Eugene R. Klompus has been collecting cuff links since the day his adolescent eye was smitten by a pair of marcasite sparklers dancing on the sleeves of a favorite uncle. After 40 years, he owns a mind-boggling 30,000 pairs, thousands of singles, and uncounted related trappings like tie bars, money clips, and detachable collars.
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Klompus can explain all this before the word “obsessive” even slips from your lips. Cuff links are the perfect collectible, he says. They’re around in bunches, most of them are dirt cheap, and you don’t need to rent a garage for storage–and there’s always the chance you might find a valuable pair at your neighbor’s garage sale. Once you’re addicted, any buy is a high. They’re wearable art, and they’re therapeutic. Come home bedeviled by stress, kick your shoes off, spread ’em out. For collectors, Klompus says, “Even a few pairs of cuff links on the table in front of us are enough to take our minds off the problems of the day.”
In this century, Klompus says, the decade from 1950 to 1960 was the golden era of cuff-link design. Companies used them to advertise their products, politicians gave them away as keepsakes. They were a staple of every male gifting occasion, and became progressively more innovative and quirky. Klompus’s collection includes links that are working watches, slide rules, and music boxes, along with more strictly artistic endeavors like a rendering of Marilyn Monroe in her calendar pose.
