Collectible Cracker Jack Harry Rinker has a scientific explanation on pack rats.

        “There's a collector gene in DNA they haven't found yet, and in some people, it's more developed than others.

        “And if that's true, people who collect are normal and those who don't are sick. It's my job to fix that.”

IF YOU GO

What: Appraisals by Harry Rinker, antiques and collectibles expert.   When: 2-5 p.m. Friday, 9-11 a.m. and 1-5 p.m. next Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Nov. 4.   Where: The Brass Armadillo Antique Mall, 10132 Business Center Drive, West Chester Township, just off interstates 75 and 275 near Crescentville Road and Ohio 747.   Registration: Call Larry Gibson, 874-7855.

        Mr. Rinker will be helping folks assess collectibles and antiques Friday through Nov. 4 at the Brass Armadillo in West Chester Township for $10 per item with a three-item limit.

        The author and host of Watcha Got, a radio antiques and collectibles call-in show broadcast in several marketsand on the Internet, deals with the missing antiques/collectibles gene problem by telling people in his clever, fast-paced patter what they have and — sometimes — what they don't have.

        “We usually see three types of objects: family stuff, things people aren't quite sure of — and the news for them is sometimes pretty grim — and stump-the-expert, where people come in with things just to see if you know what you're talking about.

        The expert, headquartered in Vera Cruz, Pa., has seen everything from a 1920 Tiffany flatware set for 16, “including every imaginable serving piece, worth tens of thousands” to a rat trap that fired a bullet at the rat.

        “I wasn't sure what it was, but someone in the audience recognized it,” he says.

        Here are Mr. Rinker's tips on choosing items for appraisal:

        • If your grandparents played with it, sat on it or ate off it, bring it in.

        • If you're over 50 — or even 40 — and you played with it, ate off it or sat on it, bring it in.

        • If someone told you it was worth a lot of money, bring it in.

        • If it speaks to a decade, as in, “It looks like the '20s or '40s,” bring it in.

        • If you love it, bring it in (“But I don't do spouses,” he jokes.)

        “The best things are family items with a lot of sentiment to them. I love nothing more than dealing with that. There's a big emphasis on high-ticket stuff. But it's more fun dealing with the small stuff.”

        From Holly Hobbie to Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia, Mr. Rinker doesn't differentiate.

        “If you like Beanie Babies, fine. I think collecting is a natural act, something you do instinctively. I try to make it fun.”

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