Are you a collector?

[Runnen]

Do you collect anything? I've always been the collector type, and throughout the years since I was a kid I remember collecting things from LEGOs, to Monsters In My Pocket, then moved onto Star Wars cards, and nowadays I've turned to figures and statues of movie / video game characters I love (ranging anywhere from Star Wars, Alien, Predator to video game characters to obscure animé), much to my girlfriend's dismay (she collects stamps, so she's obviously far superior to me.. pft!)

That said, I've always wondered if there are many people out there who enjoy collecting things too, whether stamps or baseball cards or something much more original, so this thread will hopefully host some nice pictures of the collections you may be proud of (or not so much and then you can expect guffaws and much pointing)..

Ready.. get set.. show off.

[Fammaden]

How about a pic of your figures then?

[BigMovieBuff]

What a great idea for a thread.

I collected baseball and basketball cards as a kid. Then somewhere in my mid-teens I started collecting music and movies. I had boxes and boxes full of VHS movies, most of which were long ago "donated" to the family cottage. I have a lot of DVDs, but stopped buying and renting them like 5 years ago. I still buy the occasional DVD if it is a must own. (search the movie house for "best movies" which will net about 50 threads which inevitably list the same 50 or so movies over and over...I probably have those 50).

As for music, I started on cassettes and vinyl LP's. Moves on to CD's (id guess 700-1000 CD's, but haven't counted in years.) I stopped buying CD's for two reasons: 1) Marriage + 2 kids = bye bye discretionary income, and 2) hi2u torrents!

These days I guess you could say I collect power tools. My wife lets me get away with it when it results in a home improvement or something "for the kids". I love woodworking/construction. My "just for me" summer project is going to be a MAME cabinet. I made a decent one a few years ago, but I've since improved the design and features. There is also a lot more hardware available for hobby these days.

[Runnen]

Hehe well I'm not the best at taking photographs and since it's 4:05 AM, pictures would be quite bad right now, so I'll take some nice ones tomorrow if it's sunny, in the mean time here are some "official" pictures of some of my bigger ones.

Darth Vader, approximatively 12". Saber is shooped, the real one doesn't glow.



Cylon Centurion, approximatively 13".



"Grid" Alien from Alien VS Predator, approximatively 12"



Those are my biggest pieces, most of my other figures are in the 7 to 8" range (I have over a hundred) and then I have about 110 smaller lead figures of Lord of the Rings characters (yeah yeah..). I'll try and post some more pictures, but in the mean time, show your collections!

[aychamo_aycono]

I AM NOT BRAGGING - TO ME THESE WATCHES ARE PRICELESS AND I WILL NEVER SELL THEM!

I "inherited" (not dead yet) most from my dad. I have a vintage double red Rolex Sea-Dweller, a vintage single red Rolex Sea-Dweller, a vintage Panerai, two modern Rolex Sea-Dwellers, and a modern Rolex Submariner.

My pride and joy, which is my first contribution to the collection, is a vintage 1962 Tudor Submariner w/ snowflake hands. Tudor is Rolex's little-sister company. I got a great deal on it and had to dump a ton of money into it to restore it and have the movement serviced, etc.

My favorites are the vintage Sea-Dwellers, I think they are the most gorgeous watches I've ever seen. I alternate between the double red Sea-Dweller and my Tudor sub daily.

[EmpireF4i]

I used to collect baseball cards when I was a kid, then when I grew up I fell out of it. I dont get it anymore. why collect things that are worth money, but then never sell them? Like how some people have toys from back in the day that are worth hundreds or thousands, but no one has ever played with them.

I guess I just dont get it anymore. Id rather have played with the toy or whatever as a kid and had my fun, or sell them when the time is right for the cash and buy something that I could actually use.

[Runnen]

That's a beautiful watch, Aych. But to me, the most amazing thing about the picture (I know jack about watches) is that it doesn't have the tiniest scratch on the glass. All my watches through the years are always scratched to hell because usually when it gets too hot I take them off and put them in my pocket with my keys and shit. This one looks like it just came out of its box, guess you really take good care of it.

[Eomer]

Porn, mostly.

[aychamo_aycono]

Originally Posted by Runnen

That's a beautiful watch, Aych. But to me, the most amazing thing about the picture (I know jack about watches) is that it doesn't have the tiniest scratch on the glass. All my watches through the years are always scratched to hell because usually when it gets too hot I take them off and put them in my pocket with my keys and shit. This one looks like it just came out of its box, guess you really take good care of it.

Hey man!

Here's a photo of the watch when I acquired it. I had my watch guy replace the crystal (the glass) on it and clean the watch up in general, that way it looks brand spanking new, but is over 40 years old! It's pretty phenomenal the things they can do!

[PerritoBites]

I've been a collector of many things... I've collected coins, keychains, pins, card s(all sorts of cards), calling cards... I even have all my movie tickets for the last 6-7 years. I thew away one of my card collections and made me realize collecting things is just a waste of time and money. So I haven't collected anything ever since... other than pepsi caps to get free legal songs :P

[Brad2770]

Originally Posted by PerritoBites

I even have all my movie tickets for the last 6-7 years.

Got ya beat. I have all my Movie and Concert stubs since 1995. I know this pic does not look like a lot, but its about 200-300 stubs. Only had my phone camera here at the house, so best I could do.

Powder was the very first one I started the collection with and Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull is the last one I added to the collection. The most? That would be 5th Element with 16 stubs.

[AladainAF]

Music and vids. Still got lots of space to go! (and yes, not raided for a reason!)

[Simas]

Back in the day I used to collect the cards and comics. Found a pic of one the first series id started trying to get all the cards for.

I remember I got a pink ghost rider hologram in a booster pack i bought at Weis and no one would trade me cuz it was pink so i was all pissed.

And then there was a gambit one not in the picture, at lunch (elementary school) some kid traded it for a wolverine one but then the wolverine dude decided he wanted wolvie back and the other kid refused. The kid that wanted his old card back threw down and there was a hardcore nerd fight in the caff. At the end everyone agreed it was fortunate the cards were not harmed.

[AngryGerbil]

I used to collect money. (Haha.)

Srsly though I used to collect any type of currency I could get my hands on. Paper money, coins, foreign, domestic, anything. My uncle was an avid collector and his attempt to get me into it when I was a kid succeeded. I remember I had a bunch of Chinese commemorative coins (yeah, they do it too) that I got from a pen-pal. I'd give him silver dollars and buffalo nickels and he'd give me like $5 Chinese gold pieces. Sweet deal.

I lost interest in my early twenties and gave everything to my uncle. He was sad to see me lose interest but was happy to get my collection. Looking back I wish I would have appraised it. I doubt it was worth a whole lot but I had some weird square African coins from the 1800's and some other slightly exotic stuff. Nothing ancient though.

I still remember I had some paper bill that was in Spanish on the front, in English on the back, had a picture of a black man on it and said "Bank of Japan". To this day I still have no idea wtf that thing was or even for sure what continent it was from. I always assumed South America.

These days my "collector" gene is still there nagging me but I suppress it. Unless you count music. I still buy all my music and even get the CD itself. For instance, NIN's new one, "The Slip" is a %100 free legal download straight from the band, but I will still probably buy the CD just because. I even bought St. Anger just so my Metallica collection wouldn't have that hole in it. (still in it's cellophane too, I might add). I know. I'm a whore.

[Gauss]

I used to collect coins. Used to get all excited when I got a wheat penny in change somewhere (still possible back in the 90's maybe not so much now). I had (have) some old ass coins too; I have a penny from like 1820 that has some unflattering liberty face profile that my grandmother found in her basement or something. Standards of beauty must have been different back then. It looked something like the below.

It's actually very funny what made me give up collecting things, and ever since this happened 10 or so years ago I have been very nonmaterialistic. I saw some rare [insert fotm collectible] on sale for $120 and I fucking BEGGED my dad to get it. For some unknown reason he gives in and then the price of it plummeted within a month or 2 and never recovered. I felt so bad about wasting his money that I resolved that collecting things was pointless if they get no use. To this day it would probably only take me about an hour to pack everything I own into my car (edit: fuck I forgot my parents forced me to get furniture beyond a desk).

I still remember I had some paper bill that was in Spanish on the front, in English on the back, had a picture of a black man on it and said "Bank of Japan". To this day I still have no idea wtf that thing was or even for sure what continent it was from. I always assumed South America.

It could very well have been Brazil. That country has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. I'm sure there would have been trade going on between the two countries when Japanese migrated there en masse a couple generations ago. Brazilians speak portuguese though, so are you sure it wasn't portuguese?