Enthusiasts explain their passion for building blocks brick by brick

"It was the last wish of a Muswellbrook fellow brick collector," Sherman says. "His daughters told me the bricks had been left specifically for me in the man's will."

Even now, people still sometimes still leave bricks on his veranda.

And probably not any old ordinary house bricks either. For avid collectors who appreciate the past try to find the most unusual and elusive ones to keep, or swap, from historic brick yards long gone.

To the untrained eye, however, the various rectangular clay blocks, either sun-hardened or kiln-fired and used for building or as pavers, are just, well, bricks.

According to Ian, that's where people are wrong as each brick often has its own particular character and story starting with the "frog" (the maker's distinctive mark dating back to Egyptian times) created for easy identification.

These "frogs" range from convict arrows, to anchors, tiny hearts, crescent moon shapes, a rising sun, hands and feet, horseshoes and crosses, the profile of a lady's shoe, even emus and kangaroos - and, of course, names.

It's an odd hobby, but the obsession Ian and the small band of keen fellow collectors have has no boundaries.

It's no idle boast to say Ian knows all about the types of bricks down your street, or with a bit of research, will soon know. He's the owner of 6000 bricks, including more than 500 different branded bricks, from all over the Hunter Valley and Australia.

Ian Sherman was a popular guest speaker around the Hunter and that still surprises and humbles him. "I mean, I go into a room and there are 60 people waiting to hear me talk - about bricks! They're that interested. You wouldn't believe it, would you?" he said. The enthusiasm of this former Newcastle Historical Society president, now 78, bubbles over and is infectious.

For a start, there's really no single type of brick. Terms like clinker, Geelong blues and sandstock abound. And then there's oddities, like the "electric brick"; slim, old, engraved power company bricks with five holes on two edges to once allow power cables to be slipped through inside.

"That was how they used to lay them. Now they lay the power cables down and put a brick on top to warn anyone who puts a shovel straight into the ground," he says.

"And not all bricks are stamped. You recognise ones from the now gone Wallsend brickworks by their colour. They're called 'Red Bellies' or 'Reds' because there were red-belly black snakes everywhere there once. Since 2006, the site has become Brickworks Park, but for decades Wallsend had one of the largest brickworks in Newcastle.

"Brickworks were everywhere. Around Glebe and Burwood (now Merewether) there were seven yards in 1877. One later report lists 11 operations, but some might be the same under different names," Sherman says.

"The landmark Hughes Potteries' chimney stack at The Junction was 80 years old and 20 metres tall when it finally came down in September 1981. It was then in the middle of suburbia, but built to last. A news report said the brick chimney was pulled down by tractor after 17 attempts.

"The demolishers couldn't use explosives because of nearby houses. The units there were called The Potteries, but a street sign indicating that has disappeared," he says.

For years, Ian roamed around demolition sites in Newcastle, East Maitland and the Coalfields seeking rare brick types. He even went to Wickham when the old railway station was being demolished to get some souvenirs - and got caught!

"The puzzled bloke said, 'Why don't you collect stamps instead?' and I replied, 'I just like bricks!'"

He's also been prevented from taking special bricks out of England and America in his luggage.

"But I was a bit scared about some American bricks exploding. They had all sorts of things in them, like bullets.

"Newcastle Regional Museum once wanted to put on an exhibition and asked me for some samples. I loaned them 15 bricks with a value of $2000 and that surprised them. They didn't keep them long," Sherman says.

"But I've known collectors to pay up to $500 for a very rare brick. I searched everywhere, for example, to collect a playing card suit of bricks. And I got it. Singleton where I grew up had the club, I went to Bathurst for the spade and to Grafton for a diamond with the club inside.

"Bricks are fascinating. I've been collecting for 50 years now," he said waving his arm over a tidy Edgeworth backyard with its big side carpet of bricks.

"See that? Well, there's another 2000 bricks underneath. You can't put [older] bricks in a shed, they'd crumble. Without rainwater, they dry out."

Among his most unusual bricks are joined double bricks (for hut piers) made at Wallsend to help construct Greta Army Camp's 270 buildings quickly in 1939-40.

His most valued bricks include ones marked "Ruttley" and "Wittsluck". "Ruttley's was from the two-storey house of Jim Ruttley, on 'Ruttley's Hill'. It's on the site of St Pius X school Adamstown. He had a mine underneath and used to ring a big bell to call those who wanted work there," Sherman said. "When his house was demolished, most of his name bricks went to Sydney to be recycled. It took me 30 years to get this one. Very rare."

His scarce Wittsluck imprinted brick, from Port Stephens pre-1915 and another marked PSFB, are reminders of the days when BHP needed firebricks for its steel furnaces as World War I raged. "They couldn't get bricks from overseas. Up to 1870, refractory bricks were imported from Scotland. BHP later dumped hundreds in the river up at Kooragang. I've got more early Scottish examples here than they have in Scotland," he said.

Sherman travels by train or bus to collect and carry away any unusual bricks he finds in a cart, or bag, instead.

Another of his favourite rare bricks is stamped 'RFX' from the long-demolished Rhondda Exchange Hotel, an old pub near Teralba.

He's co-authored five reference books on bricks since 1987. The first one is so scarce that the $19.95 book is now worth $300.

He also collects antique cordial bottles. In the colourful slang of yesteryear, he's "a brick" (a good fellow).