Baltimore cyclist finds joy in collecting lost hubcaps and stringing them into art

BALTIMORE (AP) — Cyclist Barnaby Wickham has collected more than 700 lost hubcaps, mostly on bike rides around Baltimore. They have inspired a quest to turn litter into art, including Christmas wreaths, a giant fish and a large head of Snoopy.

It is a hobby that developed nearly two years ago from his love of cycling and the joy of making something out of the junk he has collected.

“I think it’s sort of the excitement of the hunt, for one thing," Wickham said. "I love to cycle. I love Baltimore. I love to go out in Baltimore, and there’s just enough hubcaps and other things like car grills to be interesting, but not so many that it’s too easy.”

Wickham, 54, says he can't quite explain it, but one day while cycling in early 2024 he decided to bring home a lost hubcap. Since then, he has started stringing hubcaps he comes across to his backpack.

“I keep track of them, and I have a Google map," he said. "I pin locations where I find each of them.”

Others in his community who have taken an interest in his projects let him know when they see hubcaps by the road. Now, Wickham keeps a list of them that he refers to as “hubcaps in the wild.”

He wants to do the collecting himself. That is part of the joy.

Wickham also gets a hand from his wife, Kate, who helps hold materials during construction and offers opinions.

“I’m just support team, and occasionally the cautious person who says, you can’t drive on this road, you can’t bike on this road or whatever. So I’m just more kind of supporting his love of trying new things,” she said.

It might seem like an odd pastime, but Baltimore has been known to celebrate its quirky side. The city is known for director John Waters, whose offbeat films earned him the moniker of the “Pope of Trash.” Baltimore is also home to the American Visionary Art Museum, which is nationally recognized as a repository for the work of self-taught artists and intuitive art.

Wickham, who works in marketing for a defense technology company, stores his finds in his garage and works in his front yard. He uses expanded metal as a framework, with sheet metal with holes and wiring to hold the sheets in place. He uses zip ties to link the hubcaps on the sheet metal.

“It’s all held together with zip ties," he said. "Hubcaps are filled with slots or holes, and so it’s easy to get a hold of them to hold them in place.”

His works are big. The head of Snoopy is 16 feet (4.9 meters) tall and about 21 feet (6.4 meters) wide.

While most of the hubcaps he uses were found in Baltimore, Wickham expands his range when he travels. Visits to see his son at Kent State University have added a few hubcaps with Ohio origins. A business trip to Italy, which included a bike tour in Rome, yielded a find. Wickham had to explain to his guide why he bothered to pick it up.

“And I was like, oh, I collect these. I’m just going to take this back with me. And I showed her a photo of the wreath, and she was like: ‘Oh, OK.’ Whenever anyone hears about it and understands it, they’re onboard," Wickham said.

Wickham donated two Christmas wreaths he made last year, one to the city and another to a nonprofit.

Wickham said the hobby has led to interactions with city residents. On one ride, a man who saw him pick up a hubcap, insistently signaled for him to come over to him. He wanted to let him know there was another hubcap nearby.

“It was clear to him that I was collecting these things, and all he wanted to do was help, to point one out for me. And there’s a lot of that,” Wickham said.

“It starts a lot of conversations, and it’s just something that people love to talk about," he said.

Cyclist Barnaby Wickham sorts through his collection of hubcaps stored in his garage, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at his home in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

With hubcaps fastened to his backpack, cyclist Barnaby Wickham pedals through a neighborhood on his journey home, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Cyclist Barnaby Wickham steps down and dismounts his bike after spotting a lost hubcap on the side of the road, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Cyclist Barnaby Wickham mounts his bike before riding off to collect lost hubcaps, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Cyclist Barnaby Wickham poses for a portrait in front of his art structure made from hubcaps, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at his home in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s rial slid further Monday to a new record low of more than 1.3 million to the U.S. dollar, deepening the currency’s collapse less than two weeks after it first breached the 1.2-million mark amid sanctions pressure and regional tensions.

Currency traders in Tehran quoted the dollar above 1.3 million rials, underscoring the speed of the decline since Dec. 3, when the rial hit what was then a historic low.

The rapid depreciation is compounding inflationary pressures, pushing up prices for food and other daily necessities and further straining household budgets, a trend that could be intensified by a gasoline price change introduced in recent days.

Iran on Saturday added a third gasoline price tier, raising the cost of full bought beyond monthly quotes at 50,000 rials (4 U.S. cents). It is the first major adjustment to fuel pricing since a price hike in 2019 that sparked nationwide protests and a crackdown that reportedly killed over 300 people.

Under the revised system, motorists continue to receive 60 liters a month at the subsidized rate of 15,000 rials per liter and another 100 liters at 30,000 rials, but any additional purchases now cost more than three times the original subsidized price. While gasoline in Iran remains among the cheapest in the world, economists warn the change could feed inflation at a time when the rapidly weakening rial is already pushing up the cost of food and other basic goods.

The fall comes as efforts to revive negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program appear stalled, while uncertainty persists over the risk of renewed conflict following June’s 12-day war involving Iran and Israel. Many Iranians also fear the possibility of a broader confrontation that could draw in the United States, adding to market anxiety.

Iran’s economy has been battered for years by international sanctions, particularly after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. At the time the 2015 accord was implemented — which sharply curtailed Iran’s uranium enrichment and stockpiles in exchange for sanctions relief — the rial traded at about 32,000 to the dollar.

After Trump returned to the White House for a second term in January, his administration revived a “maximum pressure” campaign, expanding sanctions that target Iran’s financial sector and energy exports. Washington has again pursued firms involved in trading Iranian crude oil, including discounted sales to buyers in China, according to U.S. statements.

Further pressure followed in late September, when the United Nations reimposed nuclear-related sanctions on Iran through what diplomats described as the “snapback” mechanism. Those measures once again froze Iranian assets abroad, halted arms transactions with Tehran and imposed penalties tied to Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Economists warn that the rial’s accelerating decline risks feeding a vicious cycle of higher prices and reduced purchasing power, particularly for staples such as meat and rice that are central to Iranian diets. For many Iranians, the latest record low reinforces concerns that relief remains distant as diplomacy falters and sanctions tighten.

A man fills his car at a gas station in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)