tell you right off, that isn’t a lot, that’s huge,” said Ben Roberts, former assistant to the branch manager of American Tobacco. “My guess is there’s not anything like that (in terms of) numbers in the collection. There’s probably not anything like that anywhere in the United States is my guess.”

Spittoons were receptacles for spitting into, part of tobacco culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hotels, banks, trains and saloons displayed them in much the same way modern bars displayed ashtrays.

The bowls often had flared openings and an hourglass shape, so the spit could be quickly dispensed of and the bowl rinsed out and reused. Though the system would turn stomachs today, spittoons were considered an advance in public health in their time — a better choice than spitting on the floor.

Because they now are a relative unknown, Kinner bought many from people at flea markets, yard sales and antique shops, who had no idea what they were selling.

“A lot of people don’t know what a spittoon is,” he said. “You can even tell them, ‘This is a spittoon,’ and they get a blank look on their face. Like, ‘What is that?’

“You would think that if the brass says: ‘Redskin Brand Chewing Tobacco, cut plug’ they would realize it has something to do with that,” he said.

Kinner served in the Coast Guard, worked as a welder at Electric Boat, and doesn’t chew tobacco. He never intended to collect these things. He got started following his wife of 49 years through antique shops. She has every flat surface in their three-bedroom house, including the windowsills, filled with her collections of dolls, miniature furniture and bric-a-brac.

“I needed a collection in self-defense,” he said.

At first, he looked at antique clocks, but he couldn’t afford them.

Then he saw a spittoon. He liked it because it was different, something he figured no one else would have.

 His first purchase has “Pacific Railroad” stamped into the brass.

“I have a corner on the market,” he said.

Still, he doesn’t tell friends or neighbors about his collection.

If people knew, he figures they’d ask him why.

“Don’t ask me why,” Kinner said. “I don’t know why.”

Totally American

Roberts said he does.

“They are an extremely interesting item and they are almost totally American,” he said.

“Most people look at spittoons, probably 95 percent look at spittoons as, ‘What a god-awful thing. Who wants to mess with a spittoon?’ It kind of gives you a dirty feeling.

“Let’s analyze it a different way. We’re talking about way back now. We’re talking about sometime in the 1800s and the turn of the century. Chewing tobacco was very widely used. Every courthouse, every law office, every hotel, every bar, every dance hall, every ship, every train. There were spittoons in all of these places, see. And that was in this country. So this is very American.”

Kinner has cancer. He lives with his collection and his animals: five cockatiels, a macaw, two dogs and a cat.

Now that he’s getting older, he’s going to sell his collection. He figures he’ll get about half of what he paid for it, if he’s lucky.

Roberts said perhaps Kinner could donate his finds. The Duke Homestead exhibit, “A Spitting Image: A History of Spittoons and Cuspidors,” has 35 spittoons on display. It has another 100 to 200 of the items in artifact rooms, Holcomb said.

“Instead of it being a collection in a basement that nobody sees, that really isn’t stirring up any thought or interest or education, this would make it more beneficial,” Roberts said.

Kinner said he’ll think about it.

“If I get real insulted by the price they offer me, I may do it,” he said.

Reach Deborah Straszheim at 425-4221 or dstraszheim@norwichbulletin.com