What do you like to collect?

[Germanicus]

Nearly everybody collects something or other, so why don't you post your pictures, or just tell us what it is you like to collect.

My collection is World War 1 medals.
When my father died my mother gave me his fathers Victory medal, and his King Georges medal, after reading about the history of the conflict and the countries that took part i thought it would be nice if i could collect more from both sides of the war.
After the war ended the Allies decided to agree a medal should be given, so each country designed it's own, but on the same theme, an angel with outstretched arms, and a rainbow ribbon.
Some of the victory medals i have, but some are rare, but i will keep on searching till i get the complete set of victory medals.
Other medals of the conflict i have tried to obtain, but there are a very great many German to collect.
These are my Grandfathers medalshttp://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/011-1.jpg
And these are my collection, The Allied Victory medals.
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/082.jpg

These are the German, and her Allies,
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/092.jpg

[Germanicus]

Also i collect World war one Compasses, here are two of them.

http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/002-5.jpg

[Psychonaut]

I collect comic books, coins (both US currency and bullion), and Aleister Crowley books (I have nearly all of them, including a few extremely rare editions).

[Fortis in Arduis]

I collect textiles.

Rugs, kelims, white cotton embroidery, silks.

I move a lot, so I can take these with me.

[Piparskeggr]

Books, music (78's, Lps, tapes, CDs), edged, blunt and powder activated weaponry, hand tools, "Santa Claus" figurines, animal figurines (especially cats), patterns and recipes of all sorts...Homo Sapiens Pack Rattus ,-)

[Radojica]

I am trying to collect some money, but i am not very good at it :(

[Inese]

I collect postcards!! :wink I never throw the postcards i receive away. Hm i think i have around 80 or 90 postcards now --- my family ( uncle aunts grandparents and friends ) writes from Latvia often and not all have or can aford a computer and Internet!! :rolleyes:

[SwordoftheVistula]

When I was younger I collected books and 'Magic: The Gathering' cards.

When I was really young, I collected football cards, and had small stamp, coin, book, and comic book collections.

All gone now due to numerous moves.

[Barreldriver]

If ya'll haven't guessed by now, I collect swords, knives, axes, armor, and such. :D

[Octothorpe]

I'm a bibliophile! I've got about, last count, two thousand (?) books shelved in the basement right now (yes, I've read the vast majority of them). I've also collected magazines and comics for years, and their numbers are large enough that I've completely lost track.

One spark, and the whole neighborhood goes up in flames!

[Sally]

I'm another bibliophile, but my book collection is virtually nonexistent anymore because I moved overseas. I don't really have many possessions of any sort. However, I am a sucker for postcards, especially kitschy ones, though. Two of my favourites were Victorian reproductions of the language of flowers and fruit. It was quite intriguing to think that flowers could communicate sentiments in a veiled way, even though there were multiple and contradictory meanings for certain flowers.


CARNATION (DEEP RED) - Alas! for my poor heart
DAISY - Innocence, Loyal Love, I'll Never tell, Purity, Beauty
HONEYSUCKLE (CORAL) - I Love You
LILY (ORANGE) - Hatred, Dislike
RHODODENDRON - Danger, Beware, I am Dangerous

[Phlegethon]

I collect books as well, and my libray must be around 12,000 titles now, of which I only have the hardcore at home while the rest remains in storage until I can finally repossess my castle in Pomerania. ;)

[Tabiti]

Hmm, when I was younger my mother used to trow out everything I've tried to connect...
Anyway, I have few albums with stamps and many phonecards.
I collect music as well (CD's and cassettes) but don't know if that counts;)

[Amarantine]

1. a books...and read them all, don't know how many titles I have, but for certain editions I have nice biblioteque, and for the others nice paper boxes :(
2. a parfumes and empty bottles of parfumes
3. Alain Ford comics :D
4. before as a small girl paper serviettes which I keep them still and time to time added some interesting
5. gems and semigems
6. jewelry
7. shawls and scarves
8. as a girl envelopes and ornamental letters, special pens, fairytales, etc etc

[Tabiti]

I have a whole drawer full of silver jewelry and gems, but don't consider that as collection since I use them every day.

[Loki]

I used to collect stamps when I was younger, many inherited from my father's collection. He specialized in '30s and '40s Germany, including Grossdeutsches Reich -- and displayed them in appropriately symbolic format. ;) All is left back in SA, probably stolen by now.

I have come to realise the futility of collections, especially considering the fact that everything you can collect decays at some point. Nothing is permanent, with time everything wastes away like our bodies also do. Therefore at this point I don't collect anything I don't use. It depresses me to think my beloved possessions will eventually waste away, therefore I have none.

[Phlegethon]

I have come to realise the futility of collections, especially considering the fact that everything you can collect decays at some point. Nothing is permanent, with time everything wastes away like our bodies also do.

That is why I am now collecting Plutonium-244 with a half-life of about 80,000,000 years. And it also makes me glow in the dark nicely so that I can read books under the blanket without a flashlight now.

[Groenewolf]

What do I collect.

Lets see, most of you have seen my closests, so that is one thing.

I also have a box full of Dutch pre-Euro money, inlcuding one example of the last Gulden (horrible design) and a few coins striken for special occasions. And a few that I found lying somewhere. Stranged one was a Canadian coin that was lying on boots suddenly when I was wearing them.

[Loddfafner]

Stamps. I collected them as a kid and then inherited the collections of my grandfathers. I gave up the hobby figuring that it was futile, although it did teach me geography. A couple of years ago I realized that it is something I enjoy even though it is futile, and it is a strong collection that I cannot just abandon.

Books. I don't systematically collect them but my bookshelves grow like moss.

Plants. I am trying to grow as many different species and varieties as I can fit, especially if they are carnivorous.

Music. I've got much of the 60s and 70s on vinyl, the 80s on casettes, and 90s punk and oi on cd. Nothing in the current decade has caught my attention.

Cabinet of curiosities. I only have a few interesting fossils and shells but I would like to get hold of the kinds of items that gave old-school natural history museums their flavor such as a narwhal horn, a mastodon tooth, a nautilus shell (I had one but it fell and shattered), a pufferfish, etc.

[Aemma]

Nice thread Germanicus!

Well let's see...

Fancy teacups and saucers...anything with a rose on it I usually like; all sourced from the Sally Ann.

Pressed glass. I love glass pieces of any kind but beautiful utilitarian pieces I most like so I can use them.

English Ironstone Dishware...my "good dishes" are all Sally Ann finds in excellent condition, again with some kind of a rose pattern on them. Though it makes for a mismatched set, I liken it to a rose garden on my table; no two roses ever look the same. ;) It pleases me so it's good! :thumbs up I also like the idea that these "good dishes" were once some other family's good dishes. :)

Some Canadian uncirculated coins. It helps that the Canadian Mint is located in my own city. :thumb001:

I also have a wee collection of "vintage" kitchen utensils...mostly stuff that used to be my Mom's. :)

Hmm and well yes, books and certain magazines too, gardening especially concerning the latter.

[Germanicus]

http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/005-1.jpg
This is a Christmas 1914 box that was given to each man in WW1
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/007-1.jpg
My grandfathers medals from WW1
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/009-1.jpg

http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/021-1.jpg
Here is the Lusitania medal struck for the people of Germany.
http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n449/ruffusruffcut/083.jpg
The far right medal is the rarest i own, it is Japanese, i'd rather not tell you how much i paid for it, but it was a lot.
These are things that will not waste away or fade Loki, there are lots of items you can collect....:thumb001:

[Cato]

I have lots of stuff:

A Roman-era bronze ring with a sun sigil on it; I believe it to be connected with the cult of Sol Invictus. The seller on eBay dated it to about the 3rd century.

Another Roman-era bronze ring with a solar cross/sunbust pattern on it. This is connected to either Sol Invictus/Mithraism.

A Greek (?) silver ring from Athens (?). I can only guess that it's quite old, probably from Hellenistic times since the decoration on the ring face is Athena's owl.

A bronze Anglo-Saxon pendant (?), corroded, and with what looks like a tree decoration on it (or maybe the Tir rune, it's very hard to tell). It's from about the 10th-11th century.

A pure silver medallion with a helmeted Athena, from the 1950s.

A Sterling silver medallion of a helmeted Athena, cast recently in Attica.

A bronze pendant of Odin, astride Sleipnir.

A gold enamel Celtic-styled pendant of a boar.

A bronze statue of Athena, about 5" high. On a marble base, from Greece.

Another Athena state, about 3" high, also on a marble base.

A Roman gladius (cast iron, unsharpened).

A seax (not sure what it's made of, but not stainless steel, also unsharpened).

A cheapo machete.

A resin statue of Mithras.

A bunch of early 20th century Saint Gaudens (small) gold coins.

Books, several hundred of them, on all kinds of different topics.

A framed lithograph of Marcus Aurelius.

A framed canvas print of a Roman girl.

A framed print of Odin, as Grimnir (in his cloak and broad hat), with his two ravens.

Two flags: Anglo-Saxon dragon and Viking raven & sun.

Torc, twisted iron.

Drinking horn, from someplace in Russia.

Buffalo horn drinking cup.

Small brass bowl from India.

A Roman coin of Nero, not sure if it's real or a reproduction.

A bunch of modern reproductions of Greco-Roman era coins, sterling silver.

Sterling silver ring of a ram-headed Alexander the Great.

Post card of the Parthenon.

A copy of Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson's CD.

A boomerang from Australia.

A Swiss army surplus rain poncho.

A lapel pin of a berserker (bear-headed in a coat of mail with a spear).

A small olive wood trinket box from Israel.

A wooden egg made in Poland.

A small Greek bell with nymphs (?) on it.

A white jade ring from 1st or 2nd century China.

A pewter cup from Thailand.

A stupid white Panama hat from Thailand.

A porcelain Chinese bowl.

And other stuff.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

If ya'll haven't guessed by now, I collect swords, knives, axes, armor, and such. :D
Dajak sword 200 years old
http://i29.tinypic.com/xngug8.jpg

I have also a pure silver sword at least 100 years old
My dad promised both to a friend of his

[Vargtand]

I collect dust.

[The Lawspeaker]

http://www.tpweek.com/images/671/norwegian-flag-l.jpg

Flags. I have been collecting them since I was 18. Every time I travel abroad I buy the flag of the country where I have spend my holiday and pin it on the wall next to my bed.
Right now I have: the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic and Norway.

I don't think I'll will have to buy another flag next year as I am thinking about flying back to Norway in July 2010 and spending another holiday there. I still need to get my hands on a Dutch flag though- but hell I live here...

[Ladejarlen]

Books and vinyls... Use to collect stamps and coins when I was younger.
I also collect band shirts and patches in some way.

[Absinthe]

...candles! :D

[Groenewolf]

I still need to get my hands on a Dutch flag though- but hell I live here...

Go to a do-it-yourself store afther Queensday, then they are usaly sold for a discount.

[Ladejarlen]

Dajak sword 200 years old
http://i29.tinypic.com/xngug8.jpg

I have also a pure silver sword at least 100 years old
My dad promised both to a friend of his

I have some weapons here too, the next one I will buy is a viking sword.

2268

2269

2270

2271

The knives are traditional norwegian tolle knives. The decorated axe is a replica from the mammen find.

[Beorn]

The only thing I collect is plastic bags to put my recycling in.

[Tabiti]

I also collect band shirts and patches in some way.
Band shirts...hmm I have over 30 maybe.
The patches are around 10 (never counted).
I "collect" plastic bags, plastic bottles and used batteries as well;)

[Beorn]

and used batteries as well;)

LOL! So do I.(albeit unintentionally) :D

If you cut them open, you can reuse the individual cells for other appliances like watches.

[Barreldriver]

I have some weapons here too, the next one I will buy is a viking sword.

2268

2269

2270

2271

The knives are traditional norwegian tolle knives. The decorated axe is a replica from the mammen find.

Nice gear man. I'll have to post pics of my full collection when I get around to it. :D I want that axe, great design. Is it functional? Meaning Battle Ready and sharp?

[Tabiti]

LOL! So do I.(albeit unintentionally) :D

If you cut them open, you can reuse the individual cells for other appliances like watches.
No, I'm just waiting to see a proper container to throw them out;)

[Lysander]

Extremely impressive collection!
I don't collect anything per se but over the years I've bought more books than I can really fit anywhere. My shelves are full of them and I'm stapling them on the floor but even so I can't find room for all of them.

Interestingly you can pretty much see at what stage of my life I was by the books ranging from Plato to Nietzsche to the Bible :).

[Barreldriver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxnC6CLlk2s

[Äike]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxnC6CLlk2s

You have quite an arsenal there, nice collection of weapons:thumb001:

[Manifest Destiny]

I collect diecast NASCAR replicas, antique furniture and reputation points. :thumb001:

[Svipdag]

Antique firearms, as mentioned in another post; antique cameras, the "cream" of which collection numbers some 164 rare and unusual cameras; ancient coins, mostly pre-Roman Greek and Roman Republic; rare photographs, lantern slides, and stereograms;early musical devices including 3 Edison cylinder phonographs, a Regina music box which plays from 11" metal discs, and a Polyphon music box which plays from 50 cm. (19.5") metal discs; and, finally, over 3,000 early operatic recordings dating from around 1900 to about 1950.

[Frigga]

I collect science fiction books, fantasy books, cookbooks, nutritional books, and nature books. Oh, and I have every novel written by Carl Hiaasen, he's my favorite black comedy author. I have three bookshelves that are over six feet high and three feet wide, and they're jammed with books. I really shouldn't buy any more........

I used to collect music boxes when I was younger, but have asked my family to stop giving them to me as I don't want too much clutter! :D I also have seashells, figurines, and sculptures that I've made, and drawings and paintings that I've made. I also have waaay too many knitting and crocheting and spinning magazines. I also have a yarn collection that is horrendously obscene in it's excess, but my excuse is that it's my supply inventory for my crafting business! :D I also have a several dozen knitting needles and crochet hooks. I also have a weakness for Le Creuset cookware, and have several pieces of their enamel cast iron cookware and stoneware. They've cost a fortune, but I love cooking with them, they're fantastic pieces. I also collect movies and music.

[Germanicus]

I have some weapons here too

2270

The knives are traditional norwegian tolle knives. The decorated axe is a replica from the mammen find.

The smaller knife is one i like very much, as you know i make knives, one day i shall get the steel i need for a copy of your knife....What wood is used for the handle?

[Vasconcelos]

I like to collect money on my bank account. Does that count?

[Piparskeggr]

The smaller knife is one i like very much, as you know i make knives, one day i shall get the steel i need for a copy of your knife....What wood is used for the handle?

If I might interject?

I believe a wood traditionally used for handles on knives of this family is birch.

[Germanicus]

If I might interject?

I believe a wood traditionally used for handles on knives of this family is birch.


Birch's ease of use and reasonable price, have made it a great craftwood, for almost any woodworking project. It's used extensively for firewood and makes wonderful ornamental trees. It has been turned to make all the toy parts you need, tongue depressors, tooth picks, pulped for paper, and turned into high end furniture. There is little it has not been used for.


Yellow Birch: The Official Tree of Quebec, CAN
White Birch: The Official Tree of Saskatchewan,CAN

The Tree: Betula family
Birch trees grow abundantly in North America, with nine species in this family that are relatively well known, but over 50 species found around the world, including many ornamental and shrub bushes. Yellow(silver or swamp birch) and paper (sometimes referred as white or canoe) birch are the two most common trees in Northern Ontario, although sweet, river and gray birch have some commercial recognition in other parts of Canada and the United States.

"White" birch, as we know it, is not really a species but rather a combination of either paper and/or gray birch. Red Birch is not a species at all, but rather refers to the heart stock of the yellow birch. Almost all members of this family have a smooth resinous white bark, that peels, rolls or curls, in some fashion. Some types of birch bark peels up the tree, rather than the traditional "around the tree". The bark gets very thick and deeply ridged as the tree gets older. Birches are usually the first to establish in cleared land, but start to die once other trees move in and offer shade. The trees will average a height of 70' and a diameter of 2'.

Wood Description:
The appearance of the wood will vary between species, but generally, the sap wood is creamy white and the heart stock, golden brown. Paper birch is predominately sap wood, with small brown knotty hearts. The wood is mostly white but as it nears the core will show brown flame patterns, with white sap edges.. quite dramatic. Yellow birch on the other hand, tends to be a larger tree and exhibits a more consistent golden brown colour, with little creamy white sap wood. Often yellow birch shows a nice curl pattern. In commercial operations, unlike maple,it is rarely sorted for colour.

All birch has a fine and uniform texture, closed pored and no significant odor. Birch dries with a fair amount of shrinkage. It loses almost 16% of its volume going from green to dry lumber and does like to warp and twist if enough weight is not applied to the green lumber as it air dries. Once dried it is stable. It is not resistant to decay, fungal and insect attack. Spalting is very common. Of all the quality domestic hardwoods, Birch would probably be the lowest in price. This is its most redeeming feature. A beautiful wood to look at and work with, and sold at a reasonable price.

Weight:
40-45lbs/cu.ft., white birch slightly lighter than yellow birch.

Finishing:
Birch stains and finishes easily, due to its closed pored structure. In fact often it is used as a substitute for Maple. Birch is significantly easier to stain, will give you an almost identical stained finish, but with much less grief, especially if you are trying for a relatively dark colour.

Machining:
In all categories, birch exhibits good machining properties. It planes and sands to a smooth finish. It cuts and drills with limited difficulty although I would always predrill for nailing. Birch does hold nails and screws relatively well and glues up easily. Where curly or wild grain is apparent, you may have to be careful. Taking a shallower cut and using a cutting angle of 15 degrees will usually solve the problem. Look at the grain direction to determine the right feed direction when jointing. It turns with ease, but will show cross grain scratching so sand meticulously before staining


Thanks for the heads up on your families prefered knife wood mate, i will order some. :)

In my workshop i have zebra wood , rose wood scales.

[The Lawspeaker]

http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/money/gallery/2007/dec/11/familyfinance/EurosC-7318.jpg
The more the better.

[Piparskeggr]

Birch's ease of use and reasonable price, have made it a great craftwood, for almost any woodworking project. It's used extensively for firewood and makes wonderful ornamental trees. It has been turned to make all the toy parts you need, tongue depressors, tooth picks, pulped for paper, and turned into high end furniture. There is little it has not been used for.

(snip)

Thanks for the heads up on your families prefered knife wood mate, i will order some. :)

In my workshop i have zebra wood , rose wood scales.

You are quite welcome.

Other woods I used when I grew up in New England:

Hornbeam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrya_virginiana
This stuff is so dense, it takes a hot oak fire to get it burning.

Blue Beech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpinus_caroliniana

American Beech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagus_grandifolia

White Oak: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_oak

American Elm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Elm

American Chestnut: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chestnut
The Boy Scout troop to which I belonged had access to a property where we would harvest standing, dead chestnut trees.