The final of installment of this year's “The Collectors” series at the Maridon Museum presents Ellen King's “Curiosities and Conundrums of Make-Do Repairs.”

King of Hilliards, a longtime antiques dealer, will show various types of make-do repairs of china as well as other materials such as glass, wood, books and toys.

Participants will be able to ask questions, but this program is not a how-to for do-it-yourselfers.

“If there is anyone who can still do these kinds of repairs, they're probably in England,” King said. “I don't know anyone in the U.S. who can still do these repairs.”

Her program will deal with all kinds of repairs from the 1600s and later, she said. All the items she has are from the 1800s.

“Early techniques the Chinese used in the 1600s were the same ones the English adapted in the 1800s,” King said.

“The repairs can be primitive looking but there's an art to it, like the copper rivets in china.”

The necessity of reusing such pieces is what attracted King to this topic.

“I think the fascinating part of this is the history. When you look at china plate and it's been stapled together with eight staples, you think of the person who owned this probably lived in a log cabin. It took a lot of love and an appreciation. It was not a throw away society. Anything that couldn't be replaced easily was reused, repaired,” she said.

This program developed from a seminar she prepared for the Flow Blue International Collectors' Club last year in St. Louis.

The club is not very big, only 800 or 900 members, King said, but they hail from across the United States and Canada. She said many club members took their repaired pieces to the convention that year to show them to her.

At the Maridon, King will show slides and a power point presentation, and she will display about 15 items during the 90 minute program.

King said she started collecting when she was 13 and has been an antique dealer for more than 50 years.

“I've been a pack rat of the first degree,” she joked.

“I don't know how you can be an antique dealer and not collect things,” she noted. “If you love the past and you love the history, you're going to keep something sooner or later.”

She said she's passed that love along, too.

“Both of my sons became collectors; both of my nieces became collectors. I don't know if my grandchildren will become involved ... but one of them really likes my doll collection,” she said.

The Maridon program is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. June 15.

Admission is free, but reservations are necessary. Call 724-282-0123.

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n The Maridon, 322 N. McKean St., is open regularly from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and students, and free for children younger than 8 accompanied by an adult.

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n Additionally, the Maridon will host a Night at the Races from 6:30 to 10 p.m. June 9 at Tanglewood Center, 10 Austin Ave., Lyndora, for those 21 and older. Tickets are $25, and reservations are due by Friday.