Freed from the usual constraints of received wisdom, this survey includes offbeat items that may be unimportant in the larger scheme of things but are most gratifying at the moment.

A year ago, Aero opened a ground-floor retail shop that stocks an ever-changing array of offbeat items, from candles to 1950's chairs to a silver-plated garbage pail.

As is frequently the case, offbeat items are of special interest: an all-green Kandinsky from 1931, for example, and Klee's 1929 "Head of a Smoker," which feels at once ethereal and morbid.

No midprice listings would be complete without mention of the Bose Lifestyle System - an offbeat item likely to appeal to listeners who love music but hate gadgets.

Once he realized how popular such offbeat items can be with collectors, there was no stopping him.

Investors, however, do not seem to flock to such offbeat items.

Mr. Kaplan began purchasing these offbeat items - some call them treasures - about 20 years ago, after he was bitten by the collectibles bug.

There are also several good farmers' markets where stands sell not only fruits and vegetables but such offbeat items as jojoba oil.

In a reversal from past years, the more offbeat the item, the more likely it is to be snapped up as an investment, retailers say.

Frankly, he sees this as a swell chance to field-test a lot of the offbeat items he and his boys cook up on those long winter nights.