Charles Duval, who works at Little Rock’s Fabulous Finds Antiques, was looking for something small to collect, when his friends found a cat-shaped tape measure at an antique store. Charles had never seen anything like it before, “as whimsical or unique,” he says, so he bought it. The next week, he bought another one. And he is still collecting them nearly 40 years later. “I’m known for it,” he says with a smile.

Charles owns more than 1,250 antique tape measures. There are cats, dogs, birds, boats, people, hats, cars—“almost any shape you could imagine,” he explains. They’re made from brass, tortoise shell, ivory, sterling silver, celluloid, wood, metal, rubber, and, in the case of one miniature charm variation, even gold. Some also have moveable parts, such as a windmill, clock or the brass, spinning carousel that Charles discovered at an antique show in Kansas City. “It’s my favorite,” he says, noting its rarity. Meant to be used and not simply displayed, interactive varieties in good working order are very unusual today.

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