So, (though I’m quite certain this was already done, well before my time), I’d rather like to find out what weird and wild things you people collect. As an avid packrat, I’m always interested to see the kind of oddities that other people actively find and store. Anything unusual?
Myself, I have an impressively sized display of swords and daggers, and a few other tidbits as well, including nunchaku, a battle axe (okay, I’m getting it soon), two wooden daito and a whip (hush. I know what you’re thinking.)
It’s mainly the swords though.
So, also, is anyone else seriously interested in bladed weapons? I’d love to find someone on here with whom I can discuss different styles of swords, and methods for using them.
Speak up! You’re an interesting lot, I’ve noticed, I figure some pretty cool stuff will show up here…
I collect snow globes. It started when I was a little kid. I have a couple of pretty, classy-looking ones that I keep at home to keep from breaking, but the true pride of my collection are the tacky touristy plastic ones. I have about thirteen.
It’s not a great collection per se, but I have about 250 decks of playing cards. The oldest deck is from the 1860’s, and I have cards from abour 25 different countries. I haven’t been buying any packs recently, but I used to go driving all over Pennsylvania looking in antique stores for old cards.
As I say, it’s not an impressive collection, but I like it.
I collect CDs like a madwoman - it’s an obsession. I have several hundred now, and constantly re-sell crappy ones and buy new ones. I just bought three today: Cowboy Junkies (care of Billdo’s wonderful taste!), Joni Mitchell, and Bush. It’s gotten so bad that I have no space - I keep the ones I don’t listen to so much in the attic (about one hundred). I don’t have room for them all!
I used to collect Jesus stuff, even though I’m an atheist, because I liked the different images and forms the artists gave him. But I dropped them all off at the Salvation Army a little while ago. Now someone has about forty-five plastic and porcelain Jesus figurines and I’m left with one Jesus pen holder.
And of course, I love to read and therefore I collect books. I don’t know if that counts, but I love nothing more than plunking down $50 on some new books. I probably have over a thousand, and again, many of them are in the attic or have been given away. My cherished ones have beautiful handmade bookplates and my adored Chronicles of Narnia collection is given a hallowed place by the Jesus pen cup. I’ll spend hours arranging my bookshelves - I have seperate sections for favorite books, not-yet-read books (mostly stocked up on from library sales), classics, non-fic, romances, mysteries, and true-crime stories. I’m thinking of employing the Dewey Decimal System to keep track of them all.
I collect snowglobes, glass paperweights and frogs. I have 15 or 16 snowglobes, a few are the cheap plastic ones, but most are glass. I have mostly Christmas ones. I have 8 or 9 paperweights. Frogs, in verious forms are everywhere.
I virtually “collect” game walkthroughs. I have well over 50 megs of them - pure text - on my HD, after about four years now. I have, of course, read all of it. They encompass pretty much every game I’ve appreciated, and I guess part of the reason I collect them is to show my appreciation for the games in some way. Also, to get as much as I can out of a game that I don’t have the time/money/means (an arcade) to enjoy to the fullest. I tend to lace my conversations with friends with game references, and I like to stay as current as I can while still managing to not fail any courses.
Now let’s see someone top that on the weirdness scale.
Oh, and like pretty much everyone else I know my age, I have a large pile/stack of CD jewel cases and CDs.
I’m working on my bladed weapon collection. Two regular knives, one set of three throwing knives, and one sword. I have a friend that can (supposedly) also hook me up with a real life replica of a sakaba (blade on the wrong edge) sword, but that’ll be a hefty chunk of change…
I also collect anime - preferred form: DVD box sets - which is getting damn expensive…
And I probably shouldn’t admit to this, but since I once ran a porn server on Hotline, you wouldn’t believe the sheer volume of digitized pornography I have… :eek:
I have a small collection of coins with unusual features. For example, I have a quarter that has a perfectly round and even dent right in the middle of it. It looks like someone slammed a nickel (or something that shape and size) into it. I have one quarter with a sharp, jagged chunk of it missing, and another whose head side is worn totally smooth. I’ve also got some old Japanese coins, three Sackies, a steel penny, and of course, lots of state quarters.
And as some posters know, I collect fonts. I’ve got thousands. Can’t get enough of 'em.
Mnementh: Not a great collector’s item, I’m afraid to say. It’s a replica of a samurai sword that I bought on eBay because, well, it was there. If you take a look through a Black Belt magazine, odds are you’ll see the exact same model for sale as a practice sword. It’s nice to look at, and would probably perform admirably if put to task but it’s nothing fancy.
AudreyK:
Sure, next time I’m down in the subway when there’s no security or anything I’ll flatten one for you. I’ll even make it one of our special provincial quarters.
KKBattousai:
Fancy alone dosnt make a sword; I say, whatever floats your boat. I’ve got a couple that couldn’t get due in a Crap sale. I still love 'em.
I collect (housepainters’) paint brushes; every time I go to another country I visit hardware & paint stores there. That’s probably an odd place for tourists to go, but I never claim to be nermal. I’m a painting contractor, so it sort of makes sense. I also buy very old, used brushes, the ones with leather binding, brass studs, and lots of history! That’s all, I’m the antithesis of a packrat generally.
My SO collects unusual & expensive firearms. I have friends who collect (in no particular order) frog things, shot glasses, middle eastern art, cow things, cat things, books, and early baseball memorabilia.
Andrew Lloyd Webber cast CD fanatic. I have about 150 cast CDs from his shows, including all three Japanese Phantom of the Operas, Russian Jesus Christ Superstar, Norwegian CATS,
Mexican Starlight Express. etc. etc. ad naseum.
I also have a 38 year collection of Legion of Super-Hero comic books. Started when I was 8 and just never stopped.
I have a ton of CDs and Comics. I don’t “collect” them as such, but they accumulate since I’m a packract.
On the other hand, I collect old SF paperbacks, the cheesier the cover the better. (I just got a “Revenge of the Triffids” (retitle of Day of…) with a fantastic cover.
My other collection is of obscure musicals albums. From “Isabel’s a Jezebel” to “Eating Raoul: the musical” (actually better than it sounds) to “Come Spy with Me” (an attempt to cash in on James Bond/Man from U.N.C.L.E.) to “The Nervous Set” starring Larry (gag retch) Hagman. There are just a ton of weird, obscure musicals that no one else I know cares about (except for my best friend).
AnnieX-Mas: Your Lloyd-Weber collection sounds amazing! Do you have the Argentinian or Hungarian Evita? I’ve been trying to find either for years. I’ve also heard good things about the Irish and South African Joseph. And I have a more-or-less complete Legion collection too! (I started reading during the Grell years (SatLoSH 210 or so). You? (You like musicals AND the Legion! Clearly you are a woman of taste and distinction! )
Oh, forgot my bone collection, which includes skulls smuggled in from Mexico, the Carribean & Israel. I have horses (2), cat, one donkey skull, lots of little ones & some fabulous bird skeletons. They’re all out on my back porch.
And no, I didn’t actually kill anything to get any of them.
