Most people have a collection of some kind-baseball memorabilia, comic books, spoons from every place they have ever visited. Howard Trana has a slightly different assortment. His kitchen is home to more than 50 gravy boats in every color, shape and pattern imaginable.

“I wanted to start saving something that no one had,” Trana said of his unusual hobby. “Have you ever seen a collection of gravy boats?" Trana said. "Neither had I, that’s why I started.”

As the postmaster of Henning, Minn., for more than 30 years, Trana just turned 89, although you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. He and his wife had a couple of gravy boats they used occasionally, but after she passed away in 1994, they became Trana’s addiction. “Someone makes the mistake of setting one out at a yard sale,” Trana says with a smile. “You’d have to be there pretty early to beat me to it.”

The origins of Trana’s collection stretches from Minnesota to California and as far away as Norway. Once a common addition to any dinner table, gravy boats are becoming harder and harder to find, Trana says. “They were used every day. Families were a lot bigger back then. You’d pass it around the table and pour the gravy on your potatoes. You don’t see much of that anymore.”

This fact only adds to the reasons Trana’s gravy boats are such a unique find. Of course, in any collection, there has to be a favorite. After some thought, Trana points to a silver-plated gravy boat with an ornate handle, picking it up with extreme care. “I just like old stuff,” Trana replies in response to why this one is his favorite.

While Trana can’t remember what he has paid for his collection over the years, the monetary value doesn’t come close to matching the sentimental attachment he has to his gravy boats. “If you look at them closely, they’re all a little different,” he said. “I’m very proud of them.”