h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Collecting and Why People Collect - A19631694
Author: Emmily ~ h2g2 Collector's Corner - A19482249 - U190758

I'm using the EGWW as the CWW (that no longer exists) for a collaborative Entry so I can give the link in this thread about collecting F19585?thread=3856012 so that any interested parties can post here rather than there.

Hope that makes sense

Emmily

I've collected several types of item over the years, most notably when I was a kid was comics and later, model aeroplanes. At one point I had, and had built, every type of Airfix aeroplane kit they had produced, They took up pretty much the whole of a bedroom.

These days it's books, mostly on the subject of aviation history and space. The former came from the modelling thing, while the latter was a result of researching one of my guide entries. I also try to get the books signed in the front cover by the author. You probably wouldn't have heard of most of them, but pride of place goes to a book co-authored by Douglas Bader and signed by him.

I also occasionally collect spice jars. You used to be able to get things like dried ginger or spices of one sort or another in small china jars. They seem to have originated in China or Japan and the decoration on them is beautiful. They don't have any value at all but they are pretty. You don't seem to be able to get them these days though.

Good luck with this interesting entry.

DK

DK, I'll have a section on 'Childhood Collecting' what happened to all your Airfix aeroplane models?

Emmily

>What happened to all the models?<

Ah... I got married, had two children... boys... You can guess the rest.

DK

Hi Em, I had a conversation about fairy tales with a friend, which reminded me that I have a collection of fairy tales from various countries, it was a series by Fischer Pocket Books, and friends and family were asked to give them to me as birthday presents - as well as other fairy tale collections they came across in bookshops.

I hadn't really thought about my collections before stumbling on this the other day.

I don't know that you'd call my books a collection, but I continue to buy them and never get rid of any (although I do have a comparatively small stack to take to the second-hand bookstore for trade). I do tend to buy hard covers more often, and when I'm getting a series of something I try to get all editions in the same format.

The only music I have a full collection of is 'Weird Al' Yankovic, all the CDs, compilations, video collections, the box set, and UHF.

Miscellaneous things I collect: manatees, I have no idea why I'm attracted to them but I love them; Bill & Opus Christmas Ornaments, or anything Bill & Opus really, but the ornaments are the only thing still in regular production; birdhouses, which I started collecting completely by accident but now I probably have about 30 or more; and tall shot glasses from places I've been or comemorating special events.

I also collect Uno card decks, we have probably 15 or 20 decks, most of which have special cards. It started with Star Trek Uno, which has 4 special cards including "Double Tribble" and "Beam Me Up, Scotty". We now have Muppet Uno with a "Muppet Madness" card where everyone has to switch hands, South Park Uno with a "Kill Kenny" card where you have to draw from the draw pile until you pick up a Kenny card, and Uno Attack which has a machine that shoots cards at you instead of you having to draw them. There's also Harry Potter Uno, Fraggle Rock Uno, Simpsons Uno, Spongebob Squarepants Uno, and NASCAR Uno, among others.

In the previous convo I told of my brother's collections of elastic bands and bread tags, but I forgot to mention his most prized collection: key fobs. Whenever anyone in the family goes on holiday it's always easy to know what to buy for my brother: any unusual key fob, especially one which names the place where it was purchased. He also occasionally buys them himself. They're all kept in a long chain of interlinked key rings which usually hangs in his bedroom. He didn't bring the collection to Canada with him, but no doubt he'll have some to add to it when he comes home at the end of the year. New fobs are always added to the same end of the chain, so the collection is in chronological order. It stretches back years. Like most such collections, it was started accidentally.

I don't collect. I hoard. Indiscriminately.

TRiG.

I'll get back to this soon. I'm trying to do too many things at the moment.

Emmily

Hi Wmmilly?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being jealous or possessive here.

Just to say I had a hack at this topic some time ago (A8101289)

I can see yours is a lot better organised and together than mine was, so if there's anything in my version that you think you can use, then do feel free!

Best regards

AP

Most people collect something just because there's a certain amount to collect. Like "collect all nine action figures from the Pro Wrestlers III line" or something like that. It's the goal as much as the item itself.

I collect caution tape, because they're interesting, and because there's a nice variety within the amount. For example, I'm still on the lookout for biohazard tape, though I have "Police Line Do Not Cross" in three languages.

You're tackling a tough topic here. Have fun.

>> You're tackling a tough topic here. Have fun .<<

Yep, I think I am I'm planning to work on it at the weekends, unforeseen circumstances kept me busy else where the weekend just gone, hopefully, my diary will be free for next weekend.

Emmily

Deke, do you remember why you had an interest in Airfix aeroplanes? I'm assuming here that you inteest was in the aeroplanes, rather than the Airfix, as you don't mention any other Airfix kits.

Emmily

Hi Emmily

>Deke, do you remember why you had an interest in Airfix aeroplanes?<

Yes I remember quite well. The thread runs like this:

As a child brought up on a diet of Dan Dare and Jet Morgan, I actually wanted to be the first man on the moon, (yes, really) and it seemed to me that the best way of doing it was to join the RAF as a pilot. It was also just post WW2 and the 50’s when the heroes of the day were people like Douglas Bader and Guy Gibson, so my interests also lay in aeroplanes in general. It was also a time of amazing invention by the British aeroplane industry and I was regularly taken to the Farnborough Air Show by my father to see the their latest offerings. There‘s nothing quite like watching a fighter aircraft on full afterburner just pushing the speed of sound, at a height of about a hundred feet, to excite a young imagination. Unfortunately my academic abilities only permitted me to join the RAF as a Boy Entrant, and eventually Neil Armstrong beat me to the moon.

One day, another kid in my class brought in what looked like some absolutely perfect models of aeroplanes. The only thing available otherwise were balsa wood models which I was then making most of my spare time. He had made them himself from some kits that had been sent to him by a relative in America. I think they were by the American company Revell. Anyway, they looked absolutely perfect but of course weren’t (to my knowledge) readily available in the UK.

Then, a few months later, I found the first three kits made by Airfix, in Woolworths of all places. They were the Supermarine Spitfire, Gloster Gladiator and Westland Whirlwind. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were pocket money prices and new kits just kept coming almost weekly. At one point it became something of an obsession to make sure that I was up to date with the latest and as previously said, I had every model aeroplane up to about the early/mid 60s until other interests got in the way. A lot of other model kit firms came along but I just built from them if it was a subject I wanted to do.

Of course building the models leads into reading up on them and aviation/space history, and that leads into the books.

Anyway, sorry to have rambled on and I hope this sort of answers your question. Good luck with the subject, it should be very interesting.

DK

for the detailed reply Dk, you have a good memory. you didn't achieve your ambition of being the first man on the , but look on the bright side, if you had, your life would have gone in a different direction, and you would probably have never discovered hootoo.

It may not be until next weekend that I get around to adding more to childhood collecting section, so don't think I'm ignoring your post if you don't see anything about it added soon.

Emmily

Hi Emmilly

Was my boring ramble useful to you? (two or three posts up)

As I say I'm not proud, it's yours if you can make use of it! I got so far then stuttered to a halt (as these things tend to go)

I haven't got around to reading it yet AgProv I'm as slow as a snail.

Emmily

In a similar vein to what I suggested earlier, dunno if this will help but it's entertaining:

There's a story by Twain about collecting. Since literature is supposed to reflect human reality... Enjoy.
http://www.readeasily.com/mark-twain/00015/000150039.php




Crib notes:
In summary, this rich guy tries to start collecting, but everything he collects someone else has the final, best, and most necessary object and won't sell for all the world. In the end, he tries to collect something totally unique - echoes - and, well, at this point you have to read the story. But the force driving this particular collector is getting them all.

*prod*

Oh, I was just thinking - in the enneagram system, type 5 in the average levels are big collectors. They like to know all about everything very thoroughly, so they feel like dabblers unless they have full collections of things.

Granted, the enneagram system is not scientifically confirmed, but neither is almost everything taught in the psychology of personality, so maybe it's worth a mention.

PS: A large quantity of h2g2 members are probably fives

'*prod*'

Ouch, or should that be Ooohhh nice

not got time for this at the moment, will remove it.

Emmily