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What ELSE do you collect?

I actually have talked to Kyle K. on several occasions. He definitely has a lot more (and some very rare!) vacuums that a lot of people could only dream of, like the Hoover Model O, the very first Hoover.

Anyways, to add to my list (I knew I'd forget something!), I also have a nice little telephone collection, including a Western Electric 500 which should be perfect for my Tandy acoustic modem.

Kyle
 
Geez! I wonder if there are X amount of people in the world exactly like eachother. Like evil twins or something. I call the evil one, BTW. LOL.

I forgot about my rotary phone collection I've started. I'm also thinking about buying older touch-tone phones. Ever seen a phone in a box? Its a rotary phone in a box that looks like a jewlery box of sorts. It's pretty cool, probably pretty expensive. I got it for $7.80 on eBay. Christmas is the best time to buy old stuff on eBay--You'll have hardly any bidders against you!

--Ryan
BTW, I would collect cars if I had the space. Instead, I buy a new (old, usually 70s or 80s) one every month or so. I've had 8 in the last year.
 
lol I knew there was something I forgot I collect vacuum cleaners as well, but i only have a small collection of 23. and apparently toasters and appliances but i sell most of them (i mean if someone is willing to pay you 60-70 bucks for a toaster you don't get clingy) also I collect things that are vintage and blue or orange.
 
Besides computers, PDAs, and the odd game console, I collect toy cars. Mostly Volkswagen models but also any original Matchbox, Hot Wheels, or Johnny Lightning. I'm not really into the newer "Collector Series" they put out unless it is an unusual item.
 
I've collected a few things over the years. The ones I have left from when I was younger are model tractors, baseball cards and GI Joe stuff. Now I've moved on to old woodworking tools, hand planes, chisels, saws, etc. I'm not saying how many I have because it's not a problem until you admit it, right? :)

Ryan
 
Electronic calculators (just one for now), computer related books and documentation, typewriters (3), soda bottles from the 50's, 60's and 70's (my biggest collection, I have more bottles than computers).
I have the three bottles on the right.
 

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Louis L'Amour books/original pulps. Think I have most of the books. Long way to go on the pulps.

Star Trek novels / Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan and Kull) novels - just like to read them. Quick, fun escapes from reality. And I don't mind re-reading a good one.

Sierra On-Line titles - I have a nearly-complete PC run from 1984-1996. Missing about a dozen titles, counting re-releases, and Quest collections (and minus the "award winner" collections). Considering expanding the collection to include the other systems and go after the On-Line Systems titles. Just afraid that it'll lead to having to have the hardware to run them.............

DVDs - I have about 1200, and about 50 seasons of TV, 28 of which are Star Trek (I have all of the series, including the Animated Series). I probably need to trade/sell about 100 or so of the movies. Working on condensing them down to .28mm cases (half-width) with custom covers to save on shelf space while keeping the visual appeal.

Video Games and Consoles - I like having all the US consoles (except for the Neo-Geo), and I purchase the games that look interesting to me. Even though I rarely have time to play them for more than a 30 minutes a few times a week. If I'm lucky.

Comic Books - I have nearly a 30-year run of X-Men titles, among dozens of other titles and misc issues. I really need to pare this collection down to the essentials. I'm at 35 long-boxes now, each of which holds about 300-500 books, depending upon if I've bagged and boarded them for storage or not. Yeah... overkill. Hard to believe that it all started with about 3 dozen that a tenant left in the trailer that my parents used to rent out when I was 4 :)

Live music shows (digital collection) - Mainly artists I like (Eagles, Genesis/Phil Collins, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Richard Marx, Sarah McLaughlin, some Johnny Cash, some BB King, Kenny Wayne Shepard, The Police/Sting, Journey, Bad Company/Paul Rodgers, Queen, etc). I dont have to have every show out there, but I like good-quality soundboards and audience recordings. Some live shows, so long as they're professionally shot so that I dont get annoyed at the jittery handycam vids. Not afraid to junk out large portions of concerts I've downloaded and only keep the songs that I want...these are for enjoyment, not for hoarding. That's what the rest of my collecting is for.

God, I need a large house and an understanding wife.............. ;)
 
OK...
When I was younger I was fascinated by old coins, and I got pretty good at identifying them, etc. This is one of my favorites, a Greek coin from about 323 B.C with a likeness of Alexander the Great. What always got me is wondering who had this coin, what they bought with it, etc.
alexander_a.jpg

In the late 90's I wrote a program to display my coin inventory that I have not touched in years, but it's still around:
http://inventory.degnanco.net/index.cfm?company_id=30

Other than that, I am interested in exposure to all things computer / calculator, new and old. I have a lot of musical instruments and amps and such, but I only keep what I can actually use.

Bill
 
billdeg said:
OK...
When I was younger I was fascinated by old coins, and I got pretty good at identifying them, etc. This is one of my favorites, a Greek coin from about 323 B.C with a likeness of Alexander the Great. What always got me is wondering who had this coin, what they bought with it, etc.
alexander_a.jpg

In the late 90's I wrote a program to display my coin inventory that I have not touched in years, but it's still around:
http://inventory.degnanco.net/index.cfm?company_id=30

Other than that, I am interested in exposure to all things computer / calculator, new and old. I have a lot of musical instruments and amps and such, but I only keep what I can actually use.

Bill
Click to expand...

I got into those kind of old coins in the 90's when you could buy a bag for $20 and clean them to see what they were. Also have a book on ancient Greek and Roman coins. If you collect the silver and gold ones you will find a lot of fakes it seems (easy to make, and quite a few were done when gold and silver were cheap in the 90's while ancient coin prices were high). Has collecting those type of coins taken off since then? Seems to me the "investment" coin are the slabbed 19th century modern stuff, and slabbed late model bullion coins.
 
Seems like quite a few of us collect all kinds of things, where is the line between collecting and OCD/hoarding?
 
Unknown_K said:
I got into those kind of old coins in the 90's when you could buy a bag for $20 and clean them to see what they were. Also have a book on ancient Greek and Roman coins. If you collect the silver and gold ones you will find a lot of fakes it seems (easy to make, and quite a few were done when gold and silver were cheap in the 90's while ancient coin prices were high). Has collecting those type of coins taken off since then? Seems to me the "investment" coin are the slabbed 19th century modern stuff, and slabbed late model bullion coins.
Click to expand...

I get emails (less now than in the early 2000's) from people who want me to ID their coins. MOST are fakes, or are very old reproductions. I am purely interested for the history, not the value. I have in the past helped a local coin store ID lots of these unknown coins.

My favorite is this one, the emperor *before* constantine the great, Licinius I:
licinius_I_307-324ad_a.jpg

totally worthless, but kind of rare. The art/design of the coin is the last of the 3rd century, after that all of the coins changed.

Bill
 
usually because they look too good, or the style of the coin does not match the period. Also the metal content/color, especially for the older fakes.

usually it's rediculously obvious with the "name brand" emperors like J Caesar, etc.
 
billdeg said:
usually because they look too good, or the style of the coin does not match the period. Also the metal content/color, especially for the older fakes.

usually it's rediculously obvious with the "name brand" emperors like J Caesar, etc.
Click to expand...

Do you have a chemical test kit for metal content?
 
no. what I do is submerge the coin in distilled water for a week, then dry off with a jewler's cloth. You can visually compare a legit coin's color to a fake if the metal is cheaper than the real version. The silver fakes may be silver, the mint mark on the back is usually missing or too common to be real.

You also want to avoid "commemoratives" which like today were official reproductions of older coins, sold for events, depicting the current ruler and long dead rulers, etc. I have seen a lot of these. They're clearly not common currency but like today something a person would use for jewelry or store in a memory box. For example, because they did not have year dates like we do now, the year of the coin can be determined from the start date of the emperor's (or other official) reign, plus a numeral someplace on the coin to indicate the year of xyz's reign. If you find a coin who's reign date does not match the number of likely years of the ruler's reign, or it's missing entirely, you have a fake or a commemorative. Coins for a given ruler where minted all over the place, but usually not the same place over and over. You match the mint mark if there is one with the rulers reign date to authenticate. It's a case by case basis. It helps to learn how to read the text on the coin to help date it. For example, Latin text changes from 0BC to 600AD, and there is a point where there is no writing on coins at all, into the dark ages.

Back then for the ancient "pennies" it looks like they took any old metal and cooked it up, pressed them, and shipped them to the capiltal. I imagine after a battle or something the losers would throw their metal swords and equipment into a big ring, and the winners would melt it down and press the metal into coins for shipment back to the treasury/taxes. Who knows?
 
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