A look at some of Nantucket residents’ most curious collections.

Matthew Palka, Marble Eyes

Matthew Palka’s offbeat collection began with a visit to the Toy Boat on Straight Wharf. Over a decade ago, he stopped in the now-shuttered shop with his fiancée, admiring its trinkets and curios. One treasure in particular caught his eye: a marble eyeball with a snake wrapped around the base, its head resting on top. He marveled at the little sphere of glass but left without buying it. Six weeks later on their wedding day, Palka’s wife, Lydia, presented him with a gift. It was none other than the marble eye he’d spotted. She didn’t know it at the time, but that gift would eventually balloon into a collection of 251 marble eyes.

He was never a collector of traditional glass marbles or even a kid who played with them, yet the colors, the level of detail and the artistry on the eyeballs are simply something he admires.

“Nobody I knew had really seen or heard of them,” says Palka, who is the owner of Matthew Palka Landscape. “I didn’t know anything about them. It was just fun.”

Upon research, the source of the marble eyeballs still seems to be a mystery, but that didn’t stop Palka from his collection. When each of his three daughters was born, he acquired matching eyeballs to mark the occasion. Then, after the Toy Boat closed, he turned to sites like eBay and Etsy to find interesting designs. Palka began following glass artists like Kenny Talamas and Lindsey Peterson online, buying ones with new colors and patterns when he’d come across them. Eventually, he began arranging them in a display case in his home office, which he’ll keep filling with interesting pieces. Each eyeball he finds is completely unique, much like human eyes. “I just got one from Kenny Talamas that has a tree on the back of it,” Palka says. “I’m always doing stuff with trees everywhere all over the island. To have that on the back and the eyeball on the front—it’s just cool. You can always have a personal take on them.”

Dr. Timothy LePore, Antique Revolvers

At 79 years old, Dr. Timothy Lepore still spends most of his time caring for the people of Nantucket. The island’s resident surgeon has a full calendar—as most of his patients, family and friends know—but when he does find a moment to himself, he’s likely admiring his vast collection of antique revolvers and pistols. “I grew up interested in knives, guns, bows and arrows,” recounts Lepore. A little later, when he was a freshman in high school, he acquired his first gun: a lever-action rifle. It wasn’t long before he realized what he really enjoyed. “I seemed to gravitate towards antique firearms,” he says. His current collection, of which there are dozens upon dozens of specimens, ignited with one type of gun: an 1849 Colt. It’s the revolver model that put Colt on the map as a company. “They’re fascinating old guns,” says Lepore, who owns a version with an ivory grip. “And they come with obscure different engravings on the barrel.”

Other guns have followed as the years have marched on, including an 1811 Springfield flintlock musket, a Remington Model 1858, a few Winchester Model 1885s, a Savage Model 99 and many more. “It gets obscure,” admits Lepore. Naturally, he’s protective of his vast collection and stores the guns in several booby-trapped vaults. One wrong move and a burglar could discover an “unpleasant surprise,” per Lepore.

What all of Lepore’s guns have in common is a representation of a period in history, which is what he enjoys most about each one. Some models were used in the Civil War, others were thought to have been brought to Nantucket by members of the Navy. “Guns all have a history, a mechanical history,” he says. “And they played a role in the history of the country.”

Janet Sherlud, Lightship Baskets

Upon entering Janet Sherlund’s home, it’s evident someone with a collector’s spirit lives there. For almost 25 years, Sherlund has been adorning her house with her favorite things: Nantucket lightship baskets. “It’s just something that my heart responds to,” says Sherlund, who bought her first basket on Main Street soon after moving to the island in 2000. Since then, she’s amassed more than 200 of the woven creations, which originated on Nantucket in the 19th century. One of Sherlund’s largest displays sits under the front staircase where over a dozen baskets take center stage, with several sets of nesting baskets resembling crowns. Up the stairs, friendship baskets—the kind used as handbags—cover an antique bench, while some command attention from a wooden hutch, including originals from artist José Formoso Reyes. More baskets sit atop cabinets in her primary bedroom; others are tucked beside sofas and under tables. Sherlund, a trustee emeritus of the Nantucket Historical Association, stresses that she’s not an academic collector—she doesn’t have goals or certain models she’s after. Instead, she selects them based on the colors, shapes and carvings she’s drawn to. Her inventory ranges from historical baskets made as early as the 1800s to Folger and Appleton designs, as well as more contemporary pieces created by locals. Her most prized baskets include a nesting set of 18, crafted by Nantucket basket weaver Kathleen Myers with scrimshaw detailing by Lee Ann Papale. Sherlund collaborated with the artists to choose what quotes and designs would grace the scrimshaw handles. Beyond the piece’s custom detailing, Sherlund says she’s never known of any other weaver to complete a nesting set as large as 18. Every basket Sherlund acquires has been from the island, though the thrill of the hunt pales in comparison to the joy she receives from the environment she’s created. “Whether they’re something you’ve found in an old dusty corner of a secondhand store or something at the finest antique store, I think having baskets in a room just grounds it,” Sherlund says. “It makes a space feel warmer and more human.”