Friday,
May 14, 2010
Largest
Rubber Duck Collection
- world record set by Charlotte
Lee
FREMONT, Seattle, WA, USA -- Charlotte
Lee
, 40 - an assistant professor in UW’s Department
of Human Centered Design & Engineering - has 5,239 unique
rubber ducks and sets the new world record for the Largest
Rubber Duck Collection
.
( enlarge
photo
)
Charlotte
Lee
has been collecting rubber ducks since 1996. She
reports that her collection is growing more slowly these days
and cites her selectiveness as a major factor.
She has dedicated the entire small basement
of the Fremont condo she’s lived in since December 2008 to
her “rubber duckies.”
It took her husband - once a reluctant
supporter, now an avid duck hunter - months to put up the
shelves and cabinet that line the walls down there. “I like
the ducks, he likes the hunt,” Lee said. “It’s a good partnership.”
The collection started in 1996 and began
as gifts from friends to augment the rubber ducks they noticed
she had in her bathroom.
In her travels all over the world, she
picks up the ducks as souvenirs. Friends still give them to
her as gifts.
She’s got a cabinet of the classic
rubber ducks, but also thousands of every shape, style and
size. Some glow in the dark, some smell like strawberries
or lemons, some are big enough for children to ride on, some
have eyes that bug out with a squeeze, some even play off
popular culture: the i-Duck and i-Duck Nano; or Pond, James
Pond.
She’s starting to run out of space,
so she’s researching museums that might be able to house part
of her collection.
Charlotte Lee has earned her place
in the Guinness Book of World Records for the World’s
Largest Rubber Duck Collection
in 2003, when her collection
weighed in with 1,439 unique rubber ducks.
The 2007 Guinness World Record for World's
Largest Rubber Duck Collection
stood at 2,583 unique
rubber ducks, and was awarded to Charlotte Lee.
A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a duck,
and is generally yellow. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like
material such as vinyl plastic (which is more often used).
The yellow rubber duck has achieved an iconic status in American
pop culture and is often symbolically linked to bathing.
Rubber ducks are collected by a small
number of enthusiasts in countries including the United Kingdom,
Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand,
United States, and the Netherlands.
In 2001, The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper reported
that Queen Elizabeth II has a rubber duck in her bathroom
that wears an inflatable crown. The duck was spotted by a
workman who was repainting her bathroom.
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Related world records
:
Largest
Plastic Duck Race-world record set by The Great British Duck
Race
Most
ducklings hatched - world record set by a mallard duck
Largest
Easter Egg Collection - Easter Egg Museum in Poland set
world record
Largest
collection of bunny memorabilia - The Bunny Museum sets
world record
Largest
collection of crab memorabilia - Dr Darren Martin sets
world record
Largest
toothpaste collection - world record set by Dr. Val Kolpakov
Thursday, May 13, 2010