Holiday ritual brings particular joy to neighborhood collector.
Phillip Corcoran likes to collect things – art deco furniture, martini shakers. Christmas trees.
“I started about eight years ago,” Corcoran says. “I have a friend who collects silver ornaments, and I guess that planted the idea. Then I happened onto a dealer who had purchased a wonderful collection in Oklahoma and I started buying a few pieces from her at a time.
“Then the miracle…of the curse…of eBay happened along,” he laughs. “And friends have given them to me as gifts over the years.”
“The silver tree has ornaments by Reed and Barton, Gorham, Lunt International – most have done series that have gone on for many years. I guess it goes without saying that polishing is not exactly a short task.”
Collecting has been a passion for the neighborhood resident since his college days, starting with his unique and varied collection of Art Deco furniture.
“When I first graduated and got out on my own… since then I have changed out pieces and bought additional pieces. When I started, it wasn’t very popular, but in the last five or six years, it’s become quite collectible again.”
The other household taste, arbiter, Shadow the Pekinese, luckily takes a less interested  approach to the dangling and glittering treasure than would your average – and in this case extremely dangerous – tabby cat. In fact, as long as the majority of the room’s attention is directed Shadow’s way, the only furnishings of interest to this resident are those deemed a suitable destination for napping and posing.
And so it is that December, the Corcoran holiday decorations are instated uneventfully to become the crowning touch to the home’s decor.
“I do it all every year, I never skip,” he says. “Christmas has always been a time I liked. Â Â Â 5
