Decades-old newspapers, firearms, dishes, books and jewelry were just some of the items available at the Community Counseling Center Foundation's semiannual antique and collectible show at the A.C. Brase Arena building Sunday.

"Antiques are a very popular thing around here," said Larry Essner, executive director of the Counseling Center Foundation. "There's a big variety of things here. You've got antique dolls, dishes, quilts, comic books, furniture, soda bottles and old powder rifles. Some of this stuff is very old."

One merchant's display featured science fiction magazines from the 1940s, Horatio Alger novels and a wooden Heineken clog shoe from the first half of the 20th century.

Another display, operated by Stan Beussink of Marble Hill, Mo., boasted of a whole personal library that Beussink acquired from a minister's estate, which includes a complete Encyclopedia Britannica set from the 1880s.

"I have a set of diaries from this minister that runs for 10 years," said Beussink. "He wrote in these every day. He recorded the weather and the things he did."

He also had a wealth of other printed materials from throughout the 1900s. Beussink reached for a stack of old newspapers and pulled one from the top. It was an issue of the Southeast Missourian dated June 6, 1944.

"This is from when the Allies invaded France, D-Day," he said.

He then pulled out an issue of the Greenville Sun from Greenville, Mo. The paper, from 1941, prominently displayed a picture of the building of Clearwater Dam.

While Beussink had a lot of printed materials at this particular show, he mainly deals in farm implements, which he sells to the Amish, he said.

"I mainly come here and do this to help out the nonprofit organization," he said. "And collecting's a nice hobby for me. I get to meet lots of people and make some acquaintances."

Richard and Joan Dickerson of Ullin, Ill., also came to help the Community Counseling Center.

"We've been collecting and selling for about 25 years," Joan said. "We've been coming to the sales at the Arena building for that long. It's nice to help out the counseling center."

The Dickersons' collection featured knickknacks like dolls, dishes, bottle openers and a telephone from the early 1900s. Some items go back further.

"These fruit paintings are the oldest thing we have," Joan said. "I'm not sure just how old they are, but I'd say at least the 1860s."

More than 50 dealers from Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky attended, and the proceeds from the show went to assist the center. Dealers paid a registration fee to set up tables, and the admission fee was $1.

Most of the dealers at the show, like Beussink and the Dickersons, are collectors who sell their accumulated items as a hobby, Essner said. Around 650 people show up at the event, raising about $800 to assist the counseling center in its mission to treat mental illness, he said.

The center treats clients from Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, Ste. Genevieve and Madison counties, Essner said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 226