What type of items do you collect as a hobby?

[johns0]

I don't collect anything i can think of,thanks to Yoda313 for the poll.

[sambat]

Old printers.
I have a Silver Reed EXP 550 that will give you a hernia if you lift it without planning an escape route.
Connected to a Ti-99/4A expansion box, it prints a healthy 10 cps using a daisy wheel and sounds like a foundry.

[cal_tony]

Classic cars and performance motorcycles and all the parts needed to keep them working. As I've been retired for 20 years now, I spend quite a bit of time working on these toys.

Tony

[jan5678]

I collect movie's on dvd and blu-ray.
The counter stands on 438 right now..

[yoda313]

I'm the same as jan5678 but throw in video games, ps3 and xbox360

thanks for the shout out johns 0.

-- i knew it would be tough to make a list but you left off sports memoribelia. But its a good selection

i don't have a count on my movie/tv collection, too afraid to find out

[lordsmurf]

Smurfs.

... like it wasn't obvious.

[El Heggunte]

Audio CDs (mostly of classical music).

[Des]

I have a large collection of low value but interesting (to me) cameras and photo equipment. I collected Graflex cameras for a long time, have only kept a handful along with just a few flash guns (lightsaber handles to you young 'uns )
Other than that I just collect odd stuff, like seltzer bottles made in the town I grew up in, comic or sci-fi stuff if it attracts my interest, etc. In a way the most unusual thing I have is 1950s Maytag Wringer Washer, the only reason I bough it was I looked at it at an estate sale and my wife immediately said, "Don't you dare buy that." She no longer makes such requests
If I had a larger house, or God Forbid, a Barn, I'd find a way to fill it

--dES

[Phlexor]

LEGO & Transformers

[yoda313]

Audio CDs

Thanks for mentioning that. I've got a ton of those too. True I buy a lot of mp3 albums off mostly amazon these days but I don't hesitate buying a cd at a garage sale if its a group I like or even remotely like (its still a better deal if you get a whole album for a buck or two or tops three used then buying new, though deals do come around for discounted mp3 albums at amazon so I do keep my eyes open for those).

Mine aren't classical music but I do have a collection of movie soundtracks. Mostly Star Trek and Star Wars Naturally

@lordsmurf - I'm almost afraid to ask, after all these years whats left to collect for smurfs? I thought you didn't like the cg reboot? Is it just a "gotta have it" thing where it doesn't matter the relevance just so its smurfs? If so I understand that but I didn't think there was much new material for it aside from the reboot. Though I could be wrong of course, and I guess theres always direct to video related stuff and comics....

[JudgeGarth]

I used to collect baseball cards (sports memorabilia?) back in the 80's. I've still got them, but I stopped buying any more because the price just got out of sight!

[Moontrash]

nothing

[TuNk]

I collect music, but my collection is not that big, I have about 740 records (Vinyl/CD)

[Bjs]

Rust

Collecting old farm equipment ... built to last, sandblast and repaint.

[lordsmurf]

@lordsmurf - I'm almost afraid to ask, after all these years whats left to collect for smurfs? I thought you didn't like the cg reboot? Is it just a "gotta have it" thing where it doesn't matter the relevance just so its smurfs? If so I understand that but I didn't think there was much new material for it aside from the reboot. Though I could be wrong of course, and I guess theres always direct to video related stuff and comics....

- PVCs and plush
- comics, magazines, games
- all episodes, movies and specials

Understand I'm not a completist collector that buys something simple because it exists.
To me, that's a hoarder. OCD. Insanity. I just like nifty things that decorate the office.

I still have a Smurfs pinata from a birthday party in the 1980s.

I add a few PVCs each year (usually just the new releases), and find a foreign-language comic/magazine from time to time from one of the Smurf forums or eBay.de. PVCs are small, like 2" tall. So a Smurfs collection doesn't even take up much space.

The 3-4 board games get pulled out every Christmas, and played with (with family), and put back until next year. It's almost tradition now. I bought the PVC chess set 3-4 years ago, but the rest are all from the 80s. The balancing boat is the most fun one. Same concept as Jenga, but a boat with Smurfs.

[awhite2600]

I collect quite a few things on a VERY casual basis - coins, cards, games. If I come across an interesting item for a good price I might pick it up as a collectible. I have a few boxes of CDs and cassettes - most from the 80's and 90's. I seldom add to these collections.

I've started collecting vinyl LPs and 8-track tapes. I just pick them up at thrift stores and garage sales. I won't pay more than a few dollars a piece and only grab items that interest me.

My biggest collection is video game cartridges. I mostly collect for pre-NES systems - Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, C64, VIC-20, etc. I do have some games for newer systems. All of my cartridges have been obtained "in the wild". Nothing has been purchased on eBay or similar sites. I'm approaching 700 unique titles.

[gadgetguy]

I collect Star Trek items. Some of which fall into categories listed, but I don't collect them for the category, but because they're Star Trek items I thought were cool or were given to me as gifts. My Star Trek collection includes Hamilton plates, Hallmark ornaments, Franklin Mint phasers, toy phasers, toy tricorders, MicroMachines, Models, a gold plated laser-etched disc, a few movie posters, and more.

[filmboss80]

Other: 16mm newsreel and military films.

[orsetto]

Thousands of VHS, first off, which thankfully stopped in 2005 upon buying a DVD recorder, that led to buying many more DVD recorders to transfer the VHS and make some room, which led to thousands of DVD-Rs. I've got more old VCRs than most people have books. Lotsa older hifi gear. But all that is almost unconscious accumulation: I didn't even think about it, it just happened over time.

The only items I "intentionally" collect are classic photography pieces. Once the pros all went digital en masse about eight years ago, there was a brief "golden age" on eBay: everything a photo buff ever wanted but couldn't afford was suddenly being dumped for nickels on the dollar. I scooped up every manual Nikkor lens I ever wanted for my old Nikon F2AS, a sample of every 35mm SLR whose brochure I drooled over as a teenager, multiple Japanese rangefinders, and (most improbably) a complete kit of every legendary medium-format pro camera system. My sentimental favorite is the fantastically complicated mechanical Bronica S2A with Nikkor lenses, the most obtrusive camera ever sold (the shutter sounds like a rifle shot). Second fave is the clever Mamiya C330 TLR system with several lenses. I couldn't resist the Hasselblad when its Zeiss lenses dropped overnight from @ $2000+ to under $300, but was quickly disillusioned by their need for constant hellishly-expensive maintenance. The Mamiya RB67 I had long coveted proved to be about as portable as a sack of potatoes, I resold it quickly but now kind of regret not keeping it. Then there's the Beaulieu Super-8 camera that was a staggering $1600 in 1976 but fell to $220 when I snapped it up. Etc.

The "golden age" of cheap used camera gear ended when Canon introduced the 5DII DSLR, leading everyone and his mother to stampede eBay looking desperately for any manual-focus glass they could lay hands on to shoot videos. Nowadays, the old manual glass that sold for $50 in 2004 is going for $300: the bargains and fun are gone. I'm just glad I acquired my complete set of old Nikon lenses in 2005, I could never afford them today. Now, if Nikon could just manage to sell a new full-frame DSLR for under $1000, I'd be all set.

[nwo]

Anything Nintendo.

[mikel]

Meteorites (inc Moon & Mars) & Fossils

[Baldrick]

Bye bye sven31! (spam in signature...)


Nothing. But I used to collect bottle caps and fireworks(used...) when I was a kid.

[fritzi93]

Books. To read, not interested in rare or first editions, anything like that.

I have a fair few movies, but only ones I think are good, which narrows it down considerably.

[yoda313]

@lordsmurf - thanks for the explanation.

One more question though, yes I know google would answer it but I'm being lazy - what does pvc stand for?

[loster]

PolyVinylChloride

[lordsmurf]

what does pvc stand for?

These:
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs1to50.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs51to100.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs101to150.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs151to200.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs201to418.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs419to468.html
http://blueimps.com/normalsmurfs469to524.html

... though that list only goes to 2008 or so. The owner hasn't update in a while.
I'm actually afraid that site is abandoned.

PVC defined: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride

[yoda313]

Thanks loster and lordsmurf.