(triumphant music) - [Aric] On East 10th Street in Indianapolis right next to his store, Another Fine Mess, salvager Tim Harmon makes dreams come true.

- Is it teeny tiny?

- No, just teeny.

- [Aric] That is, if your dream is to see over 650 small Statues of liberty - Welcome to Indy's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum.

- [Aric] Usually tiny follows teeny.

- I know, well, you know, I'm not a professional namer.

You know, I just did the best I could.

- And everything's all Statue of Liberty, that's crazy.

- Hi, my name is Tim Harmon.

I'm the owner of Indy's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum.

What could be more American than the Statue of Liberty?

Almost nothing, even though it was made in France.

I was born in Chicago.

But I've been in Indianapolis since I was six years old, which makes it somewhere around 64 years.

My one regret in life, and this is really true, is that I'm not a Hoosier.

I think that I would feel better if I got a Sagamore of the Wabash.

And I don't know what the definition of a Hoosier is.

So maybe it's anybody that makes their home here.

But I still want to the Sagamore of the Wabash.

- [Aric] Yeah, I still feel like you should get that too.

- Yeah.

- [Aric] Tim knows a lot about the Statue of Liberty.

- The seven points on the head of the Statue of Liberty represent the seven continents.

- [Aric] But when presented with a chance to see it up close, he decided to pass on the opportunity.

- Have you been to the Statue of Liberty?

- I have been there.

- Have ya?

I haven't.

We went to New York and she said, "Do you wanna go see it?"

And I thought about it for a minute and I said, "Not really."

I assume that people are reading a magazine, and see Indy's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum, and pick up the phone and call their travel agent and say, "I gotta see this thing."

- Do I go in there?

- Yeah, go in the front door.

I dunno if anybody's ever said, this is better than the real Statue of Liberty.

But people do like the museum.

- [Aric] Tim knows that he sits on a gold mine, raking in 50 cents a pop for visitors.

Believe it or not, this teeny empire of Liberty got started with a piece of trash.

- Yeah, it was a piece of packing material.

And they had a picture of the Statue of Liberty, and they said, made in America or something like that.

And I took it home and I was happy with it.

- [Aric] This feeling of happiness would only increase when Tim realized how wonderful it was to see small Statues of Liberty on display.

- I was cleaning out a senior citizen center here on the near East side, and they had a box of party supplies, in which I found these little rubber Statues of liberty.

So I took those home and I lined 'em all up on the back of my toilet.

And I said to myself, that sure looks good.

(energetic music) - [Aric] What to do next was obvious.

(energetic music) Today, Indy's Teeny Statue of Liberty Museum thrives.

- Right now we have over 650 pieces.

I could double the collection.

I could get up to 1,200 in this room.

- [Aric] Well then why don't you do that?

- Well, I mean, I work, I run a salvage store.

- [Aric] You mean you don't just rely on admission?

- No, I don't live off the 50 cents at all.

- [Aric] And Tim hopes the legacy will live on with his salvage partners, Katie and Carla.

- You know how dear the museum is to me.

And I'm almost dead.

(Katie and Carla laugh) (energetic music) Since we opened the museum, I've only bought a few things.

Everything else is donated.

And if you donate, you get lifetime admission for free.

You can save yourself a ton of money.

I am looking for nail polish or lipstick that's named Statue of Liberty.

It would be Turquoisey Green.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the museum.

And it's a color sample, and the color is Statue of Liberty.

Nobody's ever said, this is really stupid, I'm really sad that I came, or I'm upset, I want my 50 cents back.

Nobody's ever asked for that, you know?

So I guess it's going okay.

- [Aric] Find "Across Indiana" stories at wfyi.org/acrossIndiana.