[Heineken]

I collect old bottles, old tools, and old sterling silver flatware.

It's fun, it's interesting and educational, it can be expensive, it can be a good investment if you know what you're doing.

What do you collect?

[Plantagenet]

I collect old bottles, old tools, and old sterling silver flatware.

It's fun, it's interesting and educational, it can be expensive, it can be a good investment if you know what you're doing.

What do you collect?

I've collected prints and art of various kinds for years. When I travel I try to buy some local prints.

When I used to work in Kamchatka and the eastern USSR I bought a few paintings and bunches of Russian propaganda prints in Magadan.



On my trip to China last year I bought up all the Chinese Mao propaganda prints I could find. The Chinese just want to forget Mao, so they cost almost nothing.



For the last few years I've been specializing in Japanese woodblock prints from the Sino-Japan War of 1894 and the later Russo-Japan war. I find them in thrift stores and on EBAY. The juxtaposition of traditional Japanese art with modern guns and war is interesting, and you can still original prints quite cheaply. I think these are undervalued and will rise in value.

[dinopello]

I went on a period of collecting antique maps, charts and some old cityscape stuff. Don't do it so much any more but the best ones I have are framed and decorate my walls. I've commissioned local artists to paint and sculpt things for my house but I'm not really a 'collector'. I have quite a collection of disfunctional AV equipment including 2 giant (500, 1000W) sub amps that probably have a considerable amount of salvageable copper in them.

[Heineken]

Plant, those two you have pictured are wonderful. (I have one old Japanese woodblock print. It's from about 1862 and shows a Western-style ship entering a Japanese harbor. Very colorful. I have no idea what it's worth.)

That's a very nice collecting area. Paintings and posters have appreciated astronomically. Same for quality antique bottles. Old tools are still pretty affordable, mostly. I love the way an old vise or a hand-forged ax or an auger looks up on the wall. And you never know, they might come in handy!

Antique sterling silver flatware has been out of favor, which is one reason it has interested me.

[Heineken]

I went on a period of collecting antique maps, charts and some old cityscape stuff.

Maps are great, aren't they, Dino? A way of traveling without leaving your armchair.

[Pops]

Dust mostly.



Maps are cool! I have every topo map from Lake Tahoe to Sequoia Park. I bought them when I was a teenager by mowing lawns and dragged them around with me since.

The only real "collection" we have is 20-30 pcs of Hull pottery from the 30s, mainly because it was my Moms favorite. I was just gut-sick when we moved and something fell on a box of at least a dozen pieces.

We have collected lots of stuff tho, quite a few oil lamps of various types, some neat blown glass paperweights and I have to admit to lots of old hand tools as well. I guess primitive stuff I like the best, you know, that rusted stuff; bottle cappers, braces and bits, blacksmith and farriers tongs/nippers/etc, planes, handsaws, blah blah.

I'm probably a hoarder to be honest!

[Cloud9]

Enfields.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Books.

One wonderful thing about good books, it they can let you vicariously "collect" and enjoy MANY things, without having to spend zillions of dollars, fill your house or garage with those objects, etc.

Example 1:

I LOVE art glass. I have several wonderful art glass books with fantastic pictures of many of the great pieces and variations all over the world. Thus I have a terrific virtual collection while only owning a few minor inexpensive actual pieces.

Example 2:

I enjoy muscle cars. My books on muscle cars let me learn about them, vicariously enjoy them, look at them, etc. and spend nothing on all the huge expenses --- and avoid the environmental damage the physical cars entail.

Example 3:

I feel like I really know the deep "minds" of MANY wonderful writers throughout history fairly well, by reading and analyzing their works and derivative thought/commentary about their works. I still know almost nothing, but at least I know more via this armchair experience than I would otherwise -- and I have gotten a HELL of a lot of enjoyment from reading/contemplating/sharing their works as a bonus.

.....

(When they work the kinks out of digital books, it will be really nice to have a terrific cross-referenced virtual library which takes almost zero space. As it is, I have to think about where I put further bookshelves as not to risk damaging the house over time).

[careinke]

Plants and How to books.

[PeakOiler]

Shot glasses.

And they collect dust now.

[PrestonSturges]

Most of us collect regrets, scars, ex-wives, and subpoenas. In hindsight, I should not have invested my retirement in Beanie Babies.

[Loki]

Books. Too many books. Most in storage at this point. Honestly don't miss most of them. But if I ever settle long-term in a house again, it'll be nice to see them lined up on a shelf. It's like seeing a visual history of my personal interests over the years. The vast majority are non-fiction, everything from Buddhism to dairy goats.

Used to collect guns and gun stuff, but have whittled the collection down to a purely practical ensemble. No more old surplus rifles, though those were fun for a while.

[cynthia]

I am not collecting so much any more. I buy Cast Iron Cookware, old garden tools, cookbooks and how-to books for garden and home. I look for items in their original boxes. I am looking into older furniture worth saving. I have two chairs I plan to practice on with upholstering to see if I have a knack or patience for it.
We have purchased some dolls but the market is not so great on those, yet we always turn a profit when we resell them.
I like to buy old buttons and vintage fabric if it is not mildewed.
Thanks for the thread, Heinie!
cynthia

[Thralen]

I collect dragons; posters, figurines, stuffed animals, etc... Pretty much dragons in any displayable format.
My wife collects spiders in a similar fashion.

The two of us collect books. Half the boxes in the attic are books we don't have room for in the living area of the house, we try to swap a box or two out between bookshelves and attic each year to bring some old friends back.

Thralen

[WildRose]

My husband collects tools and small engines, and not-so-small engines.

I have two collections: prints that I've picked up in various places I've visited, and also from garage sales (amazing what you can find sometimes) and also Christmas tree ornaments from various places. The latter is a collection I started more than 30 years ago, and I am delighted with it. The ornaments are not expensive. Some of them were made by my children when they were younger, some were made by friends and relatives who are quite crafty, and others I've picked up at artisan sales and from different places I've visited. I have some myrtle wood ornaments from Oregon, some straw fish from Washington state, some beautiful ceramic ones painted masterfully by my sister-in-law, some crystal angels, and some Cloissone (copper) balls I bartered for on the Great Wall. There are some that will go with my kids when they move out. Anyway, it's a collection that is totally an indulgence and not good for anything but looking at, but I sure love putting them on the tree every year.

[anador]

Out of print books. I think books from the 19th century are so beautiful.

I try to get books the owners or authors have signed/ written in. Though this degrades the value in some instances, it is such a personal connection to people from a century or two ago, I cant resist.

I have a lot of song, poetry, and literature prints. But I have moved on to collecting cyclopedias, medical manuals, and architectural and carpentry treatises.

The old cyclopedias offer insight on how things were done in rural low energy situations. They have practical knowledge on just about anything a households needs to produce, and will offer some great post-peak skills I Think.

[vision-master]

Coming from a family of horders, I know all about collecting stuff. lol

My biggest 'collection' now are concert DVD's......

Thinking of getting one of those muti-media computers along with a 42"LCD or LED 1080p screen since as of lately I've been downloading music festivals on my hard drive. Some of the stuff is 720p now. I'm running 30 watts RMS 8 ohms through the computer along with a 10" sub and 37" screen. This is my current work station setup....

[vision-master]

I collect old bottles, old tools, and old sterling silver flatware.

It's fun, it's interesting and educational, it can be expensive, it can be a good investment if you know what you're doing.

What do you collect?

My oldest brother is into old tools (loves wood planes) and buy's an sells all the time, the other brother is into old sterling silver flatware and does the same.

[Heineken]

Out of print books. I think books from the 19th century are so beautiful.

I try to get books the owners or authors have signed/ written in. Though this degrades the value in some instances, it is such a personal connection to people from a century or two ago, I cant resist.

I have a lot of song, poetry, and literature prints. But I have moved on to collecting cyclopedias, medical manuals, and architectural and carpentry treatises.

The old cyclopedias offer insight on how things were done in rural low energy situations. They have practical knowledge on just about anything a households needs to produce, and will offer some great post-peak skills I Think.

You would absolutely love the movie "84 Charing Cross Road." I urge you to get it. It's about the lifelong romance of an NYC woman (played masterfully by the wonderful Anne Bancroft) with old books.

[dinopello]

Out of print books. I think books from the 19th century are so beautiful.

The Post just did an article on some neighbors that do this. During the tour of Monticello they talk a lot about Jefferson's obsession with books. I imagine it was quite a comfort for an intellectual to have a nice library. Today it is so different for kids growing up with access to almost any information fact or fiction instantly. Like old books, antique maps were not only informative, but beautiful works of art. Old maps I like because they were often commissioned to tell a particular point of view (by the sizes of the countries, or the dragons depicted in the areas that the map maker didn't know anything about). They also tell a factual history of things like the colonization of Africa and Asia. They can invoke quite emotional responses (e.g. maps around the time of the collapse of the Ottoman empire).