On Stuff: Collections and Tools and what Amounts Matter to You

fisha, check your PM’s.

I’ve got a pal in Lawrence who would front for me…

But… Alas, no: I don’t have room for the collection I have. (My brother-in-law hosts most of it for me.) I envy whomever you give the collection to.

(Have you considered a museum or library, somewhere that the material can be curated, protected, preserved, catalogued, etc.? Here in San Diego, there is a lovely Regional Park Visitors Center that has a huge National Geographic collection – but it pales in comparison to yours!)

Anyway, wow, my hat is off to you. Among everything else, collecting is fun!

I collect crystal figurines; specifically, I’m a Swarovski snob. I’ve been collecting for, oh, about 26 years now (I’m 43). I think it’s the girliest thing about me.

It’s never been about quantity: a piece has to mean something to me, even if it just amuses me (e.g., in addition to the ducklings being totally adorable, the duck family I recently bought reminds me of the geese that are everywhere around here every spring). Some of my pieces were gifts, but most I bought myself. The larger figurines can be quite expensive, so I tend to only get one or two a year. My newest figurine is this amazing butterfly, which I still can’t believe my best friends gave me on my birthday. :slight_smile:

Since 2008 I’ve also collected the annual Swarovski snowflake ornaments: somehow I missed 2011, but someday I’ll buy it on eBay or something. Here is this year’s.

I will break from Swarovski on special occasions, like for the crystal space shuttle I got at the Kennedy Space Center in late January 2003. Tragically, a week later the Columbia exploded: I brought the crystal shuttle into work and kept it on my desk for a while, as a kind of tribute.

You could sell them on eBay, perhaps split up by years or decades…