For sale to benefit N.J. synagogue: Japanese novelties collected over a lifetime

As an 18-year-old Army private in occupied Japan, Mel Spiegel started to amass what grew into an eclectic collection of novelty knickknacks. "I just fell in love," he explains, "with the uniqueness of this stuff."

Decades later, the Philadelphia native and his wife, Verna, had great fun scouring South Jersey flea markets for hard-to-find Japanese ashtrays, salt-and-pepper shakers, flasks, figurines, and other decorative items of porcelain, china, or bisque.

The Spiegels ended their flea marketing about six years ago, after Verna became ill. She died in 2014, and after he turned 89 a few weeks ago, he decided to sell most of their lovingly curated array of curiosities on eBay.

The proceeds will help pay for interior renovations at Spiegel's synagogue, Congregation B'Nai Tikvah-Beth Israel (cbtbi.org)  in Gloucester County.

"You hear about how people tell someone they don't look their age," says Spiegel, who doesn't.

"And the next day they drop dead," he says, laughing, then adding: "No one in my family is interested in the collection. I'd hate to die and then have some auctioneer come in here and say, '$100 for the whole thing.'"

The retired owner of a Pitman apparel factory, Spiegel worked in banking and sales as well. He's also a longtime hobbyist and crafter. He designs stained-glass pieces and creates menorahs out of branches, wine corks and shell casings he gets from a shooting range in Glassboro.

"Mel has had a very interesting life," says Rabbi Jordi Gendra, who finds "fascinating" the pieces of the collection Siegel has shown him.

"As a community," adds Gendra, "we are very grateful for this donation."

Says Ron Cohen, a Gloucester Township resident and friend of mine who's also a synagogue member:  "At our men's club breakfast a month ago, Mel said he wanted to help with the sanctuary renovation project and that he had all these Japanese collectibles."

Cohen directs TV commercials and took photographs of items in the collection — which he had never seen — to prepare the eBay listing.

"I was just so impressed with the intricacies of detail and all the beautiful little designs," he says.

Eager to see for myself, I meet Spiegel at his home in Washington Township, where the sale items are packed in boxes.

"I've kept our favorite pieces," he says, directing my attention to a handsome display cabinet — a vintage bookcase he has customized with lighting and glass shelves.

"This is just a smattering of what we collected," he says.

Ah, but what a smattering: Hand-painted tea sets, sake sets, toothpick holders, cigar snuffers, and "naughties," novelty items characterized by geisha imagery or bathroom humor.

"There's an entire [genre] of ashtrays that are donkeys pulling toilets on carts," Spiegel says, picking up a pristine specimen to demonstrate how the tiny little seat opens for, well, ashes.

Most of the hundreds of pieces in the collection were manufactured from the early 20th century through the 1960s. Many are copies of more expensive German or Italian designs. And during World War II, Spiegel says, some Americans threw away their Japanese knickknacks or painted over the Japan on the bottom.

He and his wife continued prospecting for finds at flea markets as long as she was able. But the sort of pieces that first fired the imagination of a young soldier from Philly in 1946 — the delicate cups, the clever ashtrays resembling clown faces — were growing harder and harder to find.

"Verna used to say, 'You know why? '" Spiegel recalls. "'Because you got them all.'"