What would you collect?

[Arch]

Walking round a car boot sale on Saturday, I realised that if I had large amounts of disposable income, and space, I'd have a terribly tendency to rescue rocking horses and sit on toys. Not beautifully lifelike glossy ones, but the slightly motheaten, sad sort you see at such sales. The sort with bald patches, and wonkey ears, and that sort of thing. I saw one once, I was with several people, and we couldn't even agree on what sort of animal it was - lamb, or donkey. The only things that stopped me adopting it was a complete lack of cash (I hadn't expected to go to the sale), and the fact that we were all on bikes, and 20 miles from our hostel base. But I felt so sorry for it.

What would you collect, if you had the money? Bikes, we take as read.

 

[biggs682]

at the moment i seem to have more bike related items than i really need , so thats my answer

 

[coffeejo]

Hand carved / turned wooden Things, from trinket boxes to tables.

 

[blockend]

I despise myself for it, because I truly believe collecting is a borderline mental illness, but I seemed to have amassed an unjustifiable amount of film cameras. My only excuse is I use them all, some much less frequently than others.

Re. rescuing crap I plead guilty. I bought a Nikkormat off the Bay that turned out to be absolutely mint, and subsequently bought five tatty ones to compensate. I enjoy using the cheapo consumer versions as much as, if not more than, professional versions. Weird, huh? The price has something to do with the habit. Imagine the best titanium and carbon team road bikes costing forty quid. Wouldn't you stock up?

I was on the way to a collection of houses but saw sense before the market went tits up and flogged them. I'm probably a completist in denial. If money was no object I'd serially acquire English Neo-Romantic paintings.

 

[Arch]

I despise myself for it, because I truly believe collecting is a borderline mental illness,

I'd had thought collecting was a perfectly rational activity for a species designed for foraging. Now that we don't have to put so much effort into collecting nuts and berries, we collect matchboxes* and trinkets.

*There was a box of matchboxes at the car boot sale. Must have been 50 or more, 50p each, or £20 the lot. I don't collect matchboxes, never have, but I longed to sort through them, arrange them by brand, or theme (there were several with trains on for example).

 

[blockend]

I don't collect matchboxes, never have, but I longed to sort through them, arrange them by brand, or theme (there were several with trains on for example).

That is so very wrong.

 

[coffeejo]

No, leaving them unsorted would be wrong...

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I saw one once, I was with several people, and we couldn't even agree on what sort of animal it was - lamb, or donkey. The only things that stopped me adopting it was a complete lack of cash (I hadn't expected to go to the sale), and the fact that we were all on bikes, and 20 miles from our hostel base. But I felt so sorry for it.

I was like that as a kid with soft toys. I thought of them as little people or animals*

Fetes, Car Boot Sales, jumble sales nowhere was safe from me!! It got quite embarrassing for my folks once when, on visiting the local dump, I saw and instantly fell in love with quite the most *enormous* blue and white teddy I had ever seen.

We got it home, cleaned it all and got a new eye for it**..... only to find out that it had been thrown out by some family friends (because the eye had been lost) and who were quite bemused to see it once again
It was so big that all the other teddies 'lived' on top of it, and I think it was quietly disposed off when I wasn't looking as it just seemed to disappear without me really noticing after a year or two.

I just wonder quite how I would have dealt with it if the Beany Babies had been about at the time!! I probably would have ended up in an asylum somewhere, a gibbering wreck!


* - Balloons were the same, I saw them as being little creatures that could be killed (burst) and I had to protect them so that they could live into 'old age' .

** - They found the eye after throwing out the teddy, so we got it and reunited it with it's rightful owner.

 

[Night Train]

I have a substantial collection of old toy trucks and wooden moulding planes and a slightly smaller collection of hoists and winches.

Money (and space) no object I would collect traction engines, tractors, heavy haulage and timber haulage trucks.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I used to collect bottle conditioned beers, at one point I had well over 100. Then one day I realised what a terrible waste of beer this was and I started drinking them. At this point most of them were 15 or so years past their best before dates, but I reasoned that the ones over 9% alcohol would probably be OK. (Which they were, better than when they were new in fact.) Now I'm down to about 35 bottles and am starting on the ones below 5% alcohol, which are a bit more hit and miss in terms of drinkability.
I also collect cheap Japanese plywood electric guitars from the 1960s. I use them all (that's my excuse) and I actually prefer them to all the more expensive guitars I've owned in the past, but as I have actually lost count of the number I've got - about twelve, I think - I suppose it's a collection.
Like Night Train, if I had more space and more money I'd love a large collection of interesting vehicles. Including a scruffy old ERF E series tractor unit with a 14 litre Cummins engine and an Eaton twin split gearbox. And a forward control Land Rover. And a Series 2 Land Rover, and a couple of Citroen Dyanes. And ... oh, I could go on forever.

 

[LosingFocus]

Cameras, any type. 135,120, digital, instant, integral... Hadn't got a large format yet, but it'll only be time...

 

[rodgy-dodge]

*There was a box of matchboxes at the car boot sale. Must have been 50 or more, 50p each, or £20 the lot. I don't collect matchboxes, never have, but I longed to sort through them, arrange them by brand, or theme (there were several with trains on for example).

this sounds lik OCD to me! started to watch something last night about hoarding it is in fact an illness for some, I fell asleep though and missed half of the program

 

[rodgy-dodge]

oh forgot to add I do have a huge hoard of fabric and can't resist buying it if its unusual, then I never get around to doing anything with it because it becomes precious

 

[Arch]

this sounds lik OCD to me! started to watch something last night about hoarding it is in fact an illness for some, I fell asleep though and missed half of the program

Oh there's a bit of OCD in me for sure. If things can be sorted, I'll sort them - smarties, buttons, you name it. It's a good job that my work involves sorting recycling!

And I've got the squirelling gene too. Grandma had a cupboard of soap....

 

[asterix]

I would collect yachts of the J class era and earlier.