# What do you collect and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292 "2005-01-18T02:47:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/61 "2005-01-18T19:15:53Z")
> [@Pazu](#): > > Brand new member checking in! šŸ™‚ > > I collect insects, which I know is supposed to make me a) incredibly nerdy, or b) downright freakish. I was always fascinated by insects as a kid, and when I was about five or six, my dad gave me a couple of boxes of museum surplus specimens heā€™d gotten from a family friend who was an entomologist in Brazil. Those formed the core of a steadily-growing collection of my own, which went on until I was about 16 or so. At that point, my complete lack of dating success with a particular girl who was, by her own admission, severely entomophobic, led me to completely drop the hobby for a number of years. The old collection moldered in a closet and was reduced to dust in a few months due to the depredations of carpet beetles and my lack of maintenance. > > Fast forward about ten years (through college and med school and into residency) and I decided, almost out of the blue, that I would take up the hobby again, and do it right this time. And I havenā€™t looked back since. šŸ™‚ Welcome to the SDMB fam! I love insects too, but my ā€œcollectionā€ only consists of two butterflies (Fivebar Swordtail and Common Indian Crow) and a big-ass dead dragonfly (donā€™t know which kind). Iā€™m not afraid of insects, but donā€™t have the heart (or expertise) to catch or mount them myself, and the collections you can buy are so darn _expensive._ My butterflies are pretty, but I paid about $15 for them. The dragonfly floated dead on its back over to me in a lake I was fishing at, so no loss there. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/62 "2005-01-18T21:07:05Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Welcome to the SDMB fam! I love insects too, but my ā€œcollectionā€ only consists of two butterflies (Fivebar Swordtail and Common Indian Crow) and a big-ass dead dragonfly (donā€™t know which kind). > > Iā€™m not afraid of insects, but donā€™t have the heart (or expertise) to catch or mount them myself, and the collections you can buy are so darn _expensive._ > > My butterflies are pretty, but I paid about $15 for them. > > The dragonfly floated dead on its back over to me in a lake I was fishing at, so no loss there. šŸ™‚ Thanks for the welcome, and itā€™s always good to meet another insect fan! šŸ˜‰ I can completely sympathize with folks who donā€™t have the heart to collect insects. I still sometimes feel bad, myself, even after 15+ years. But I do try to be conscientious and humane about it, and preserve them in such a way that the specimens could be useful for future study. Amusingly, a certain number of specimens are from friends of mine who send me things they find in their gardens and ask me to identify them. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/63 "2005-01-18T21:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Is the Brattle Book Store still in existence? When I lived in Boston, 30 years ago, I was able to pick up some US editions of Verne from the 1870s for a couple of bucks each. Iā€™m sure they were pirated as was common at the time, and none particularly obscure. It is, but itā€™s not a particularly good source of Vernes (although I _did_ get one of my Annotated Vernes there). Much better was **The Avenue Victor Hugo Bookstore** on Newbury street, where I was able to find many of the Ace paperback reprints. But the AVH is noe sadly gone, except online. Aside from new printings of obscure Verne editions (like **Paris in the 20th Century** and Verneā€™s play, both published in English for the first time within the past ten years), Iā€™ve had my best luck in obscure used-book shops, where I find old hardcover editions, usually pretty beaten up. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/64 "2005-01-18T21:36:19Z")
Casino chips. Just the garden variety $1 blackjack table kinda chip; no fancy commemoratives/collector items. I used to exchange chips with other far-flung collectors, but I now limit myself to casinos Iā€™ve played in, so my collection isnā€™t growing very fast. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/65 "2005-01-18T23:19:58Z")
I collect ā€˜slider pensā€™ or ā€˜floater pensā€™. Those pens that have something in the liquid that slides back and forth as you tip it on itā€™s end. One end is a solid color like blue or red usually. Like this person: [http://www.konky2000.com/Collection/Pens/](http://www.konky2000.com/Collection/Pens/) I liked them when i was a kid, and bought one once. Then decided to buy another andā€¦ Now Iā€™ve got about 50. I try to get one from every place i visit. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/66 "2005-01-18T23:36:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It is, but itā€™s not a particularly good source of Vernes (although I _did_ get one of my Annotated Vernes there). Much better was **The Avenue Victor Hugo Bookstore** on Newbury street, where I was able to find many of the Ace paperback reprints. But the AVH is noe sadly gone, except online. I donā€™t think AVH existed when I left Boston, but I did stop in when I was back in town for various meetings. When I was poor I preferred general used book shops instead of specialty shops, since you get better deals there. **Change of Hobbit** in Berkeley is incredibly overpriced, for instance. For books, anyhow, here is how you can distinguish the collector from the reader. The reader looks at the authorā€™s name, and the blurb, and maybe the first few pages. The collector looks at his or her want list, and pays more attention to the publisherā€™s number or issue than what is inside. At least that is what I do. Don Wollheim numbered DAW books consecutively for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/67 "2005-01-19T00:08:08Z")
I have a small collection of Original Production Cells from animation. My pride and joy are two from the original Grinch holiday classic, one of the grinch, one of Max. For a while a partner and I were making non-violent 3-D games for kids. And so I kinda got into the animation thing. I also have some from Dilbert and some from the old Raid comercials. And a few other odd ones. ---
**Author:** ![the4thmooncat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce7236/32.png) [@the4thmooncat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the4thmooncat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/68 "2005-01-19T00:54:43Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > I also have collections of Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, though that last one Iā€™ll probably start selling off soon. \ Iā€™ll buy šŸ˜ƒ I donā€™t collect, but I do play, sometimes. \ I collect Japanese animation (anime) , mainly dubbed versions from TV, since Iā€™m pretty much broke. My current collection is 350 tapes/DVDs (95 movies/series total, most of which are partially or entirely complete), with a good portion of those being 6-hour tapes taped off of TV. I also collect anime and anime-video-game (or vice-versa) mp3s (4951 right now). Life? Lifeā€¦ Yeah, Iā€™ve heard of that somewhere. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/69 "2005-01-19T18:10:55Z")
I collect 8-track tapes. I have a collection thatā€™s approaching 200 tapes, in working order. This also means I collect 8 track stereo players. Itā€™s a quirk, and nothing I set out to do on purpose. about 8 years ago, I was just looking for a tuner to play the radio in my room, and the one I snagged from the thrift store had an 8-track player in it. I wondered if it worked, it did. So Iā€™ve been off-handedly collecting cartridges and equipment ever since. I have some MP3s where the source material is 8track. They sound better than you might think. To a lesser extent, I also collect vinyl. To a greater extent, I collect books (who doesnt?) ---
**Author:** ![look\_hergo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@look\_hergo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_hergo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/70 "2005-01-19T19:27:24Z")
I save all my race numbers from runs Iā€™ve been in. On the back I write the date, distance, and my time and rank. Theyā€™re pinned to my bulletin board by the bed, along with my few ribbons and medals, and pictures of me running and posing with my race buddies. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/71 "2005-01-19T20:10:31Z")
I collect pictures of people flipping off the camera. I mostly find them on the web through random image searches like at [diddly.com](http://www.diddly.com/random). I have several hundred of them, and am working on a web display area for the collection. Itā€™s a beautiful assortment. I also have several thousand baseball cards, and lots of obscure old reference books of various utility. Mrs danalan collects teapots, Boydā€™s Bears figurines, and salt & pepper shakers. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/72 "2005-01-20T00:28:14Z")
I collect vintage Pyrex, mostly the brightly colored mixing bowls but also clear if it has a pressed design in it. Itā€™s just about time to start selling off some of mine, because our kitchen is fairly small and I have an entire cabinet devoted to it. Also short horror story anthologies. Iā€™m gonna write the most boring book ever, and it will be about the short horror story genre, so this isnā€™t actually collectingā€¦itā€™s, yā€™knowā€¦research! Yeah, research, thatā€™s it! And since I got my sewing machine fixed, I am apparently collecting fabrics now. I donā€™t really even have plans for some of itā€“I just like to look at it and gloat. My sister is a jewelry maker, and I covet her collection of swarovski crystal beads. I want to collect them, not to make jewelry from, but just to hoard and play with and look at. I donā€™t dare get started, though, at least until the kids are old enough to keep out of them. But one dayā€¦ooooh, yesā€¦mounds of shiny shimmery bright faceted beads! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/73 "2005-01-20T01:29:38Z")
My main collection is all things Western Electric. This means I donā€™t limit myself to phones and also collect all the odds and ends and ephemera. Stuff like advertising flyers for new styles of phones, brochures on why the war effort is preventing you from getting a new phone, silverware from the cafeteria, etc. Iā€™ve even got a chunk of fabric covered in the Western Electric logo, evidently a leftover from making curtains for an office. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/74 "2005-01-20T15:15:50Z")
Comics. Iā€™ve got six or seven thousand in the database I keep on my computer, plus another couple hundred (at least) that I havenā€™t read yet. ā€“Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/75 "2005-01-20T16:48:42Z")
- Comic Books (only a few hundred, nothing compared to most collectors.) - Anything related to Sam Keithā€™s **The Maxx** - Anything related to the D&D setting **Ravenloft** - Keychains (a lapsed collection. I stopped caring around college) - Magic: The Addiction cards - Elephants. (Not real ones, of course, although that would be cool.) My **Star Wars** collection is weird only in that itā€™s oddly limited, but also oddly vast: - Star Wars Figures (I decided to limit myself to prequel-only and one of each main character from the originals, to avoid going broke. Itā€™s a weird limit, but it works for me.) - Star Wars Beanie Buddies - Star Wars Lego sets - Star Wars PEZ dispensers - Anything with Yoda on it. (9 or 10 different figures in assorted sizes, an electronic talking one, a beanie one, a tiny bust, lego figure, lego sculpture, keychain, poster, cardboard standup, tshirt, PEZā€¦) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/76 "2005-01-20T17:34:05Z")
My collecting is done almost solely with an eye to future profit. In the meantime, theyā€™re nice to look at. I have a coin collection, an Alaskan art collection and an Alaskana book collection. I was finally able to get people to stop giving me coffee mugs and ship captains. If you make the mistake of buying something that catches your eye, every goddamn relative and friend suddenly assumes that you have an overwhelming lust for like items. I had to be fairly blunt about it, then box up all the crap and give/throw it away. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/77 "2005-01-20T17:55:01Z")
Iā€™m a serial collector. I do one thing for awhile, then it just kind of loses appeal for me and I merely use and/or enjoy the things, rather than beat the bushes or haunt eBay for them. (I spend _ungodly_ amounts of time and money on eBay.) Sometimes the bug is life-changing, as with my vintage jazz/big band record collection (numbering some 40,000 titles) or my saxophone arsenal. Other times itā€™s a transitory thing. Subsequently I begin on something else. Almost without exception itā€™s something dating from the 1920s, '30s, or '40s. For almost a year I had an unaccountable fixation on the giant airplane the [Dornier Do X](http://www.pilotfriend.com/century-of-flight/Aviation%20history/coming%20of%20age/flying%20boats/Dornier%20Do%20X.htm). Before that I was busy researching the [pre-commercial](http://www.earlytelevision.org/) era of TV broadcasting, ostensibly for a book I knew Iā€™d never write. My current kick is assembling wearable World War II officersā€™ uniforms, so I never have to think about what to wear on Halloween ever again. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/78 "2005-01-20T18:18:46Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I collect **postcards** too. And **travel brochures** of where weā€™ve been. I use to **collect spoons** , but that was kinda majorly dorky and I definately hated displaying them, so they are strung on fish line and hung on an Xmas tree every so often. > > Embracing my inner dork, I collect **stamps**. All over the world any style. I am not picky at all. There use to be, probably still is, a place on the web Melissaā€™s Stamp Exchange, where you list what you would like to trade and what you are looking for. I really enjoyed doing that and had some nice letters from complete strangers. And I would probably make any stamp person faint when I say they are kept in a nice cardboard box atop my closet shelf. I take them down every so often and go, " Ooooh, pretty." > > Anyone outside of the US who wants to add to my collection of cancelled stamps, I would be very happy to get them. Wow, I collect postcards and stamps, too, though am a little more specific. I collect movie posters on postcards. Theyā€™re fun to find, especially in foreign countries, and at usually $1 (or less) each, itā€™s much cheaper than collecting actual one-sheets. I stopped counting how many I had when I passed 1000. I also collect stamps, though only film-related ones. At first, I did this because it wasnā€™t unrealistic to have a comprehensive international collection of all movie-related stamps ever issued. But things have ballooned quite dramatically in the past few years, so Iā€™ve abandoned that effort, and have decided to combine my collections together. Now, I concentrate on First Day Covers that I create myself (and get postmarked by the USPS) using my postcards (which I find more attractive than most of the caches that dealers deal with). This makes these collectible genuinely one-of-a-kind, especially if I can combine multiple stamp issues together (I have a _Charade_ postcard that has separated FDCs for the Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Henry Mancini issues). I derive a lot of genuine enjoyment out of this, and I comfort my wife in explaining that this is her nest egg, determining the level of care sheā€™ll get when I put her in a home. šŸ˜‰ Also, maintaining this level of specificity means that itā€™s fairly easy to manage from a cost basis (since stamps donā€™t cost much, neither do postcards, and not many movie-related stuff comes out anyway). **Shirley Ujest** , Iā€™d be happy to trade stamps with you, but it doesnā€™t sound like anything you have will add to mine in any way. ā˜¹ Let me know if Iā€™m wrong, though. And thanks for the linkā€“Iā€™ll have to check it out. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/79 "2005-01-20T18:22:43Z")
Oh, I should also mention that I collect all my movie ticket stubs. Numbers in the thousands, I suspect (havenā€™t counted), I have a big jar I put them in. I also collect movie scores on CD (have a few hundred), but donā€™t aim for anything definitiveā€“merely stuff that I like. I also used to collect, as a kid, baseball cards, comic books, bottle caps, and action figures. Havenā€™t added to any of those collections in years, though I imagine a few things (especially select rookie cards) are quite valuable now. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292/80 "2005-01-20T18:39:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Shirley Ujest, Iā€™d be happy to trade stamps with you, but it doesnā€™t sound like anything you have will add to mine in any way. Let me know if Iā€™m wrong, though. SURE! I havenā€™t looked at my purty collection in some time ( kids have a way of ruining the fun and haphazard orgazination of it all. The weasals.) Me email is in my profile. šŸ™‚ I also collected movie ticket stubs. Did it for years. I havenā€™t been inside a theater in probablyā€¦sinceā€¦Shrek 2 came out. Rent mostly. $7.50 a flick nowā€¦x4ā€¦no frooking way. Oh, and I have one pen in my **floatie pen** collection. Those suckers are hard to find. And I love magnets from interesting places. Even dull places. Versatile, cheap and some other adjective I canā€™t think of . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-collect-and-why/285292.md?page=5)