So what do you collect?

[Star*]

I forgot Depression era glass and teacups - My mother gave me a few pieces of her collection. My favorite pedestal hand painted teacup was black - it was my Moms favorite too. Has flowers painted inside and gold rims. Had them out and higher than usual to avoid "I bumped into it Mom" and wouldn't you know it ?

difficult child walks in one day swinging a YO YO around like crazy; the string snapped and out of all the crud in my house that flying stupid yo-yo homed in on my favorite tea cup. I glued it - just so Mom wouldn't notice. And then a month later - Dude's friend with a stupid yo-yo in the SAME ROOM - swinging it around and around and snap - AND AGAIN - for that teacup - it now sits in pieces. It's that ONE THING that you just can't forgive that got broken.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I suppose I am a collector of a bunch of old stuff! I collect old pieces of wedgewood. I collect original (preWWII) Wedgewood Fairyland Luster pieces. I collect, though I have no more room for more, handmade period furniture (the livingroom, diningroom and foyer are Federal period, the family room is Mission/Arts and Crafts movement, my bedroom is walnut Victorian and the rest is just a collection of things I love and found while being an antique dealer prekids). I have a bed in my guestroom that moms needs a step for. Bonehead and I actually found it on the street being put out in the trash about 19 years ago. It's from the late 1700's and was very likely made by slaves. It is a mahogany canapy bed.

I also collect Fiestaware. I use that as my every day stuff and just love finding pieces (most of them new) and using them for a completely different thing! For example, I have a covered sugar dish on my stove that I use for sea salt.

So I have a quite a few collections that fill this big ole house. I don't know what I will do when I downsize. No way all this stuff will fit in a smaller house!

Sharon

 

[KTMom91]

I collect books. Many, many books. I love books. I also collect lamb things. And antique kitchen items. My house was built in 1924, and my kitchen is a mixture of bad updates and general clutter. It's a work in progress, mainly because I keep changing my mind.

 

[Hound dog]

I collect antique food tins and the old turn of (last century) advertising tins.

Quite nice that they go perfectly in my 150 yr old Victorian house. lol

I have an aunt that is willing me her collection since her kids have threatened to toss them out. And she has a huge collection.

easy child seems to think I collect Precious Moments and Disney figurines. I have Lenox Snow White and Dopey. I have china Bambi, Thumper, Flower ect that are intended for the flower garden. Yeah, right. I have a real good idea how expensive they were, they're NOT going outside. lol

I like them, I just wish she'd realise I don't have anywhere to PUT them.

 

[DDD]

My first love is books. Lots of books! Sadly, I just don't have the "right" storage space for them in this house which does not make me a happy camper.

My only other collection is dinner bells. My most cherished bells are ones that my Dad brough home for WWII. They are solid brass and very finely decorated. I have memories with many of them. When I was an early teen I used one particular bell to "call" my Mother because I couldn't yell for her after my tonsils and adenoids were removed! LOL
DDD

PS: I adore crystal and china. I abhor sterling silver and only have kept the dinnerware in SS because of the hassle of polishing.

 

[DDD]

Oops. I forgot to mention that I also have food ration books from WWII
that I value. What I would LOVE to have is Civil War memorabilia! DDD

 

[witzend]

Folk art Dalmatians. No Disney, no stuffed animals. Only seriously folk art spotted dogs.

husband can't stand it! In Oaxaca Mexico they carve animals of soft wood and toothpicks that are brightly painted. They make really cool dragons and aardvarks. I go shopping in the little shops and ask for "Dalmata". They rarely have them, but they will shout out to the other shops "Senora - Dalmata!" With the movie being released again this year, there will probably be more to choose from.

I'm pretty sure that I have seen Nativity Scenes in the Oaxacan carved wood, but we won't be buying any of those. Donkeys, anyone?

The reason I only collect folk art is that it's difficult to find Dalmatians in folk art. It keeps me from getting all crazy on it. I only get one or two a year.

 

[witzend]

Starbie - Look!

 

[1905]

snowbabies and cherished teddies. -Alyssa

 

[donna723]

DDD, my grandmother used to have some WWII-era ration books that she had kept. They weren't a keepsake ... she figured that they'd come in handy if we ever got in another war, and she'd be one-up on everybody else! I wish I knew what happened to them when she died - probably thrown out!

I have all kinds of antique glassware that I collect. I started with candy dishes and Tiffin wine glasses and just kept going. I have a bunch of old Victorian pitchers and shelves full of pink Depression glass and carnival glass. My house is sooo old, and it fits right in. I have a bunch of odd-ball stuff in my kitchen like 1940's-era cookie jars, old tobacco cans and different colors of Depression glass creamers. And I'm trying to buy some more Cash Family pottery before it gets too expensive.

THEN, I have started collecting souveniers from the 1904 St. Louis World Fair - really neat stuff (thank you eBay!) I have all kinds of post cards and stereoview cards, several dishes and plates, and commemorative spoons. My favorite thing is a real copy of a 1904 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine that is devoted to the Worlds Fair. It was a news magazine back then and is just fascinating to read ... especially the ads! It all has special meaning because my paternal grandparents met at the St. Louis Worlds Fair in 1904 and married four years later. So if it wasn't for the Worlds Fair, none of us would be here!

 

[mom_in_training]

Not a huge collector but do have a small collection of old books (Maybe 10) With a bible being I think a lil over 100 years old now. I have two curial cabinets one being a half round from 1930 Maple(Not very big) but they are filled with misc figurines and I have some syringes from like the cowboy days (Clear glass with metal and old hair clippers (Manual ones) that you keep sqeezing to trim hair. Lol!! Lets see, I also have some antique pictures, One being from the 1920's of a lil girl sitting in a chair (An actual photo) I call her Sarah although I do not know her name but it is framed and I have a couple antique mirrors. My biggest thing is my Pillsbury dough boy collectables, Some being the original pieces (Salt and Pepper shakers) The biggest piece I have is my Pillsbury gumball machine. Clear glass shaped like the pills. They used these as promotional in grocery stores way back in the 70's but its missing the chef hat and scarf (Still works great and in very good condition). Geeze I have had it for years and I paid almost three hundred dollars for this guy but to me it was definitely worth it. The guy said that it was a rare find and of course I thought he was blowing smoke but in the end I did find out that that was soooo true. Oh and I have one of those big desktop calculators (Burroughs) made from cast iron with the lil pull handle. Anybody here from Ca check out Temecula Ca. I call it antique row. There are soooo many antique stores that you can't get through them in one day. The place is sooooo cool.

 

[meowbunny]

White teddy bears -- all sizes. I had to leave some back home when we moved but I did manage to bring my 15 favorite. Now I have an excuse to start all over.

Matchbooks and ticket stubs. I never thought of writing in the date. Wished I had, but I can look at them and still remember the restaurant, etc. and why it was special (or not so special). It is much harder to find them today but still can on occasion -- mainly in tourist towns like New Orleans.

Oh, and Mardi Gras masks. Have 12 on my walls right now. Usually buy 3 or 4 every time I go to New Orleans. My daughter collects the beads (she buys them, not earns them lol).

 

[susiestar]

OH, Pam, if only I had known. Good friends moved to a new house about 3 years ago. They had insulated the attic with boxes of Nat'l Geographics. SOOOOOOO many of htem - covered an entire wall up to the ceiling with them. We could have sent them to you.

I collect books. SOOO many of htem. I love cookbooks. Even the free ones you get on the net. REcently I got a Sunmaid Raisin Cookbook made by Gooseberry Patch (they have really neat cookbooks). I like to get a cookbook from every place I travel.

I also collect cross stitch stuff. I have every color DMC made except the new hand dyed ones and the linen and metallicy special effects ones. I like the Kreinik metallic ones and the various hand-dyed and fuzzy threads.

I also collect linen/evenweave fabric to stitch on. I have quite large pieces of several colors, and smaller hand-dyed pieces. I am planning to learn to dye my own threads and fabric.

Susie

 

[gcvmom]

Mstang67chic -- I think I found one or two of your marbles... as for my own, they got sucked down the tub drain the other night -- not even going to bother with a plumber. I'd just lose them again somewhere.

I collect Royal Albert teacups from the '30s, '40s and '50s -- inherited a few from my grandmother and set out to expand from there thanks to eBay.

Also table linens -- I've got a few really nice ones from the '50s and '60s, and a gorgeous french lace banquet cloth (still in the original box with its orginal label) that I bought from my mom's friend's mother's estate (how's that for a mouthful?) -- I don't dare use it around the difficult child's without a vinyl cover over it.

And then there's all the medical and psychiatric diagnoses I collect on behalf of my family...

 

[VickiL]

I collect wine glasses. Some I have are hand painted one of a kind and some I have had since before Justin was born. We used to have a lot of wine festivals when I lived in the SF Bay area and now we live in a very famous part of the country for wineries (established by mostly the Germans) and the wine is as good if not better than CA or Europe so husband and I like to go and visit them and I still collect glasses from where we go. I used to collect cookbooks. And wind chimes, which is always the "safe" gift for me to get from family and friends!

 

[DammitJanet]

If you looked in my house you would say I collect trash...lol. I have been accused of collecting stray people too. It seems like my house is a magnet for difficult child's. At one time on here Fran said I was like the Motel Six...I just leave the light on...lol.

I inherited my moms collections of Blue Willow stuff and pewter items. Maybe I will start looking for more.

 

[Wiped Out]

I used to collect banks from all the places we visited when we were kids. Now nothing really, although maybe Christmas dishes-I have three sets!

 

[amazeofgrace]

Gingerbread men, women and houses (displayed from Dec - Feb)

Liberty Bells

Willow tree figurines and angels

Dust bunnies (displayed all throughout the house)

 

[totoro]

Janet!!! I collect Trash.... Oh you crack me up.... too good.
JoG~ I may have an actual Moose I can send you!!! I live in Moose country... every store here is Moose!!! I even have piles of Moose poop in my front yard...

I kind of collect Snowflakes... It is a new thing... but they keep melting!!! JK
I have started buying them recently over the past 5 years, just ones that strike my fancy. I am going slowly... I put them out in the winter... this is also the Tattoo I am going to get!!!!
5 snowflakes across my back and down my arm, representing my 2 girls, husband and my Mom and and my Grandma's lost life. Because they are unique they are beautiful, they are always changing yet they never really leave... and so on...
The colors will represent Spain, Portugal... and then the girls colors and so on.

 

[Pam R]

Oh, susiestar, SOB!! LOL I would have loved them. ) husband, not so much. It would mean he'd have to build another NG bookcase. LOL

Pam R.