In 1969 I wrote to Professor Tolkien.
I got a typed reply with signature. 
(Sadly I’ve mislaid it… :smack:)
That thing’s a regular old fishbowl!
Is it published in Letters?
My credit card was issued by the Tower Federal Credit Union. Those in the know recognize that as the credit union for employees of the National Security Agency, which I once was. A long time ago, now. I keep it both for sentimental reasons, and because it has a really good rate!
Pretty much everything in my house is something an aficionado would recognize and wanna talk about.
1972 Les Paul Custom with gold hardware
Lots of books
Enough CDs to make it look like I don’t have many books after all including many OOP and obscure artists and albums
About 1400 DVDs & Blu-Rays
3 Salvador Dali lithographs (signed in the block, not by hand tho)
An awesome piece by Maxon Crumb, hand-signed
About a dozen pieces of Camark pottery (and my Mom is gonna give me the set of Dresden China (1930s!) when they downsize living quarters)
An IBM circuit board encased in acrylic from the early 1960s
A box full of comics, including the first couple of years of *Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters (including the 3-D Issue with the glasses) and a complete set of Valentino’s Normalman, including ancillary appearances in other titles like Cerebus, signed issue of The Flaming Carrot, etc.
I have a piece of aerogel.
I own a working Vectrex with 2 working joysticks & 34 games, all with original boxes, manuals, plastic overlays, etc.
I still have my Basic D&D box from like 1979, as well as the manual and the dice (but not the module that came with it).
I have many other old games and toys including board games from the 1940s and '50s and wacky stuff from the '70s and '80s (Starfleet Battles, Nuclear War, Grass, Cosmic Wimpout, Globbo, Illuminati, etc.)
Basically, if you are a huge nerd of some kind (or of lots of kinds, like me), at least 10 things in my house will prolly make you go “Whoa! Cool!”
I’ve got a 3D jigsaw puzzle of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which I assume they did for sale in the Arab world. Have never seen it in a catalog here.
I have the Galaxy which published “The Martian Way” by Isaac Asimov, signed by him. Which wouldn’t be that interesting except they misspelled his name and he was pissed in 1971 still.
I’ve got the roadshow program for 2001.
And more ephemeral, I have lots of Dylan bootlegs which have never been officially released in the official bootleg series. Like the studio version of Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues which got dropped from Freewheelin’.
I have the soundtrack for “Creepshow” on vinyl with the cover autographed by Tom Savini.
(I’ll just let myself out)
I Interview Hal Holbrook and Adrien Barbeau when “the crate” was being filmed on campus…
At Horlicks University? 
(I’d like to know why every version of “Creepshow” since the initial run has Adrien B. getting a certain ‘c’ word overdubbed.)
I saw that movie on opening day and still think it’s cool as hell… but I’m srsly jealous of that Tom Savini autograph. Tom Savini totally fucking rocks.
ETA: I wanna play WordMan’s guitar! Those frets sound cool as hell!
Tom Savini is the nicest person on the entire planet, bar none. He also autographed the boxes of all my “…Living Dead” VHS tapes.
I have a tattoo done by his brother Henry. Henry is somewhat less nice than Tom.
That scene was filmed in "Maggie Mo" on the CMU campus.
I should have guessed Carnegie-Mellon, but I’m not a native. BTW, that’s some beautiful architecture. The building, too (Adrien B. quip). 
Your interview had to have been totally cool; I’m envious.
I have an Omega Speedmaster X-33wristwatch that probably looks like just another watch to someone who isn’t in to watches (it is engraved with my name, some naval aviator wings and my CG aviator number on the back). Used to have a brass artillery level (circa War of 1812) that sat on my shelf for 20+ years until I sold it last year to a collector; no one every knew what it was, and had a guest I didn’t really know at my house pick it up roughly and almost dropped it (it had a spirit level on it, that was still filled with liquid).
My Singer Red Eye sewing machine. Made in 1912, a treadle machine.
The Red Eye decals make it very collectable, and the fact that the presser foot screws on the back of the shank, not the side, makes it very rare.
And I do use it, and it’s a great machine.
I have two pieces of very primitive-looking turquoise jewlery set in raw copper. One is a brooch and the other a bracelet. If you didn’t know, they would look like a talented child’s art project. I wear them occasionally, because they have a long and interesting history in my family, but never thought they were of any great value. I was shocked to be pulled aside at a gallery opening by someone with expertise in native american antiquities. He told me my pieces were very old and rare and that he’d not seen any outside of museums. I later had them appraised (and insured) and found out he was right.
I used to havethis picture framed on my wall.
People would see it and comment on my “3 Stooges” picture.
No! It’s the 4 Stooges. Curley is the guy sitting down.
I have a piece of the skin of the Rutan Voyager aircraft (this was cut away for an access hole).
I restore antiques as part of my business. Sometimes I have a “holy shit do you know what this is?” conversation with people. Most of the time it’s something they inherited.
One steady customer a daughter of antique dealers, normally a very savvy collector brought me a pile of parts in a box. It was a joy to show her what it was in a very dusty old book.
If I had no scruples I could have given her $10 for the box, rebuilt it and made a mortgage payment.