# What are the most unusual thing(s) you've ever heard of anyone collecting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 28, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218 "2009-06-28T00:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/21 "2009-06-28T16:23:48Z")
How about used glucometer test strips as a collectible? I had one patient who saved 'em all. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/22 "2009-06-28T16:34:09Z")
I collect old calculating instruments, preferably HP electronic calculators. I also have a couple of straight slide rules and one of those huge drum-shaped rotating slide rules from 1880. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/23 "2009-06-28T16:43:55Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > How about used glucometer test strips as a collectible? I had one patient who saved 'em all. Ew. Used, with the blood and everything? ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/24 "2009-06-28T16:51:08Z")
[This museum](http://www.mum.org/) at least _started_ as the work of a single man. I’d say it counts as fairly unusual. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/25 "2009-06-28T17:18:21Z")
I would like to thank the OP for making me feel “normal” (at least for today), as I look around here I see: ~200 antique, American-made, high jewel count pocket watches. ~ 10,000 Wheat pennies. ~80 English-made, Brass grease guns (they came in the toolkits of British motorcycles). I have so many NOS (new old stock) British motorcycle parts that I had to rent an office/storage building to hold them all. ~20 Triumph Bonneville (650cc paralell twin) motors and ~35 Bonneville cylinder heads. Why yes as a matter of fact I am single, why do you ask? Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/26 "2009-06-28T17:38:30Z")
Aye, and may you remain so for ever and ever. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/27 "2009-06-28T17:41:10Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > Ew. Used, with the blood and everything? Yep. Granted, he just collected his own strips. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/28 "2009-06-28T18:20:33Z")
I used to collect the wrappers from sugar packets–you know, the ones you get in restaurants and such. I had more than a thousand of them from all over the world. A friend of mine saves corks from wine bottles because her mom told her they’d be worth a fortune. Um…are they? ---
**Author:** ![supergoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@supergoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supergoose)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/29 "2009-06-28T18:25:26Z")
> [@Lady\_Venom](#): > > A girl I went to grade/high school with collected erasers. :dubious: > > She had categories for fruit, cartoons, animals, etc, which branched out into scented, unscented. > > A little strange to look at her collection…there must have been thousands! Eh, that’s not so odd. As a kid you come across such a variety of kid-appealing erasers that it’s not hard to eventually wind up saving some, then seeking out more and winding up collecting them. (Why yes, I did have a small collection of erasers as a kid - my piano teacher let you choose one from a mix of incredibly diverse ones if you did well during the lesson.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/30 "2009-06-28T18:28:28Z")
I collect coffee mugs from places that I have traveled to. It’s not really very unusual at all, but I don’t often get a chance to mention it, so now I am. Favorite coffee mug: The one from Carhenge. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/31 "2009-06-28T18:30:37Z")
My SO collects supermarket loyalty/reward cards. If we’re travelling, he’s already researched the stores he’s never been to. He’ll stop at these locations, fill in some bogus demographic information, and walk out with an addition to his collection. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/32 "2009-06-28T20:04:47Z")
One of my coworkers collects barf bags (yes, unused) from around the world. He’s got them decorating his cubicle walls. We’ve got people from various countries in our department (plus international offices) and they often bring them back from wherever they travel. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/33 "2009-06-28T20:58:10Z")
> [@unclviny](#): > > 20 Triumph Bonneville (650cc paralell twin) motors and ~35 Bonneville cylinder heads. But do you actually _own_ a Bonny? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/34 "2009-06-28T22:03:59Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > I collect old calculating instruments, preferably HP electronic calculators. I also have a couple of straight slide rules and one of those huge drum-shaped rotating slide rules from 1880. I got an abacus (not an antique, got it at the Boston Museum of Science) and a slide rule I found in the basement of my house! That rotating slide rule sounds wicked cool, though. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/35 "2009-06-28T22:31:18Z")
For a while as a child I collected plastic flatware. Don’t ask me why. But my dad would bring them home from work for me sometimes. I also had a bunch of the tags from Salada tea bags, because they had sayings on them, kind of like fortunes from fortunes cookies. Apparently one of our neighbors saved every monthly commuter train ticket he ever had, going into Chicago every day to work for I don’t know how many years. I wonder if he missed the new ones when he retired. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/36 "2009-06-29T00:03:10Z")
[Cynthia Albritton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Plaster_Caster) “assembled” a notable collection of plaster casts. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/37 "2009-06-29T00:26:21Z")
I collect Bakelite desk sets… ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/38 "2009-06-29T00:41:13Z")
I have a friend who collects souls. He has a standing offer of $10 cash for anyone willing to sign a contract giving him the ownership of their immortal soul. The way he put it, if there is an afterlife, then he has souls to bargain with. If there isn’t, then chances are good that at least _one_ of the people who sold his soul will become a born-again fundamentalist later and want to buy it back – for **any** price. Either way, he can’t lose. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/39 "2009-06-29T02:21:27Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > But do you actually _own_ a Bonny? No, I have a 1952 Triumph TRW (500cc SV twin) and a 1936 BMW R2 (198cc upright single). Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218/40 "2009-06-29T03:02:33Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > I have a friend who collects souls. He has a standing offer of $10 cash for anyone willing to sign a contract giving him the ownership of their immortal soul. The way he put it, if there is an afterlife, then he has souls to bargain with. If there isn’t, then chances are good that at least _one_ of the people who sold his soul will become a born-again fundamentalist later and want to buy it back – for **any** price. Either way, he can’t lose. There was a guy at my junior college who bought souls. How many does he have? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-unusual-thing-s-youve-ever-heard-of-anyone-collecting/501218.md?page=3)