Urbanites discover the value of another rural artifact: tractors

And their interest creates additional value.

Here's a link to the story on NPR, and here's the lede:

Skittish about the stock market and credit crisis? There's another place to park your money: collectible tractors. The sector is growing like never before — it has even attracted European investors.

Before a recent auction on a farm near Shelby, Iowa, dozens of old tractors were lined up in a field, ready for the auction block. Some were shiny and restored, others were long unfamiliar with paint. And some of them started right up.

Photo by Toby Talbot of a tractor in Coventry, Vermont.

See stories with related themes here and here.