The Forum at Handcuffs.Org

Benson Cuff Collection

43 visible archived posts · 43 preserved total · topic ID 3554

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

Many years ago this store was open and I had a chance to see it. There is an amazing collection of cuff on display. I made a trip about a week ago and the store is closed. The pictures of the cuffs were taken through the window with no interior lighting. I could not get pictures of everything, but there are some great cuffs. What is going to happen to this collection is not known. So gaze into the past.

Ron

Mark Lyons 10 Jun 2010

There are 2 different Marlin cuffs in pics 2 and 3. It is hard to tell what is different about them, but they are not normal. One has a large oval link.
Very intersting place. Too bad you could not go in.

mark
O--O

joe tanner 10 Jun 2010

RON ::: nice photos .... you called it BENSON COLLECTION..... when i knew about it in the 1980's, i don't know what it was called, but a guy by the name of WALLY ZEARING ran & ?? owned it.... i spoke with him several times & he kept promising to send me photos etc so that we could do some trading... of course, he never did....... he would NOT sell any item unless you were willing to pay HIGH HIGH HIGH price ... example -- $3,000+++ for a MARLIN HANDCUFF... he gave me some great stories about WHO he had sold to etc etc ... example --- told me he sold STEVE MCQUEEN the MARLINS he used in the movie -- BULLIT -- i think... etc..... for $5,000 !!!! ... joe

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

Joe--When I was there in the late 1990's the store was open and yes Wally was there. The main item for sale was candy. He said he would sell cuffs but he really was not interested in selling. He died about ten years ago and the store has been locked up. His wife still gos there but it is not open for business. I have heard that she may donate the collection to the local police department but who knows. Many have left there card, including me, but I do not expect a call. Too bad my pictures do not do it justice. There are some unique pieces on that wall.

Ron

Oly83 10 Jun 2010

It is in Benson AZ and Wally Zearing died in 2007 followed by the store closing up shop in 2008.

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

Thanks Joshua. The locals told me the ten year date. The first picture states the location. I just called it the Benson collection because of the location. I could have used his name.

Joshua 10 Jun 2010

Thanks to you for sharing the photos!! I have a few more details about the family and such...if you're interested just shoot me an e-mail sometime.

Joshua

Dorson 10 Jun 2010

Interesting collection, but I wonder if there are any keys to the cuffs since I don't see any in the pictures...

Ian McColl 10 Jun 2010

Great to see those photos and all the cuffs. I remember Joe Tanner telling me the Steve McQueen story back in 1983 at his old place in Montana and now I know the store were it all began.

Top stuff, someone has got to track this guy down.

Ian

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

#10

The location of the building is Benson, Arizona and is the original building built in 1880. The store front has all the information in the first picture.

Ron

joe tanner 10 Jun 2010

#11

hi ! all ::: i forgot to give credit to SCOTT WARREN of AZ who is the person that informed me in the 1st place about ZEARING..... i remember SCOTT actually was in ZEARINGS, but could not buy anthing.... i remember the he said that ZEARING showed him a DOZEN or more BEAN GIANT cuffs mint in their original boxes that he had in a drawer behind the counter... i believe SCOTT merntioned other items, but the GIANTS stuck in my brain..... joe

Yossie 10 Jun 2010

#12

Back in late 1992 me and a good friend took a xmas/new year road trip to Arizona. We spent a night in Benson and toured Tombstone the next morning. On the way out of Benson thereafter I saw this shop and though I am not an antique browser as a rule, I decided to stop and go in. The collection covered walls and walls and it felt like I had found the promised land! The place was run by an older couple (Wally and his wife) who seemed far more interested in selling candy than selling cuffs. I talked with the owner a while and heard stories similar to the ones that Joe and others have relayed. After being wowed for 15 minutes our schedule called for us to move on.

I do recall him claiming that some of the cuffs were from the war of independence era - in retrospect that seems a bit of an exaggeration on his part. I also recall hearing that he was stationed in the military in the 40s or 50s near Yuma Territorial Prison and that he dug up skeletons of convicts and sawed their bones to remove the shackles they were buried in for his collection.

I had heard that he passed in the 90s, but it seems that was not the case. I wonder what happened to the collection? .. It doesn't seem to have surfaced anywhere that I've heard of.

Anonymous 10 Jun 2010

#13

Sorry it was just pointed out to me that I wrote 2007 for his time of passing and what I MEANT to put was in fact 1997.

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

#14

I found this information from the death notice for Wallace Zearing of Benson, Arizona:

Born: 9/27/1927 Died: 5/19/1997

That agrees with the ten year period I was told. I do not know how long the store remained opened but I was told not long. The locals said it has been closed for many years. There was an attempted break-in about a month ago. Not a good idea since the locals are keeping an eye on the property and the police department is around the corner. I hope the collection is well taken care of in the future.

Ron

Joseph Fox 10 Jun 2010

#15

Thanks for taking the time to share the photos, Ron. Great stuff.

Its nice seeing the building - to finally go along with the stories that I had heard from both Joe T. and Scott W. in the past.

I THINK collector (Gene B.) bought a Bean Neck Collar (sans cuffs) from this place????, or at least in the AZ. area.

Ron Spitz 10 Jun 2010

#16

Hi Joe,

I think Gene WANTED to buy the collar but I don't think he did. We will find out in February.

Ron

Brad Darling 11 Jun 2010

#17

Thanks, Ron.

I'd heard rumors of this for years and finally got a chance to peer through the front window 7-8 years ago. Looks just the same.

Never met Wally or the Mrs. Went to the candy store next door and they said that someone would probably around in the next few days if I wanted to check back, I think that must be the local Benson joke on handcuff passersby.

Great bunch of stuff, nothing breathtaking, but if we could just get it for nothing...why...we could make a fortune.

Never heard of anybody getting a thing out of there.

Somebody recently told me that it had all been removed by a nephew, or somone, and all sold off for nothing to an antique or junk dealer. Yet here are the current pics.

This will be the next Lost Dutchman Mine only we can look in the window.

Oh well...

Brad

Vince 14 Jun 2010

#18

Hi all,

Two years ago during one of my roadtrips, I stumbled upon a rickety wooden "saloon" looking store somewhere in Alabama. The store next door was a seemingly abandoned hardware store, I pulled over, peered into the window - and I swear it looked like time has'nt touched it in 80 years - there were all kinds of tools & cans on the walls, but what caught my eye was (naturally) some cuffs & LIs , nothing spectacular, just some Towers & Beans. I inquired at the "saloon" next door ((if anyone ever saw the movie GHOST, the shopkeep looked like the crazy guy on the subway car - and he was just as paranoid, just with a hick accent)) He informed me the place (next door) was closed & that I should'nt be snoopin' around - something spooked him (perhaps my inquiring about the cuffs), he looked over his shoulder, took note of my Jersey tag, and then told me HIS store was closed & that I better get going.
To say the least, I left quickly, as I was'nt about to argue with someone who looks like their teeth were playing "musical chairs".

I'm sure there are hundreds of "collections" all around the country, gathering dust, basicly abandoned by delusional nutjobs - just waiting to be "found"!

I guess this is the reason I do cuffs & locks and not stamps or coins - haha

BEST wishes to everyone,
--Vince

PS. If anyone here ever gets the "Benson" collection, Put me down for the "tower style" cuffs with the extra-wide unusual-shaped lockcase (the ones between the beans & the bottlenecks) (((Hey, I can dream can't I?)))

Bernadette (was zearing) 22 Feb 2011

#19

I am one of two daughters the zearings had. The youngest. I am not close to my biological family. I worked in the store for some years as well, simply as part of our family business, as a teenager when we lived in the back of the store, and also some in my early twenties, then again in mid-thirties. Back in the late 90s, a year or two after his death, I attempted at the request of my biological mother (mrs. zearing) to set up a meeting with buyers who wished to purchase some of the items in the store, including a case. They had been customers for years and had been attempting to contact her by mail. Non of which she responded to.
I felt so badly for the potential buyers as when they did get there, at her request I might add, she refused to sell anything significant, making them jump through hoops for the few items she would sell.
Some of the Steve McQueen stories zearing told were true. He collected old toys and used to spend time in the store. The movie set used to rent some props from them for other movies. Part of one film was taken in the store itself.
The cost of items, not so true. Zearing was a fairly habitual liar. Most people saw through the b.s., and just listened. He also claimed to have been a fighter pilot in the Air Force. Sadly he was honored as such at his memorial service. He was never a pilot. He was a passenger in a plane when he took photos. I finally got his military records to back up what I tried to prove. He was a photographer. Grandiose and arrogant, two excellent descriptives.
He actually stood in front of a family one day back at the candy counter and tried to tell them that some of the andy was specially 'air dropped' for him from another country. It was so very humilating to be a part of the family. I left the zearing name far behind me.
Much of the content of the store will be rotting by now. I did go and help in 1997 when he died, but she had me doing bizarre things like shredding her candy catalogs page by page. She said people would get her sources out of the trash if I did not. When I told this to the consulting attorney I brought in for her, she told him that I must have misunderstood. Not so. She was a liar as well. I polished cases, hauled out trash from where he had been living in the back of the store. Told her I'd come watch the store for her and she could just sit, so she could keep the store open, and not lose money on the stock, or pay insurance to store all the merchandise. To allow her to move on when she was ready. She told me she didn't want to.
I took hours sorting paperwork to bring her up to date for the past few years of taxes which he failed to do, and when after months I completed that... that is the last time I was there. I refused to keep up the lies which held together their facade for so many years. Thus the separation from the 'family'.
I have completely separated myself from the remaining family and this, by choice, will reamin so. I am not proud of having been a part of that family. Not proud of the lies we were made to tell while growing up, to neighbors, and to customers when they opened the first store in Ramona CA. He told people it had been in LaJolla CA. Always something bigger and better than real life. Not any of it true.
I feel badly at times for having belonged to a family who believed themselves better and more intelligent than other individuals. They would lie to people's faces without blinking an eye, and think that people were not intelligent enough to know. They were so very wrong in that belief. I used to see the looks people would give each other on their way out. Lying about almost eveything in the store was common to them as it had been throughout our lives.
Several times she asked me if I would help her contact auction houses, bring in legal help to advise her on how to liquidate the store contents. I was hoping that she would do so, then that she would take the proceeds and go travel, go see her homeland and family that she never had done. She refused to do so. I brought the people to her, did the research for her, but as usual she would back out. She would become angry if we encouraged her to get rid of it all, take the money and enjoy her life. She told me she wasn't willing to sell merchandise for the low amounts she claimed people offered. Neither he nor she were realistic about the value of what they had.
I washed my hands of it, and them. The dysfunction I grew up with continues there, and I wanted/want no part of it.
It took me a long long time...but I have healed from my past with that family and I have moved on.

Ian McColl 22 Feb 2011

#20

Dear Bernadette, thank you.

Steve Santini 22 Feb 2011

#21

For your honest and glaring insight and for having the courage to share such intimate and obviously personally troubling life experiences.

I wish you peace and happiness on the rest of your life journey.

Regards, Steve Santini

Ron Spitz 22 Feb 2011

#22

Bernadette, thank you for posting your thoughts, feelings, and history. I am the person who posted the pictures and started this thread. About seventeen years ago I first found the store and did listen to your father's stories. The store was amazing to go through especially for me with all those handcuffs mounted on the walls.

I wanted to post pictures for the many collectors that have heard or been to the store many years ago. Living in the Phoenix area, I plan to make another trip to Benson and hopefully get more information on what is going to happen to the collection.

Ron

Edgeplay_Cgo 22 Feb 2011

#23

Thanks, Bernadette. That had to be hard. But it was a classy thing to do.

I wish you happiness and health. And if you can manage wealth as well, then Hooah!

Unknown / guest 22 Feb 2011

#24

Thanks, Bernadette. That had to be hard. But it was a classy thing to do.

I wish you happiness and health. And if you can manage wealth as well, then Hooah!

Nils 22 Feb 2011

#25

Thank you very much, and all the best.

I think if we look hard enough, we can all find some black sheep in our families.

Kind regards,

Nils

Bernadette 19 Mar 2011

#26

Thank you all for the kind and very gracious comments I also think it sad that so much history is rusting away. Just a note....obviously the stories about sawing cuffs off of skeletons, is not true. However, some of those leg irons and cuffs, did come from the Yuma Territorial Prison. Odd, isn't it, that the truth alone about the origin of many of the collectibles in the store, would be very much sufficient to attract the interest of people who value articles from the past. I feel badly that all of you are collectors and would love to have the collection, or even a few of the cuffs, leg irons, for their historical value and not monetary. If it were in my power to do so, I'd place them in the hands of someone who would appreciate them. If I could I'd rather give something away than to see it rust away or rot.
Ah well....again, thank you...all of you who wrote such kind notes. I had not expected that.
Bernadette
p.s. As I said, I no longer have any contact with my biological family. Anything there will go to their oldest daughter, my biological sister. If I ever hear, even through the grapevine, that items are to be auctioned or sold, I will post here for you.

Dorson 19 Mar 2011

#27

Bernadette,
If some of it came from the Territorial Prison at Yuma, I know the people that run it would probably love to have it to put on display as there is very little there as Ron Spitz and myself there back in early Oct. 2010. We have had to do the education route with these people already.

-Dorson

Nils 19 Mar 2011

#28

On another note, I remember bidding on a combo like the one in the pictures in 2003 or 04. It looks pretty much exactly like the one on the photo, and it was stamped "USN". I wonder where it came from, and if it may be the one I saw. It was sold as an "Indian War Combo".

Nils

Ron Spitz 22 Mar 2011

#29

Nils--The combo in the store has been there for many years. I remember seeing it in the mid 1990's when I first was in the store. I do not know if it had any markings.

The one you were bidding on and show in your post, was in late 2003, and is now in my collection (small world). It is well made but I have no idea who made it. It is the only one I have seen offered on eBay. The seller did have one smaller set several years ago on eBay. I was thinking about bringing it to Indy next month.

Bernadette said that some of the items were from the Territorial Prison at Yuma. It would be great to find out how and if they are marked. The prison was closed in September 1909 and the remaining prisoners were transferred to the new prison East of Phoenix, in Florence, Arizona.
Any restraints and useful items would have been transferred to the new facility.

The museum at Yuma did not have any items that I could see, marked with a Territorial Prison marking. The only pair of Towers were marked Y. C. which would be Yuma County.

Ron

MICHAEL LEE 23 Mar 2011

#30

Great collection !

ML

Bernadette 27 Mar 2011

#31

I do know that the Yuma Territorial prison would appreciate having whatever came from there, back. It is a shame that this will most likely never happen. There is a set there that is a joined combination (I don't know if you have more technical terminology) that was made to not only shakle leges and hands, but the neck as well. When I was very young, and we were still living in the home I'd grown up in, I used to do all of his documentation, for his gun collection and also the leg irons. I recall typing index cards and filing. I apologize, as I have sustained some damage to my memory. I do not know if the set of leg irons are marked from the prison. I do believe that some of the ones from the civil war and the prison camps are. I so very much wish that I were able to give you more information.

Gene Brogan 28 Mar 2011

#32

Dear Bernadette,

Thanks for the history lesson as painful as it must be to dredge up all those memories. And thanks for sharing.

As part of my business travel in the 80's I traveled to Apache Powder a number of times. Passing through Benson I originally stopped at the store out of curiousity and was amazed with the collection on the wall. In total I visited the store at least 8 or more times. Apache Powder had a in house Fire Department. They told me when the bell rings it means. Ring the Bell, Run like Hell !!. They made Explosives and fertilizer.

At each visit your father said he would sell some items from the collection and just about every visit but never would complete the deal. In addition he told me the entire collection had been sold, traded for a Model A car, a gun collection etc. I gave up visiting because I found it to be a waste of time. He would spend a long time dealing with children wanting to buy candy than with people wanting and willing to buy any of the collection. Once he was out and I talked to your mother who I found to be pleasent but also unwilling to part with anything. As you state tall tales and no sales. Now I know how the " Pickers" on TV get frustrated with dealers unwilling to part with anything in vast collections of junk and valuable collectibles.

On my trips I always also used to visit Yuma Prison and felt bad because of their tiny collection of restraints most of recent manufacture. The prison was looted by the locals for anything they could sell for scrap. Cell doors, etc. I am sure WW 2 scrap drives took a toll. Sadly most of the prisioners were in that Prision for stealing much less than the looters took.

As far as burying prisioners with metal restraints still on in an area where steel and iron were at a premium and manufactured locking restraints too valuable and rare. Sure it never happened.

The Bean neck collar with attached cuffs came from a gun shop down the street from Scott Warren's locksmith shop. Took a week to get because the woman would not sell it until she went to the Vagas gun show. I was a bit apprehensive of it ever coming back from Vagas. Bought it and several more old cuffs but refused an old set of Darbys. The woman had a letter from a Sheriff said he had used the darby cuffs for a number of years. They had no marking so I told the lady I had a number of cuffs ( Marked ) at home identical to hers. Did not tell her this until I had sealed the deal for the others.

Gene

Larry Wilson 11 Apr 2011

#33

Just Googled Wally Zearing and was surprised to read all of the comments, and sorry to hear he passed. I worked with Wally at General Dynamics Convair on Pacific Hwy in San Diego from the late 60's to the early 70's. We worked in the photo lab. Wally taught me the process of transferring engineering drawings on to large sheets of sensitized aluminum (The largest sheets were 5X12 ft.)for making templates. I remember Wally as a collector of everything. He claimed to have a large gun collection. Every once in a while he would bring in a recently purchased hand gun or old handcuffs. I traded an old slot machine (It was red and the slot symbols were packs of cigarettes like Wings, Camels etc.) for a WWII M1 Winchester carbine. Still have the carbine. I don't know if the slot machine was sold, or is still in the Benson store. Wally was full of WWII stories. He claimed to me (and other photo lab workers) he was a combat photographer on a bomber in the Europe during the war. I was a young kid then. The older guys, including one who was in the Battle of the Bulge, had serious doubts about Wally's war experience. Wally contracted arthritis in both of his knees while working at Convair. I knew he was going to open a store in Benson. I believe I left Convair (laid off) before he did. I did visit his store in Ramona. Wally was a character. We had a lot of fun working together.

Bernadette (was Zearing) 13 Jun 2011

#34

Larry, hello
I remember that slot machine. We had it at home for a long time, and it, along with an old old Pachinko (sp?) machine...was our primary sourch of entertainment. It was set up on our dining room bar in the living room. When the store moved to AZ, it went with the store and remains there along with everything else.

Larry Wilson 26 Jul 2011

#35

Hi Bernadette. Glad you responded. I have read all of posts on this site, and family information on other sites. Sounds like you ladies had a rough time. Hope that is all in the past. I believe Wally always meant well. He certainly was protective of his collections. It's really none of my business, but the family members should get together and make a plan to consign his collection (of everything except items the family would want to keep) to a reputable western memorabilia auction house. I'm sure your dad believed he could keep that stuff forever, and your mother probably has the same thoughts. Selling off the items and closing the store would probably be a relief for your mother. Just a thought.

I am sorry I never made the trip to Benson to see the store and see Wally. I still live in San Diego. I retired from the SDPD in June 2009 (25 years in patrol,65 when I retired). I'll always have a special place in my heart for Wally and the others I worked with in the photo lab. With all of the dark rooms, the bosses could never find us.

I remember one night Wally appeared upset. He told me one of his daughters had been hit by a car and was seriously injured (I don't know if it was you or your sister). Your dad was going to stay at work. Seemed like he didn't know what to do. I talked him into going home. Lots om memories. some bad but most were good. Thanks for getting back to me. Take care. Larry

Ron Spitz 22 Aug 2011

#36

I stopped at the store yesterday and the cuffs on the lower part of the wall have been removed. The cuffs in the front window have also been removed. The front door is a two piece heavy hinged steel plate door. It can be seen in the picture posted above. I do not know if the original wooden door is behind it. It looks as if the front window area may have steel plates installed for security in the future. I could see no other changes to the interior and could not find any information for the future of the store.

Ron

Ron Spitz 26 Apr 2013

#37

On the last leg of my return trip from Indy, taking the Southern route, I stopped at Benson. The collection is still there and the store is still closed. A year or so ago, there was a break in and some items were taken. I do not know if any items were part of the cuff collection. As I stated in an earlier post the entire store and contents are for sale. The latest price is $1.5 million. I am told the owner will not talk to anyone about selling part of the collection or taking pictures since she is afraid of getting ripped off.

For those who saw the huge neck, hand, and leg restraint I brought to Indy, what looks like the same one can be seen in the fifth photo. I have no way of knowing if the one on the wall has the same markings as the one I have.

Ron

Kris 31 Aug 2014

#38

On a serious note, has anyone strolled by Zearings shop within the last year? Just curious what the state of the those like now...

Serious responses only please!

Benson Local 04 Feb 2015

#39

I just saw on one of our local Facebook pages that someone has submitted a photo of this store to "American Pickers" (the TV show), which is coming to this area soon. They responded within an hour! But unfortunately, the person who submitted the suggestion can not provide them with info they need. Someone else commented and linked to this forum discussion, since "Bernadette" is a daughter. Maybe if Bernadette is out there, she would pass this on to her family that is in charge of the store??? Would be cool to see this place on the show.

ronspitz 04 Feb 2015

#40

I don't think they will have any opportunity to get into the store. I have been in touch with both sisters and the situation is a mess. Another collector and I spent the better part of a day with one and offered to help inventory the cuff collection for the estate. I never heard another word or reason for not proceeding since the lawyers wanted an inventory. The mother passed away in 2013 and with the heat, cold, and rain in that area, the wood and paper items must be rotting away. Too bad!

Ron

ronspitz 25 Feb 2016

#41

This thread had documented some of the history on what I have called the Benson Collection. It should really be called the Zearing Collection but most people knew of it because of its location in Benson, Arizona. The collection has been on display for some 30 to 40 years in a building that is a registered landmark, and anyone who has had the luck to wonder through the store in the past knows the treasures within.

The store has been closed for many years and I can report the the handcuff collection is now gone.

Ron

Joshua 25 Feb 2016

#42

Ron,

I'm eager to know if they are indeed gone because you were able to free the collection from withering away or if they have dissapeared elsewhere. If you were able to acquire this collection do you have any photos and/or stories to share as to what was there. The fabled rumor about significant cuffs not hanging on the wall...any truth?

ronspitz 25 Feb 2016

#43

Hi Josh,
I do not care to elaborate on the collection on the Forum. I will reply to emails or phone calls. I have not had time to go through everything and there is a wide range of conditions and cleaning to do. One tidbit on the rumor that there are Bean's new in the original boxes is not true. At least I did not see them.

I consider this thread and history closed. I'm glad so many people learned of the collection and remembered so many stories.

Ron