The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
Everybody has collected things throughout the years. What’s one thing that you’ve always enjoyed collecting, and why do you collect it?
Talk about it.
62 comments
Dust. It’s plentiful and inexpensive. I primarily use it as a deterant for uninvited guests. It has a creative nature and is useful for my visiting grandchildren who love writing in it.
And that is the secondary collection over our primary collectibles.
I’m a Star Trek fan but had to stop collecting “stuff” and books because of space issues. I also sew and therefore “collect” fabrics. That’s becoming a space issue too.
Passport stamps…I travel to collect passport stamps.
I have some sea glass from trips to coastlines. Small trinkets from my travels that sit on a shelf. Nothing extensive. I asked my kids once, “if I die, is there anything of mine or in the house you want to keep?” They all said, outside of their personal things…”no.” That was a good enough wake-up call to not buy excessively or collect objects . I’ll spend my money on travel.
@Concord mom
Sounds like our kids have similar opinions.
My daughter said if she hits the lotto she’s
gonna build a museum for all my stuff and
pay people to come and see it.
I have a collection of various stemware. Some of the best pieces I have found have been at second hand stores. Not sure why I collect them but eventually they get used when I am serving wine or champagne 🙂
Only dust these days.
Garden rocks, semi precious stones, shells, turquoise, corals (old stock), glass, silver, & Native American jewelry (old stock).
Sounds like a fun collection!
Roz, my collection is speckles and chips compared to my grandma’s. She was a beachcomber in the Philippines throughout the 1950s, and she brought her natural sea treasures back home with her to Georgia, and had a glass room built for them. So many beautiful things! I’ve never seen another collection that could rival hers. You would’ve loved it.
I mostly de-collect nowadays, but sometimes some of my favorite things still spring into my hands.
Models cars number ONE!!!! All my life I wanted to collect model cars but I never had the time until I retired and I really went to town. I collected so many that I could barely move. i had an entire room redone so that the cars could be properly displayed. But I never had enough. Finally, I realized that my collection had become an addiction and it had to stop. So I called the Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville and the director came over to see the collection and agreed to take it. A week later he came over with an assistant and they boxed every single model and too them away. It was a very nice, very expensive collection with some models costing more than $200. And they have displayed several of the models in their model car exhibit. And the bonus is that I am now a lifetime member of the museum.
Cool!!
Debt
We should start a club… hahahah
I used to collect ashtrays and matchbooks from various places. Now that smoking has been banned in California, there aren’t any to collect anymore.
Most of the ashtrays I have gotten rid of because I don’t smoke and they take up too much space, I only have 4 or 5 left. I still have a lot of matchbooks but they are so old that most of them don’t light on the first, strike. Today I have a small coin collection. Every time I get change at the store I check the date and I have found some pretty old coins.
Even though some of my coins are very old, they are not rare enough to be worth a lot of money. I looked some of them up online only to find out that an old penny might be worth $5.00. I think I will give them to my granddaughter, maybe in her lifetime they might be worth a little more, if not, then she can give them to her kids.
Old staples works for me.
Ancestors
and cousins, too.
Pinball machines, first one about 25 years ago Williams OXO Pinball.
Second one about 8 years ago, Bally XENON.
Bally Supersonic, Williams Jungle Lord, United Mfg. Playtime,
Plenty of online resources for parts and information if repair is needed.
My cats whiskers – They’re good luck? They don’t take up much space. And another reason.
Money. Been having a hard time recently
Rocks and minerals and pewter figurines
Money from all my rental income. Vote no on rent control.
I collect seat belts! ;D
Santa Clauses. Some people think I am a little nutty in that regard. I have a lot of Santas. But you won’t see me on “Hoarders”.
Vintage Items from A to Z,…most items are useable on a daily bases or for the Holidays. Some items are for display too. Vintage glass ornaments are my favorite. List too long to list all I collect and haven’t added to anything in the last 5 years.
Experience
As a child/young adult I collected “location” spoons. At one point in my 20’s I had over 75 of the darned things and finally took a break. Later on I collected frogs, from all over, different shapes and sizes, and again, determined that they were taking over, and I didn’t really like frogs anymore. Since then, FLAMINGO’s! Perfect to set up when camping to be kitschy – but again, they’ve begun to overflow into my house and on to my Christmas tree. But I’m not ready to stop collecting them yet!!
Was in the middle of writing this and the page disappeared, so if it gets posted twice, sorry. I collect a number of things: Friends, experiences (traveling, parties always looking to experience something new) and boyfriends (when I was young), recipes. To get serious I have nice book collection, lots of books and biographies of the sixties or people from that era (when I was in my twenties) Jim Morrison, Manson to name a few. I love history and especially Presidential history so I have several books on our Presidents and First Ladies. I have a nice collection of books on the Kennedy’s mostly JFK, RFK and Jackie, but also on Joe Kennedy Jr. who died in WWII, and JFK’s favorite sister Kick (Kathleen) who died in an airplane crash in 1948.
My most extensive collection is music CD lots of sixties music The Doors, Beatles Van Morrison, also folk music especially Pete Seeger. I have a nice collection of Jazz CD’s lot of live recordings of Dexter Gordon and Ben Webster from Montmatre Jazz Club in Copenhagen (my home town use to see Dexter Gordon there several times) Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Charlie Parker many others. Also love an Austrian artist Rosina Watchmeister, she does wonderful pieces with cats, among other things, I have several of her prints, but one only have so much wall spaces, the rest is in form of postcards (available in Europe)which I keep in a drawer. That pretty much does it.
US & Canada Coin Proof sets–
not any one particular item. I collect small brickobrack items that tie into my childhood. ie: an old tube of KIP, a short waive (sp?) tube radio, matchbook from Long’s Drugs, souvenirs from Frontier Village, an old E Ticket. and things of that nature…
Photons!! I use my telescope.
AD
Grandchildren; 10 so far.
I collect spores, molds, and fungus.
Guns.
My Hubby says ‘Cool’!
What’s your best one, Atticus?
Not monetary value – I mean, which is your favourite and why?
Me too, but its getting harder in this state.
Guns as used by Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy movies. It’s a small yet powerful collection.
I’m not sure how to answer that Ancient One. Historically I treasure my Gewehar-43. Ugly as sin but significant historically and hard to come by.
For plinking I have a Swedish Mauser carbine( Model 39) I rescued from an abusive home. Or should I say, it rescued me? 😉 Dropped it into a synthetic stock with a bipod and a cheap 3×9 and for pure shooting fun from a long arm, that’s the one.
My 1911s I intend to be buried with. Just in case.
I have a repro Winchester 1886 lever action in .45-90 for cutting down trees or if a T-Rex shows up in the back yard.
But as far as keeping one in the family, my mom’s old Winchester Model 52. She won a trophy at Islip with it in the 1970s, was the only female shooter on the line competing that day. Prone, she shot better than my dad.She had MS and standing and walking was tough. All the more reason I’m proud and treasure that hunk of wood and fine Pennsylvania steel.
I have a miniature pitcher, stamped MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN. Anyone have an idea what it may be worth?
On Ebay the average asking price is $10~,…so it would cost more if someone found one in a local antique shop. Hope this helps.
I have a nice brass padlock, also stamped MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN.
Nice, but not worth anything above its value as a good padlock.
it means it was made when the USA occupied Japan at the end of WWII. Hope this link helps:
https://www.kovels.com/price-guide/occupied-japan.html
I collect Unicorns, I have paintings, statues, pillows, soft plushies. Been collecting for over 20 years but now they are everywhere, I love it.
When i was a kid I would collect anything – coins, cards, stamps, pictures of particular subjects (aircraft, ships, tanks, castles, cars, etc.).
If you gave me three of anything I would have to collect the whole set.
I’m free of that addiction, now.
Wind chimes, about 60 around the house love em and so do my neighbors
Praise the Lord
Vintage Star Wars toys. 20 years worth of stuff and no more room for it.
Nightmares…..it’s a work thing.
Archery – Recurve Bows from the 60’s & 70’s…gorgeous wood & fiberglass creations & “ancient” stone arrowheads.
Antique pressed glass pattern called “Beaded Loop” (also sold as “Oregon”). The now-large collection was started by my great grandmother and was eventually passed down to me. My children and grandchildren also love the pattern, and I have already given each of them quite a few pieces. It is seldom seen in antique stores on the West Coast, but the search is always fun.
Also, I collect figurines of rabbits. They must not look “cutesie” (I,e, none dressed up like humans). My favorites are the bronzes.
And recipes…… oh, my goodness!
Oooo!!!
Essential oils. And those cute boxes they come in. I still have the location spoons from my grand and mother.
Rocks of course. Found and bought. I have the cutest little granite rock shaped like a bird. And a few fossels. Lava, glass rocks, ironite-so heavey. I have a slight scar on my noggin from one falling off a shelf, and lost a toenail from one falling on my toe.
Used to collect geraniums and roses. And books. I miss them. Photos of condemned buildings. I don’t collect pens, pencils and junk mail, which some might deny. Oh! Written out observations and sayings. Scraps that are now housed in a box.
And of course tax documents. Against my will!
Ladybug items. My mother called me ladybug when I was younger and suddenly one year I started collecting ladybug items.
I actually had a display at the Alameda County Fair last year in the Hobby/Collection area. Won a 3rd place ribbon which made me SUPER happy.
I am just starting to collect mushroom stuff now too but only have a couple of items so far.
I am not letting you NEAR my ladybug broaches. Lol.
Justifable L:
They’d just go in my display/china cabinet. 🙂
1960’s and early 70’s HO scale Aurora / AFX electric toy slot cars. I’m always on the lookout for more. My brother has a lot more luck finding them for me back in North Dakota then I do in the Bay Area. Something about hunkering down in the basement with your slot cars or trains during those crazy winters leads to more inventory I guess.
I collect Fiesta dinnerware, old and new.. Fenton glass, including Fenton animals. Fenton glass is beautiful. Spode Christmas Tree dishes, because I love Christmas. Jewelry, and that is great to collect since it takes up less space. I used to collect cookbooks, but ran out of room at around 500. All kinds, some more than 100 ys old. I have cookie books, bread books, pie books, cake decorating books, canning books, but my favorites are holiday cook books. Used to collect sports cards, and my oldest is from 1912, and autographed pictures too, and most of those great sports stars are now deceased.
Pottery and glassware made with Uranium.
Rocks, minerals, silver, gemstones, fabric and books from Audible.com.
FROGS! Been collecting them for about 20 years now . It all started with a joke about my legs ,not sure what it was though.
Anyway I probably have around 600 or more .
At one time anywhere you looked in my house you would see a frog .
People didn’t like the ones in the bathroom they said they where staring at them when they peed well the men said that .lol lol lol
Craft supplies: ceramic molds, yarn fabric, craft book, sewing patterns, beads. Ugh!
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