One Willow Glen resident expresses his patriotism through an ever-growing collection of an American icon. Another expresses hers through a tree in her living room.

From the outside, Charles Colburn's home on Johnston Avenue seems like many others in his Willow Glen neighborhood. The only hints of his personal passion are a flag illustrated with a picture of the Statue of Liberty waving proudly in the breeze and a representation of Lady Liberty in the form of a sheet metal lawn ornament.

But inside the house, it's a different story. The Statue of Liberty stands proudly either as a statuette, a carving or some other representation in just about every room and on every wall in Colburn's home. Anything featuring Lady Liberty—be it a belt buckle, a wristwatch, a commemorative beverage can or a stuffed animal—he is looking to have, even if at times the collection grows to the point of driving his wife, Maryann, bonkers.

One score and five years ago, Charles would visit the Lost Flea Market in downtown San Jose, where his children, now all grown, would get copies of old comic books, and it was there that one day Charles saw a statue at one of the vendor's booths.

"I kept looking at it and admiring it each time I visited the flea market," Charles recalls. "And I came by so many times admiring it he just gave it to me. He said, 'Here! Take this away from me since you admire it so much!'"

That first statue led others to believe that Charles had become smitten with Lady Liberty.

"People would see that I had one so they figured they'd bring me one whenever they'd go on a trip," Charles says. "I started looking at other flea markets, and if I saw one I liked I'd get it."

He acquired so many statues and statuettes that he eventually ran out of room, and he has no idea where some of his collectibles even are in his house.

"I have so much stuff it's mind-boggling," says Charles of his 25-year-old collection.

But everything showcased is still placed carefully on shelves or lovingly kept in framed display cases.

In a mountable display case, among lapel pins and campaign buttons, he has a door key from a hotel in Italy with a depiction of a sailing frigate arriving at Ellis Island.

Sal Falcone, who owns Falcone Jewelry & Coins on Lincoln Avenue, got the key for him.

Pocket knives, pocket watches, lapel pins and rings made out of Statue of Liberty quarters and old Boy Scout neckerchief holders can also be found on display in his house.

His good friend Falcone helps furnish most of his collection, with Charles frequently coming by Falcone's store.

And just when visitors think the statue can't be on anything else they will find it on plaques, belt buckles, Zippo lighters and ashtrays—though he doesn't smoke, and giant beer steins—though he doesn't drink.

Newer additions to the collection include crystal cubes with three-dimensional laser etchings of the Statue of Liberty, which share shelf space with decades-old brass statuettes. A Statue of Liberty Furby is grouped with cartoon characters Betty Boop, Dolly Dimples and Bugs Bunny. The collection even includes such delicacies as a dehydrated commemorative chocolate statue, still in its original 1986 packaging, and a box of Kellogg's Special K cereal featuring an illustration of the statue.

And the food collection keeps growing.

"We've been finding Liberty Gold brand canned foods at Lunardi's," a local independent grocer, says Maryann.

An empty pint box of Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk was saved because the statue appears on the label. There is also one statuette on a decanter for whiskey Charles never opened.

And somewhere, Charles believes, he has a piece of the plaster of Paris from the actual statue, which he acquired after he donated to the statue's refurbishment in 1986.

Charles and Maryann believe their names are engraved on a commemorative brick as a result of their donation but they're not sure because Charles has never had the pleasure of meeting Lady Liberty in person.

"I've been to New York but I've never been to the statue," he says. "It's always been my dream, but for one reason or another I just haven't paid a visit to the statue."

Yet he is knowledgeable about the history that surrounds the statue, as well as Lady Liberty trivia.

The original statue that looks out onto the New York Harbor wears a seven-spiked crown—one for each continent—and the torch in the raised right hand represents the light of the world.

Charles won't include a piece in his collection that has the wrong number of spikes in its crown, but he'll make exceptions if the piece strikes his fancy, like a Bugs Bunny statuette with eight spikes.

His vast collection runs the gamut, from the absurd to the sublime. In the living room stands a lawn ornament that doubles as a water sprinkler. Next to it is a Lady Liberty Barbie doll, given to him by his daughter-in-law. One statue serves as a rubber dog chew toy, and he also owns a series of thimbles with Lady Liberty painstakingly hand-painted on them.

But his most prized representation is a wood carving relief of King Kamehameha in the pose of Lady Liberty.

"It's one of a kind as far as I know," he says. "Nobody's ever told me they've seen another one. In the years I've been collecting I've never come across another one or seen any reference to it."

There are some statuettes, however, Maryann wishes her husband had never acquired. One statue has a motion detector that bleats the national anthem whenever something gets close to it. Another has a light-sensitive sensor that plays the national anthem whenever a light comes on.

"It drove me nuts every time they came on so I screamed at him to turn them off!" Maryann says.

Another statuette with a sound detector dances when it hears noise.

"It was ridiculous," she said, "But our grandkids enjoyed it, at least."

What can't stand on shelves or be kept in glass display cabinets goes on the wall, or even the backs of doors.

The wall of Charles' study has posters, plaques, commemorative stamps and certificates of appreciation for his various civic activities and even a thank-you note from a class of grade school students to whom he gave a presentation on the statue in 1983. Maryann worked for the San Jose Unified School District and volunteered her husband to give presentations on Flag Day.

On the wall of his study he also has a poster from 1986 that is slightly yellowing and fraying at the corners.

The centennial, 1986, was a boon year for his collection. He couldn't go anywhere without finding a statuette that he felt compelled to purchase. It just added to the excitement over the original statue, which was refurbished and reintroduced on the Fourth of July to a record-setting fireworks display over the New York harbor.

It was also the year he began to lose count of the pieces in his collection and began to run out of space.

"There are statues in boxes I haven't even gotten into yet," he says.

He and Maryann sometimes disagree as to where, when or from whom Charles got a particular statuette or commemorative item.

"The big problem is how to display all this stuff," he says, scanning a display cabinet that has hand-sculpted metal or porcelain statuettes sharing space with plastic Lady Liberty pencil sharpeners and collectible summer glasses from fast food chains.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Beacon of Light: Charles Colburn has hundreds of Statue of Liberty collectibles. One of his many items is a lamp with patriotic symbols, including the picture of the statue, the U.S. flag and the American eagle. The lamp was a gift from his daughter Cathleen Clark.

He collects just for the sake of collecting. He says he's never come across or heard about some special or rare Lady Liberty that he just had to have.

"I did once see a statue in San Francisco that was gold-plated and had diamonds in it," he says in a not-too-forlorn manner. "But they wanted something like $2,000 for it and I figured, 'Forget it.' "

"I mean, I love the statue, but there's only so much I'll pay for one," Charles says. "But if I were to go to New York, I'd have to take a semi-truck with me to haul all the stuff I'd bring back."

Maryann admits that it's the big statuettes that Charles sometimes brings home or gets as a gift that make her think her husband is beyond help. It doesn't matter how beautiful or grand it appears—"the only thing I can think is, 'Where in the world are we possibly going to put this?' " she says.

Yet as much of an avid collector of the statue that he is, he believes he has no way of appraising each item's value.

"Everybody keeps telling me, 'Well, why don't you write a book about all this stuff?' but I wouldn't know where to start," he says. "I've never really been able to document the age of these items. Plus there's no definitive book on the subject about collectibles of the Statue of Liberty. I may find bits and pieces of information about the value of something in a collector's book but not one dedicated only to the statue."

Catherine Edwards is another Willow Glen resident who understands the value of a patriotic collectible.

In the wake of Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq, she said she wanted to do something patriotic, and for the past few years the Shibley Avenue resident has kept a year-round theme tree in her living room.

As an extension of the festive ambiance that a Christmas tree provides, she created a Halloween tree with Halloween-themed ornaments, such as bats, jack-o'-lanterns and werewolves. And for some time she also had an Easter-themed tree.

Then she decided to have a patriotic-themed tree during the summer and spent some time looking for the appropriate ornaments, which she finally found last December at the Eclectic Touch, a Lincoln Avenue indoor home furnishings store. She bought them and waited patiently for the middle of June to hang them in time for the Fourth of July.

The inexpensive $50 "Charlie Brown" tree that stands modestly at about 4 feet tall is adorned with red, white and blue flags, banners and bells.

She is considering adding red, white and blue blinking lights and maybe a small model train as well.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Stars and Stripes: Catherine Edwards arranges a small evergreen with holiday decorations. For the Fourth of July the tree features ornaments and ribbons of red, white and blue.

"But the popularity increased dramatically over the past two years, I think because of Sept. 11," he says.

Both Charles Colburn and Catherine Edwards prefer to keep their patriotism simple and focused.

"The reason I just focus on the tree," Edwards says, "is that I can have the red, white and blue on it only and not anywhere else in the house. We'll display a flag on Flag Day and Memorial Day but that's about it. It's not like we have place mats and dishes, you know. It's not like an overkill of patriotism."

Although Charles Colburn's been fostering his patriotism since the late 1970s, Edwards' patriotism blossomed only recently, as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.

One of Edwards' bridesmaids from her 1990 wedding, a friend of 15 years, was on the first flight out of Boston that was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center.

Edwards, bereaved, felt compelled to focus her career on helping others after the death of her friend. A marketing consultant, she began to work more with humanitarian organizations. "I felt I should work for at least a couple years helping a nonprofit build a market presence, especially one that's dedicated to helping people," she says.

Although Charles Colburn's and Edwards' interest in Americana arose for different reasons, both plan to leave their collection to their children, and for Charles his grandchildren as well, with the hope that their statutes and ornaments continue to be enjoyed in the future.