|
Action Figures An action figure is a doll-like toy in the shape of a person (or humanoid or animal) that looks capable of action. "Action", of course, is a diffuse term and action figures come in more shapes, colors and poses than anyone, except a parent who has to pay for them, would believe. The quintessential action figure was G.I Joe, who debuted in 1964, revolutionizing the modern toy market. (Finally, boys could buy something that required as many ongoing accessories as a Barbie doll.) Although many girls collect action figures, they are primarily boys' toys. Boys, of course, don't play with dolls, so we must be careful to categorize action figures among the collectable masculine objets d'art, such as toy cars, toy guns, and gross things that squish. Web:
Antique Radios Modern radios are computerized, cheaply built and ugly. It didn't used to be like that. In the early days of radio, technology was not as good, but the radios themselves were wonderful devices, with knobs to turn, tubes to replace, and beautiful, functional designs to fuss over. Today, many people collect and maintain these old radios, an activity which is alive and thriving on the Net. Web:
Usenet:
Antiques At one time, the term "antique" referred only to objects that originated in the ancient world. However, with the rise of antique collectors, the supply of ancient objects wasn't enough to satisfy the market (and, tell the truth, would you really want to furnish your sitting room in second century Roman Empire?). As a result, the term "antique" came to mean any object of interest over 100 years old, thus moving the focus of antiquing (which became a verb) from the exhibit halls of dusty museums to the living rooms of the rich and tasteless. However, in recent times, in the spirit of egalitarianism, the definition of an antique has been relaxed even further to embrace the amorphous but far more ubiquitous idea of memorabilia. Anything can now qualify as an antique, as long as it meets the following two tests: (1) Is it possible that one day, someone might pay money for the object?, and (2) Is the object older than the food in your fridge? As a result, antiquing (there's that word again) has become a synonym for collecting, and the world of antiques has finally become accessible to us all. With the rise of Internet auctions, any Jane or John Doe can now become a member in full standing of the antiquing community, where a ready market can be found for such important artifacts as classic 1960 bumper stickers, original Hawaiian shirts, and genuine troll dolls. (Second-century Roman amphora, however, can be a bit hard to unload.) Web:
Usenet:
Autograph Collecting To many people, an autograph is just someone signing his or her name. For example, suppose you are eating in a restaurant, and you see someone famous like Bill Clinton, Homer Simpson or Prince Philip walk in. If you're like most people, you grab a napkin, casually saunter over, and ask Mr. Famous Person for an autograph. Later, you take the napkin home with you, show it around to a few friends, and then throw it out. A serious autograph collector, however, would do it all differently. He or she would use a special piece of paper, not a napkin, and afterward, the autograph would be carefully catalogued and stored. Moreover, real collectors don't collect autographs willy-nilly. They tend to concentrate on certain areas and build their collections by requesting specific autographs, often by mail. If you would like to learn more about this fascinating hobby, take a look at these autograph-related resources on the Net. (By the way, the story in the restaurant is true. All three of the celebrities were there, and I was able to get three great autographs for my collection. I specialize in "Men Who Live With Forceful Women".) Web:
Usenet:
Beanie Babies Beanie Babies are small, furry, bean bag toys that are popular with many people who collect the toys, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. Official Beanie Babies are made by the Ty Company (but, as you can imagine, there are a lot of knock-offs). My favorite Beanie Baby is Nip the Cat, because he looks like my cat, The Little Nipper. (The Little Nipper, however, is much cuter and was born on April 6, 1991, three years before Nip was first sold on March 6, 1994.) In order to maintain the demand for Beanie Babies, the Ty Company manipulates the market by making specific toys for a limited time. When they stop making a particular toy, they say it has been "retired". Nip the Cat, for example, has been retired. Although Beanie Babies sell for only a few dollars retail, the artificial market has inspired people to pay as high as hundreds of dollars or more for various rare Babies. (I just had a horrible thought. One day, the demand for Beanie Babies is going to fall drastically, and as a result, the real estate market is going to be flooded with people wanting to buy land in Florida.) Web:
Usenet:
Book Collecting I love books and I even have a few of my own collections: Tintin, Perry Mason, Freddy the Pig, as well as anything by P.G. Wodehouse and Isaac Asimov. Mostly I collect these books because I enjoy reading them. However, many book lovers are serious collectors, maintaining accession records and circulating a desiderata (want list). If you are passionate about book collecting in this way, the Net stands ready to help you. (Remember, old collectors never die, they just deaccession.) Web:
Usenet:
Bottle Collecting When I was a young kid, I used to enjoy going to the Canadian National Exhibition. My favorite place was the Food Building, where there were a great many booths selling various types of food and giving away free samples. I remember that the Coca Cola booth used to give away tiny little Coke bottles (with real Coke inside). For some reason, I was never able to get one of these tiny bottles, but I really wanted one. If you are a bottle collector, I'm sure you can understand my feelings. Sometimes it seems as if the most important bottle in the whole wide world is the one you want but can't have. Web:
Usenet:
China, Ceramics and Porcelain When you heat a nonmetallic mineral, such as clay, at a high temperature, you create a ceramic, a substance which is hard, brittle and resistant to heat and corrosion. Ceramics have been used for centuries to make containers and implements such as dishes, bowls and vases. The earliest ceramics date to sixth-century China, when porcelain was first developed. (Porcelain is made by heating kaolin, a white clay, combined with a mineral called petuntse, a form of feldspar.) To this day, high-quality ceramics and porcelain are referred to as "china". About 1800, British artisans, attempting to imitate Chinese porcelain, created bone china by mixing clay with ground ox bone. Web:
Clocks and Watches Here are lots of great resources for anyone interested in horology (the science of measuring time and the art of making timepieces). These resources offer information about collecting clocks and watches, timepiece repair, the history of timekeeping, antique timepieces and trading. The mailing list and Usenet group are forums in which you can talk about horology any time, day or night. Web:
Usenet:
Listserv Mailing List:
Coins and Money Collecting various types of money can be a lot of fun. These Web sites have some useful and interesting resources for people interested in collecting coins and banknotes. The numism-l mailing list is not a collector's list. It is for discussing coin topics relating to antiquity and the Middle Ages (up to c.1454). The Usenet discussion groups leave room for lots of free-form discussion of coins and paper money. Web:
Usenet:
Listserv Mailing List:
Collecting Resources It's human nature to want to collect. I collect old comics (Silver Age DCs), coins from around the world, and Freddy the Pig, P.G. Wodehouse, and Perry Mason books. In fact, it's hard to think of anything that someone might collect, that someone doesn't collect. Web:
Collecting Talk and General Discussion Is there anyone who doesn't collect anything? (I, for example, collect Internet books.) Collecting seems to be part of our nature as human beings. Thus, if you are human, there is a place in this discussion for you. Use your imagination: anything that can be quantified or categorized is fair game. Usenet:
Collectors' Marketplace Just about everyone collects something, so here is a Web site of universal appeal. Free ads to buy and sell just about anything you can think of (as well as lots of stuff you would never think of): animation, antiques, autographs, Barbie, Disney, GI Joe, porcelain, Hallmark, toys, sports, records, sci-fi, and much more. Web:
Doll Collecting There are lots and lots of doll collectors on the Net, and lots and lots of doll stuff to enjoy. Even if you can't tell the difference between a Cabbage Patch Baby Surprise and the Barbie Neptune Fantasy '92 (from the Bob Mackie series), you can still enjoy bopping around, looking at dolls, or hopping in on some hot doll discussions in Usenet. Web:
Usenet:
Floaty Pens I have a Freddy the Pig floaty pen. You know, one of those pens with a tiny picture of something built into the shaft of the pen, and when you tilt it, part of the picture moves back and forth. My pen shows a picture of the Bean Farm where Freddy lives. Freddy and Jinx the cat are talking to Mrs. Wiggins the cow and two of the rabbits. When I tilt the pen to the right, Freddy and Jinx move to the right. When I tilt the pen back, Freddy and Jinx move to the left. A floaty pen contains a miniature scene housed within a 16x19 millimeter tube. Inside the tube is mineral oil. Since mineral oil is thick, the floaty part moves slowly and gracefully as you tilt the pen. The history of the modern floaty pen dates to 1946, when a Danish baker named Peder Eskesen figured out a way to seal the tubes so the oil would not leak. Today, the center of the floaty pen universe is the Eskesen Floating Action Pen Factory in Store Merlose, Denmark, a small village south of Copenhagen. Web:
Found Photos If you believe in the law of karma, it may have been your destiny to look down the street at a particular instant and notice a lost photo of a fat man eating a massive piece of cake at his niece's wedding. Since each photograph represents a tiny slice of reality, every time you find a lost photo, it intersects with the unfolding pattern of your life. With a single picture it's hard to see the pattern, but once you collect one found photo after another, you can look for patterns, unconscious meanings and clues to the essence of your personal being. Perhaps there really is no such thing as a coincidence. Web:
Knives and Blades Years ago, I had a wonderful switchblade given to me by my uncle. Later, I bought myself another such knife when I was visiting Switzerland. That was years ago, and I didn't think much about knives until my good friend John Anderson, a knife aficionado and collector, took me to a knife show. Boy, did I have a good time. It was a real treat to see so many people who love what they do, and to see so many exquisitely crafted instruments. The knife collecting world has a fascinating culture, with a symbiotic balance between collectors and knife makers. The collectors support the knife makers, who create a limited supply of new knives for the collectors. Thus, a knife show has an interesting mix of two very different types of personalities, sort of like Jack Sprat and his wife. Web:
Usenet:
License Plates I like license plates. They're small, they're colorful, and there are just enough variations to make collecting them worthwhile. Whether or not you are a collector, I bet you will enjoy looking at pictures of license plates from around the world. I especially like looking at old plates and imagining the people who used them and the cars they were driving. Web:
Marble Collecting When I was young, we had marble season at school every spring as soon as the snow had melted. Here is how the whole thing worked. For several weeks, a large area of the playground was set aside for marbles (also called "alleys"). Various people would sit on the ground with their legs spread and place a valuable marble in front of them. When you did this, it announced that you were willing to let anyone try and win the valuable marble. People could come up and, from a certain distance (about 10-15 feet), roll a less valuable marble on the ground toward you. If the rolling marble hit the valuable marble, the person who rolled the less valuable marble got to keep the valuable one. In general, it is difficult to hit another marble 10-15 feet away, and the person sitting on the ground could end up accumulating many marbles before having to give up the valuable one. There were two basic ideas. First, you could beg, borrow, steal or buy a whole bunch of plain, ordinary marbles, and then use them to try and win a few of the valuable ones such as purees or puree biggies. (Purees were valuable because there was no place to buy them; you had to win them.) Or, if you had some valuable marbles, you could sit on the ground with a valuable marble, and collect as many plain marbles as you could before someone hit the valuable one. I still remember the day two brothers came to school with a big tin filled with beautiful, green, medium-large puree biggies. One of the brothers sat down and placed one of the green marbles on the ground in front of him. In no time, a crowd of people had appeared, rolling one marble after another, trying to win a beautiful, green, medium-large puree biggie. Whenever the green puree was hit, one of the brothers would give it to the winner, reach into the tin, pull out a new puree, and place it on the ground. Boy, did they ever do well! Marble season was for the youngest kids, and I only played for a few years. But even now, it is impossible for me to see a nice-looking marble without feeling nostalgic about those childhood times that seem so far away and so long ago. To this day, whenever I walk into an art supply store and see a box full of clear glass marbles, I feel like calling to the person I am with and saying, "Wow, look at all these purees. I bet if we bought some we could really clean up." Web:
Music Collecting There are lots of reasons why it is a good idea to be a music collector. Here are the top three. (1) You will always have the right music to play no matter what the occasion (such as a surprise Tupperware party). (2) One day a famous movie producer may come over to your place and ask you to help him choose the soundtrack music for his new picture. (3) When you die, people will have something pleasant to say about you. ("He had such a nice CD collection...") Web:
Usenet:
Postcards Postcards were designed so that people who go on vacation could quickly and easily torture all those friends or family members who didn't get to go. Connect with other postcard collectors and discuss the history of picture postcards, information on research activities, or find people with whom you can exchange postcards by mail. Web:
Usenet:
Listserv Mailing List:
Rock Collecting They're not friendly or cuddly, but you don't have to feed and water them and they don't make any noise. If you are into long-term commitment without the emotional sloppiness, rocks make perfect friends. Web:
Snowglobes My favorite snowglobe is a special one commemorating Watergate. You shake it, and, as the snow floats down gently, obscuring the view, you catch a glimpse of Richard Nixon sitting behind a big desk, erasing audio tapes. Snowglobes are not only fun to collect, they can be useful as well. After all, suppose that one day you are on trial for your life and, to get off, have to prove you have visited Fargo, North Dakota. All you need to do is show the judge your special Fargo souvenir snowglobe. Or maybe one day a millionaire will knock on your door and ask if you would be willing to trade a snowglobe for his Rolls Royce. You'd feel pretty silly having to turn him down. But the best thing about snowglobes is that you can shake them up and watch the snow float down gently whenever you want. Web:
Sports Memorabilia You don't have to play a sport to be one, but you don't even have to be a sport to collect stuff. All you need is motivation, time, money, and a place to keep your collection where your mother or wife won't throw it out. There are many people on the Net who buy, sell and appreciate sports memorabilia, and these Web sites can help you find what you want. If you like to talk to other collectors, or you want to buy or sell something, you can join the discussion in one of the Usenet groups. It's not always easy to find exactly what you want, but it's worth it. As a kid, I collected football cards, and I still remember how thrilled I was the day I got the last card I needed to have the complete set. It was a big deal. Web:
Usenet:
Stamp Collecting The modern use of postage stamps started in England in 1840. The first official U.S. stamps were issued in 1847. By 1850, the custom had been adopted by countries around the world. Eventually, postal officials noticed that many stamps were never used: they were being saved by collectors (philatelists). For years now, the collecting market has been so large that post offices have been designing and producing stamps specifically for the philatelic community. Indeed, some small countries accrue significant revenue by selling stamps to foreign collectors. Web:
Usenet:
Listserv Mailing List:
Teddy Bear Collecting If you are a woman, I don't have to tell you why it's fun to collect teddy bears. They are cute, cuddly, and you can sleep with them at night without having to worry about them pulling away all the covers. If you are a man, there are two important reasons to have a teddy bear collection of your own. First, from time to time, you can give one of your teddy bears to a woman, and she will think you are thoughtful and sensitive. Second, you can sleep with them at night without having to worry about them pulling away all the covers. Web:
Usenet:
Toy Collecting Admit it. You love toys. Not only are they fun, but they are great to collect. The only thing that could possibly be better than collecting toys is actually getting paid to read about it. So why not take a few minutes every day at work and see what's new in the world of toy collecting? You'll find information covering the simplest plastic Legos to the most complicated technical gadgetry. Moreover, your boss will be amazed at how a few minutes of relaxation improves your productivity, and you'll probably even get a raise. Web:
Usenet:
Trading Cards When I was a kid, I collected football cards. (This was in Toronto, and the cards were for the Canadian Football League.) There came a time when I almost had the full set, and I needed only one more card. As you can imagine, the very last card is the hardest one to find, but one day I found someone who had it and would trade with me. Was I ever happy! I still remember the exact place I was standing in the schoolyard and the immense feeling of satisfaction I had as I made the final trade. I remember a friend of mine running around, all excited, because I had got the whole set. Even as an adult, it still feels like an important accomplishment. Isn't it wonderful how remembering such small things after so many years can bring back such a warm feeling of contentment? Where did those days go? Web:
Usenet:
Listserv Mailing List:
Listserv Mailing List:
|
© All contents Copyright 2007, Harley Hahn
Full trademark and copyright information