Bizarre Collections

[BiblioRook]

I'm highly prone to collecting things, quite often simply for the sake of collecting. While many of my collections can conceivably serve some purpose, a good many also wouldn't be able to claim that.

Just recently without really thinking about it I came to the realization I've started to collect spheres. Just... random objects in ball form. Oversized marbles, jumbo superballs, stress balls, glass globes, etc. Even a marble sphere not quite the size of a baseball that I for some reason feel the urge to carry around with me.

Other collections in the past (and some ongoing) includes the like of hourglasses, dice, skulls, and stuffed animals. Often crossing over with the later of which, I also currently have been seemingly going out of my way to collect items involving birds. That's not really going into my more 'normal' collections (such as books and, well, collectables).

So putting mundane collections aside (though many of you might consider most of mine to be so), what are some of the odder things you've collected?

[Lady Moreta]

Birthday cards :smallbiggrin:

I have an entire box of birthday cards at my parents place - mostly ones from when I was a kid, but there are some more recent ones in the box as well. Not entirely sure what to do with it to be honest.

[Nibleswick]

I have rocks from everywhere I've lived.

[CynicalAvocado]

i collect knives. not collectable knives. just knives

[BiblioRook]

Oh man, I completely forgot about two of my weirder ones; containers and business cards.

Containers such as bottles and boxes. I usually don't even actually put anything in them, they just sit there empty. And as for the business cards, that one is practically OCD. I can't go into an establishment without taking a card (and more then once I've entered someplace with the soul intent on getting it's card for my collection)

[Lady Moreta]

I have rocks from everywhere I've lived.

I'd love to be able to do that, but I wouldn't have been able to bring the collection with me when I moved country.

Pity too, because my husband and I found an awesome heart-shaped rock while on honeymoon, but we couldn't bring it home :smallfrown: (married/honeymooned in NZ, live in Australia). We took it with us anyway and left it at my parents place :smallsmile:

[BiblioRook]

Pity too, because my husband and I found an awesome heart-shaped rock while on honeymoon, but we couldn't bring it home :smallfrown: (married/honeymooned in NZ, live in Australia). We took it with us anyway and left it at my parents place :smallsmile:

...How big of a rock? For some reason I'm imagining something reasonably large XD

[Ravens_cry]

I collect old software and games. And I mean old. I got at least two on 5 1/4 inch floppy, back when floppies where floppy, and several on 3 1/2 inch. Wing Commander 2, Day of the Tentacle, Civilisation, Eric the Unready. A lot of the games are still surprisingly fun, though some have aged less well. Most of these came out before I got into computers in the early 2000's and some before I was even born.

[Whiffet]

I used to collect dalmatian items. Especially toys, but by no means limited to that. I still have everything, even though I don't add to the collection anymore. Besides toys and stuffed animals there's posters, pictures cut out from various calendars, snowglobes, glass decorations, a couple wood carvings, pillows, and even a plastic thing from the top of a kid's birthday cake. It was too cute to be thrown out! :smallfrown:

Oh, I also own a Disney 101 Dalmatians bedspread, but I don't use it for obvious reasons.

[Mauve Shirt]

Buttons. Cloth and threads.
Back when I traveled, I collected souvenir spoons.
Thanks to receiving small jewelry boxes every Christmas from one aunt, I have an accidental collection of small decorative jewelry boxes.

[Lady Moreta]

...How big of a rock? For some reason I'm imagining something reasonably large XD

Decent sized, but not massive. At a very rough estimate, I'd say it was about 12cm wide at the widest point and maybe about 15cm tall. We'd have taken it home, save the fact that Customs in Australia would have confiscated it, but it was too awesome a rock not to keep, so we left it at my parents place instead.


Buttons. Cloth and threads.

Oooh, my mother had a collection of buttons, with the odd bead. She kept them in a small container - I think for the purposes of entertaining my sister and I when we were little. I remember threading a needled with wool and stringing buttons and beads along it, while Mum did other crafty things.

I have a money collection as well. All old coins/notes - every time a new coin/note came out, I'd keep one, so when they went out of circulation, I had a copy. Still got that tin, though it too lives at my parents.

[Serpentine]

Since when have rocks been a customs issue? :smallconfused: Aside from Uluru rocks, which I think are actually illegal...

I have a collection collection. At various times I have collected: rocks, feathers, cards, merry-go-rounds (only ended up having 2 or 3 of those, though...), dragons, snakes, easter egg foil, wrapping paper (that's more for practical reasons, though), annnnnd... various other bits and pieces. I'm almost collecting scarves, bags and headscarves, but that's mostly accidental/cuz of gifts...
Haven't really been doing much collecting nowadays. I'm too transient, everything's a pain to pack up. I'd like to collect My Little Ponies, though (80's and maybe 90's ones).

My mother went through my rock collection, intending to throw out a bunch of it (:smallannoyed:), but apparently every single one she could see exactly why I kept it, even when it wasn't anything the least bit valuable. So she ended up throwing out nothing :smallamused:

[Lady Moreta]

Since when have rocks been a customs issue? :smallconfused: Aside from Uluru rocks, which I think are actually illegal...

I assumed I wouldn't be able to take it back... since they ask all sorts of questions like do you have any dirt or have you been on a farm at all, I assumed rocks would come under the same heading. I don't think anyone would care if I took one out of the country, but I doubt very much that I'd have been able to bring it in. Having said that, I never did check... maybe next time I go home I'll investigate.

[BiblioRook]

Most of my collections stay moderately sized to stay manageable, the (major) exception to this though would be my book collection. To say that it was a bit excessive might not be the half of it. I recently moved to another state and have been moving around from residence to residence for the last year, during which I've had to drag around six plus (and growing!) full sized boxes that held nothing but books...
...and that's less then half of what I have total as I had to leave most of them behind!

[Nibleswick]

Well when I say rocks I mean fairly small ones. My entire colection will fit in my pockets. I started it at a time when everything I owned had to fit in two suitcases an weigh less than a hundred pounds all together.

[rakkoon]

Dice, but I use some of them for games..or earrings

The fake ones are very popular with my kids

[Goosefeather]

Postcards. Whenever I visit a new city, I buy myself at least one postcard with a scene of the city and/or its major landmarks. Makes for excellent decoration for my room as well!

Also I have a tendency to hang on to ticket stubs from memorable journeys, be it a trip to somewhere fun, or even a mundane trip with someone special. In case you can't already tell, I like to travel! :smalltongue:

[Cespenar]

I remember collecting those little square-shaped paper thingies found on teabags with the brand's name on it.

Though that was a long time ago.

[InaVegt]

Birth Announcement cards.

[SDF]

I have GAS bad (Guitar acquisition syndrome). I collect guitars, amps, and pedals in a never ending quest to look cool.

I also collect guns (I am in Idaho afterall), radio equipment, and pokemon cards... oh my the number of pokemon cards I have.

[Asta Kask]

My grandmother's dog collected pacifiers from us. He snuck up while we were asleep and carefully took the pacifier, then ran into the bedroom and hid it under the bed. Grandma found his stash a few years later, when we no longer required pacifiers (she had fitted carpets and he had peeled away one corner to store treasure.)

[Feytalist]

Hmm, a friend of mine collected those little doily thingies underneath coffee cups in coffee shops, especially the ones with little coffee-related quotes.

My mother collects heart-shaped rocks.

[SDF]

Ooh, I also used to have a lot of Beanie Babies. My grandmother was way into them and got me a bunch too. Now she is in one of those red hat clubs and collects said hats. Red hats are way cooler than Beanie Babies.

[BiblioRook]

Ooh, I also used to have a lot of Beanie Babies.

Ugh. My father once tried his hand at buying and selling Beanie Babies, and as a result kinda ended up collected them as well. However he refused to get out of it despite all the signs (and advice from the people around him). His house is literally flooded with unsold Beanie Babies, even well over ten years after the fact (I'm not exaggerating, last time I was there three rooms basically had to be converted to storage so he had someplace to put them all).

[Kislath]

A compulsive hoarder, I collect everything. My favorite, though, are those brochure pamphlets you find in hotels and rest areas advertising every possible tourist attraction imaginable. I have bushels of them.

[Lady Moreta]

Postcards. Whenever I visit a new city, I buy myself at least one postcard with a scene of the city and/or its major landmarks. Makes for excellent decoration for my room as well!

I do that too... postcards or magnets, they're good collectables and they don't take up too much space.

And aeroplane boarding passes. They make great bookmarks :smallbiggrin: (at least, the older style ones did).

[Dr.Epic]

I got over 60 gigs in flash drives.

[Phae Nymna]

I collect something... darker...