I used to collect role-playing games but at some point a combination of wanting to declutter and a realization that, at the limit, collecting is primarily limited by finances, not skill, I lost interest.
My intent is to sell my really valuable RPG items and then unbind and scan all the rest of the stuff, so that my “I have it” OCD is offset by “…and it fits on a hard drive” practicality.
I used to collect pretty boxes from places I would visit, but then it turned out that they took up a lot of space so I stopped that. I went through a very brief period of collecting a certain line of Barbies (did anyone need a reminder that I’m a girl?) but they were hard to find and also took up a lot of space. I collected roses for awhile (wax roses, pewter roses, gold roses) but when I hit a bad streak after college I sold them all on ebay to pay the rent.
I guess these days I collect cookbooks since I have shelves of them that I rarely open. I do try to make sure that they have a large number of pictures in them, though, since I don’t like making things if I don’t have a picture reference!
I collect paper money from all over the world. Have been for years now. I started out just trying to get one current specimen from each country, but that was rather easily accomplished. So I started choosing countries and then getting as complete sets as I could afford. I’ve been slowly moving into defunct and older currencies and stuff like German and Austrian Notgeld, but that’s a huge and hugely expensive undertaking.
Not sure if I get a buzz from it exactly…I’ve just always found currency interesting to look at and play with.
“I have a huge collection of seashells that I store on beaches around the world” - Stephen Wright
(or something like that, too lazy to Google quote)
Just because I love them I have a collection of 1st edition D&D books. Old single color versions of modules (Tomb of Horrors, Keep on the Borderlands, etc) back before they came out with the more popular versions with the color covers. Outside of being pulled out to take a picture when Gary Gygax died (a picture Desslock was good enough to use in a PC gamer article on Gygax) they stay in a plastic envelope inside a sealed storage box.
Back when I was really collecting them I used to have dreams about coming across some obscure modules or books that I didn’t know existed. But by the time eBay was very popular collecting everything just became a matter of money and it lost most of it’s appeal.
I used to love checking out old bookstores in cities I visited to see if they had old D&D books, but when you can find everything months of bookstore diving gives you in minutes on eBay they is no more pride in finding something rare.
You could just houserule that you can’t use ebay to find your collectible items.
That’s awesome, I wanted to collect paper currency but it just never materialized.
These days I ask friends to mail me postcards from other countries, so I guess I kind of collect those. Rules are: they have to be mailed and they have to be from someone else. I can’t send them to myself and I don’t want a box of store-bought postcards that never went anywhere.
I collect excuses for complaining on Internet gaming forums. So far I’m up to:
I hate this game, because it’s bad.
I hate this game, because it plays exactly like another game I hated.
I hate this game, because it plays exactly like another game I loved.
I love this game, but it has these terrible shortcomings.
I don’t have any strong feelings for this game, but my disinterested, objective opinion is that it could be improved.
I’ll never play this game, because it’s in a genre that I hate.
I’ll never play this game, because it’s destroying its genre, which I love.
I’ll never play this game, because it’s destroying an unrelated genre that I love.
I’ll never play this game because it’s destroying an unrelated genre that I don’t know anything about, but I care deeply about diversity and competition in the games industry.
Hmmm. It seems that I also collect old computer hardware. Or so my wife thinks.
I have a serious collection of video cards from a Rage 128s to VooDoo’s first card. Up to a GeForce 8600. Some of them might be good for some kind of art project.
Old motherboards that will never be used again. VESA ports and all. ISA only.
A huge server case made of steel with no damn room in it. All separate bays for HDDs and two floppy drives. One, count it, one fan in it.
I used to have a circuit board with wire/magnet donuts for memory that was beautiful. This 2 inch square that looked like fine weave until you looked at it under magnification and saw all the tiny circular magnets with wires woven through them. If I could find that I’d mount it in a frame with a big magnifying glass for people to look at it and be amazed.
And hard drives.
I usually strip a hard drive for the platters and magnets when it dies. So I’ve worked at a few companies that allowed me to take old hard drives home when they died. By now I have several stacks of gorgeous drive platters, large and small. Also a huge lump of neodymium magnets.
Most of them are in storage but I have a bunch at home.
I am not a pack rat! I am a collector. And I can prove it to you. Come over to my house. Mind the piles of old Commodore COMPUTE! magazines.
Edit: Oh and cables? I have them. I would show them to you but they are in boxes under the bed. If you need an ancient cable, the odds are that I have it.
FML.
Literally?
Yes. Some are bare. Most are still on their steel mounts. It’s hard to separate the two. Mainly because they are always epoxied on. I have removed a few from the bases. But it usually ends up with me tearing the nickle/chrome plating off. When that happens I throw them away, carefully. A neo magnet will shatter in nasty ways if it’s not plated.
Edit:
There’s other stuff in there. A ball bearing hockey puck from an old game. And a pair of those oblong magnets that make a funny sound when you toss them in the air and catch them.
A few of the platters I have. I have a box full of them in storage, like I said.
The round thing with the wire is a prototype arc reactor. Don’t tell anyone, okay?
Nine year means this topic is just getting ripe! But it might still need seasoning so I’m going to pull in a bit from yet another thread.
I’ve never really collected anything seriously. I’ve always thought that adult collectors were slightly odd but I have 3 vintage mechanical watches coming, spent $40 bucks on bands, and still find myself looking at eBay, reading two watch forums, and Googling horologic history.
I’m interested in the cheap end of vintage watches so I’m not really worried about the money side of things. But @jpinard is spot on. I can find joy in many of the watches I see. I’m bothered by the covetous attitude (including the gotta catch them all feeling of odd ball movements, brands, and designs).
I like watching nature shows. I feel like I “collect” the animals each time I learn a new one. Production values and cinematography are so amazing these days.
I also collect books. Not the physical books, but simply having read them.
I’m poor so cannot collect physical things in case I get evicted and have to move all my stuff.
Would you post some pics of the 3 watches when you get them? Curious to see what they look like.
They will go in the watch thread at least. Probably here now that you’ve mentioned it.
@YakAttack I know where you are coming from. Early on after college I felt that same limitation. I’m sure it is one reason I had a negative reaction to most people who collected stuff. The flip side is that it did give me some appreciation for people who could collect cheap/free stuff and make it look good.
Ironically I’m getting a collecting itch right when I have moved to a small apartment and plan to move again at least once in the next five years.
As I come here to update this thread I suddenly realized that I didn’t actually know how to link to a thread without quoting it. Clearly I learned though …
The random knowledge aspect of older watches is a cool thing in and of itself that I’m enjoying but, similar to how reading about other places and times isn’t the same as traveling to other places, I find that having at least a few of these watches is satisfying.
I have a bunch of collectable cards: soccer, NBA, and comic cards from 1992-1994 (I think). Maybe a thousand cards? They are all in good shape, mostly in card boxes and some in binders. I don’t want them, and figure someone might appreciate them, but I don’t really have any idea of how to get rid of them easily (I wouldn’t mind some money for them, but I don’t want to try to price them all to see if I have anything rare). What do I do with them short of throwing them away?
Not sure why it’s turning the picture sideways. 1993 Marvel Masters.
Dude, don’t just turf them, if ebay is anything to go by, they are worth something.
Even non-graded cards in good nick are probably going to go for a decent amount individually, but if that’s a pain, take the lot to a card collecting shop and ge thtm to make you an offer.
Or, ask for help somewhere like Boargamegeek to help separarte the wheat from the chaff. Post some picks of the collection there and sharp eyes will pick out the valuable cards for you. You could even sell them via BGG pretty easily I would imagine.
Wow, that’s kind of crazy prices. I was never able to get the full set, but I have quite a few of them. I am always scared I am going to get ripped off on eBay, so maybe I should check out BGG?
Thanks for the idea. I guess it will be worth spending some time on this.
Just keep in mind the slight ‘ebay prices are inflated’ and the ‘graded cards are waaay more expensive’ grains of salt.
Still, even accordng to sites like collectors, you are still sitting on something worth more than ‘chuck it in the bin’, I think.
