Curious about your love for ephemera

December 17, 2010 11:32 AM

Do you collect things? What are they and how do you take care of them?

I just saw Everything is Illuminated again. I loved the book but the movie is something I enjoyed as well. I liked the treatment of the main character, and how he was changed into a collector in the movie.

It got me thinking - what are some things that people collect? I would like to know if people tend to like something that's ordinary (i.e. stones, buttons, marbles, etc) VS those who have a more special interest (i.e. vintage cars, wine, coins, etc).

Also: right now, I collect stamps and labels of wine I've drank over the years. The stamps are in albums and envelopes, while the wine labels are pasted in a notebook. I want to build a quirkier collection (find new interesting things to collect) and develop a better habit of collecting and preserving, so if you have any tips or suggestions to share, it would be very much appreciated.

posted by pleasebekind to Grab Bag (38 answers total)

I collect snoglobes from any where I visit. I've got three continents so far! Right now the collection is small enough that I can house them on shelves.
posted by Leezie at 11:39 AM on December 17, 2010

I collect concert tickets from concerts I go to. I'm not too concerned with their condition -- they get ripped by ticket takers and spend several hours in my pocket -- so, there's nothing particular I need to do outside of throw them in a drawer. In fact, I like it when they fade, just because it shows their age. My very first ticket -- Marilyn Manson, 1998 -- is faded almost beyond recognition, but I still know exactly what it is. I also used to collect set lists from shows, but I no longer have the urge to hop up on stage and run for the damn things before some spry teenager gets to it first.
posted by griphus at 11:43 AM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

If I were to start collecting something for the same of collecting it, there are two different routes I might go:

The first would be to pick something that is frequently customized to location and try to collect one for every city/country I visit. Common examples would be baseball caps, collectible spoons and shotglasses. More esoteric examples would be municipal flags, city hall models and parking tickets. This is a pretty casual and common sort of collecting, but it's nice because it provides a sort of memory vault of your travels.

The second would be to pick something that might someday be of some passing historical value but which there is currently no organized movement to preserve and become a sort of amateur archivist. Like say trying to collect menus from every single Chinese restaurant that was open in NYC as of Jan 1, 2011 or collecting direct mail political advertisements from the 2008 presidential campaign, or collecting advance reader copies of books from small presses that go out of business.
posted by 256 at 11:51 AM on December 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

I collect Native American pottery and Nambe. Of my pottery, most is from Acoma or San Ildefonso pueblos. For the past couple of years, I've been more focused on the miniatures. I do have a couple of pieces from Casa Grande and Mata Ortiz My pottery collection is stored in a curio cabinet and dusted as needed. My Nambe is in a couple of cabinets and is brought out for use whenever possible. For those pieces, I wash and polish as needed.
posted by onhazier at 11:54 AM on December 17, 2010

I collect songbooks from places I visit (the Maori songbook from NZ is something to see)! Bookshelf is fine for storage of same.
posted by LN at 11:57 AM on December 17, 2010

I collect chrome kitchen appliances made in the 1950s. So far I own (and use) a Waring Blendor, a G.E. percolator, a Sunbeam toaster (the half-moon shaped one) a Sunbeam Mixmaster, and three waffle irons/sandwich grills.
These goodies are arrayed on my kitchen counters, with the redundant waffle irons in cupboards until needed. Everything gets used on an at least-weekly basis. I don't do "for show."
posted by BostonTerrier at 12:09 PM on December 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

I collect ticket stubs from shows I've gone to.
I also still collect vinyl as well as obscure CD's as I've learned that local bands and one offs are impossible to find after the fact 3 years down the line.
I enjoy art, but it gets a bit pricey so I only have a few prints, including some limited editions.
My only other 'collection' is glass smoking acessories which are functional as well as artistic. Cleaned and stored in padded cases when not in use.
posted by handbanana at 12:12 PM on December 17, 2010

We collect several things including:
-Teapots
-Tea Tins
-Yarn Swifts
-Vinyl toys/unique toys
-Vinyl Records
-DE Razors/Brushes/Shaving Stuff
-Concert Tickets
-Set Lists
-Vintage barware
-Tie clips

For storage/display:
-Teapots/tins on a bookshelf in the livingroom
-Yarn swifts on the mantlepiece
-Vinyl toys on a shelf in the livingroom
-Records in orange crates below the record player
-Razors etc all get used or displayed on a shelf in the bathroom
-Tickets get stored in a box of important/sentimental stuff (a few very important tickets are framed)
-Set lists were thumbtacked to the wall, but they will be framed the next time they get displayed
-Vintage barware gets used on a regular basis :-D
-Tie clips get stored in a small bowl and used every day.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 12:27 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect fridge magnets from everywhere I've traveled. Not necessarily "Hello from Sunny _____!" kinds of magnets either, like I picked up a Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla magnet in Tokyo. The collection is featured exclusively on my fridge :)
posted by lizbunny at 12:28 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect model horses, although I have actively stopped collecting in the last year or so due to the cost and space. I have about 300 of them! Most of them are Breyer horses, but there are a few Peter Stone and Hagen-Renakers thrown in there.

Some are in a china cabinet, others are on Billy bookshelves. Dust is a constant problem, but, as I like to say "It's not dust, it's a protective coating!"

I used to collect stamps when I was younger. I still enjoy looking at my stamp album. When Canada Post moved to sticker stamps, it kind of dampened my enthusiasm.
posted by Calzephyr at 12:33 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I collect shot glasses. Right now, I don't have them displayed anywhere, because I can't figure out a way to have them all set out without making that room of my house look like a college dorm room. Ultimately, we plan on building a bar in our now-empty breakfast room, and they will probably get displayed on a shelf there.
posted by tryniti at 12:34 PM on December 17, 2010

Bravowhiskey, that is quite possibly one of the best answers I've ever seen on metafilter!
I wholeheartedly love that!
posted by handbanana at 12:58 PM on December 17, 2010

handbanana: "Bravowhiskey, that is quite possibly one of the best answers I've ever seen on metafilter!
I wholeheartedly love that"

I'm confused. Did bravowhiskey make a comment which was deleted? Because I can't see his post in the thread.
posted by sharkfu at 1:02 PM on December 17, 2010

I do have a lot of shotglasses from various places I've visited, and they live in my bar cabinet.

I also kind of collect those godawful souvenir glasses from proms -- you know, the tacky, theme printed on it with the date*, looks like a drink glass but would be hard to drink out of type of thing? I haven't yet unpacked them in the new place, but plan a small shelf in the dining room for them. They're obviously not intrinsically valuable, so just a wash once in a while to get rid of accumulated dust is fine.

*my favorite theme is "This could be the night!"
posted by pixiecrinkle at 1:03 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

He did, it must have been. I refreshed to make sure I wasn't seeing things
posted by handbanana at 1:05 PM on December 17, 2010

My daughter collects small snowglobes from travels but that has gotten more challenging with carry-on rules. My son collects decks of cards. With relatives traveling a lot, we tried to think of something that was inexpensive, easy to carry back, and you could find just about anywhere (even the airports). It made it easier for people who wanted to bring them a gift, and they do not take up a lot of space at home.

As a child I collected dolls which was fun but ended up being hard on displaying / space. And I still have an album of Wacky Package stickers!
posted by maxg94 at 1:08 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect old yearbooks. I keep them on a bookshelf.

I don't really collect them in the way of getting ones from specific places or looking for valuable ones or complete collections or anything. It would probably be more accurate to say that I just have a lot of them.
posted by cmoj at 1:22 PM on December 17, 2010

I'm both a minimalist and a collector, which sounds contradictory but isn't really. My collections are pretty much all things I use daily.

Things I collect:

Vintage 1930s-1950s dresses, which is what I wear just about every day.

Pyrex, Bauer, and Fire-King dishware, which is my everyday dishware.

Ukuleles. Someone once told me that any time you have three or more of something, it's a collection. I've got four. They all get played, two of them daily.

Class photographs from the first half of the last century, especially those in which there is some ethnic diversity. These are displayed on a wall.

And my silliest collecting habit - seashells, glass, and rocks. I live near the beach and go often, and can never resist putting a shell or rock in my pocket. These end up living in the various nooks and crannies of my car - the cup holder, the door pockets, whatever.
posted by chez shoes at 1:43 PM on December 17, 2010

I have over 100 skateboard decks, mostly vintage but some contemporary, hanging in my office. They're short-run screened art pieces, some by famous artists, and under $50 each.
posted by PSB at 1:56 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect coins. I don't have much in the way of fancy storage because I don't have much in the way of fancy coins, but here's what I know about coin storage.

(Ignoring bullion coins) Coin price is largely determined by 1) what coin you have (i.e. what denomination, year, and mint) and 2) the quality it's in. Quality is determined on a scale from 1-70.

60-70 are for "uncirculated coins." These are business strike coins (they were actually meant to be used - not like proof coins), but they show no signs of wear on the design. The difference between 60 and 70 is basically in eye appeal. An uncirculated coin can have "bag marks," which are marks from other coins hitting it (usually in the money bag). This isn't the design wearing down (rubbing off), it's kind of more like a nick. if there's a lot of marks, or they're in places that reduce the "eye appeal" of the coin, it will grade closer to 60.

1-59 all demonstrate some amount of wear to the design. Generally speaking, the amount of wear gets you to within a 5-10 pt range, and where the coin falls in that range will depend on things like luster and eye appeal. With some coins, the price doesn't change much from say 63 to 65, but with certain coins, you could be talking about the difference between a $1,000 and $10,000.

All of that is to say that coin storage is a trade off between a few factors: preservation of the coin, cost of the storage, and ease of display (assuming you want to show off your coins every now and then)

Many people start with cardboard folders from companies like whitman. These will usually be designed for a series of the same coin (e.g. Pennies from 1960-present). They've got a coin sized hole for each year-mint combination in the series. They're convenient because they're cheap and don't take up much room, but they don't offer a lot of protection from the elements, and you can only see one side of the coin. Also, they can either be a pain to get the coin into, or the coins might fall out. I've heard the cardboard in the older ones can give some really pretty toning to the coins, but 1) it takes a long time and 2) it only tones one side (unless you flip them).

Most of my coins are in 2x2 flips. These start as cardboard rectangles that are 2"x4" with plastic windows in the middle of each half. You put a coin in one window, fold the cardboard over so the other window sits on top, then you staple. You're left with a nice square holder that makes it easy to see both sides of the coin. Cardboard 2x2s offer nice, but not great, protection and are fairly cheap. They're a nice balance of price and protection, at least for my quality of coins. There are a lot of variations on this idea: you can have hard plastic cases that snap shut, or softer plastic with a pouch, but they'll typically measure to 2x2, so that they can be stored in 2in wide 2in tall boxes.

Sometimes coins are stored in tubes (plastic versions of the rolls you get from a bank). These are also fairly cheap. They're nice because they save space (especially if you get the square, stackable ones) and offer the protection of plastic, but they have their drawbacks. First and foremost, you don't really get to display your coins when they're in a tube. If you want to look at a coin in a tube, you have to dump out the tube. Then when you pick it up to examine it, there's nothing protecting the coin.

Rare/valuable coins are often "slabbed." You can see examples here. As far as I know, most slabbing is done by the grading companies. For a price, various companies will grade the quality of your coin (on a scale of 1-70), then stick it in a securely sealed slab. Slabs offer great protection (won't bump into things, air won't get in, etc.) and a third-party grade right in the container. You can "crack open" a slab and take the coin out, but they do have security measure to prevent fraud. That is, they're designed to prevent you from sending in a good coin (for a high grade), taking it out, and putting in a lower quality coin (and then selling it at the higher grade's price). The only real downside I know of with slabs is that they're expensive.
posted by chndrcks at 2:32 PM on December 17, 2010

Every time I visit a new city or area, I collect a small rock. About the size of a the first knuckle of my thumb. Preferably just picked up off the ground somewhere, of a kind of stone that's typical to the area. Then when I get home I put them on a pegboard-thing that I've built, and label them.

If I have friends going to unusual places, I ask them to get a rock for me. Or the equivalent. One friend came back with a small baggie of dirt from Kenya.

Anyway. It's something distinctive, and in a concrete (heh) way it's a physical artifact that belongs to and was formed by whatever place I visited.

Also: dice and playing cards. And I'm starting a manual typewriter collection.
posted by penduluum at 2:33 PM on December 17, 2010

Concert ticket stubs and band flyers. Stubs go in a drawer set aside for that purpose and flyers go in a scrapbook. Well, um, they SHOULD, but many are in the drawer with the ticket stubs. Prized possessions: Husker Du concert stub from the Flip Your Wig tour, Rolling Stones ticket stub from Nice, France, GG Allin & the Murder Junkies flyer that looks like it was scrawled in Sharpie by a 5-year-old on a meth binge, and a DO NOT ATTEND THIS CONCERT BECAUSE WE PLAN TO KILL YOU ALL flyer by a friend's band, the Bumping Uglies.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:53 PM on December 17, 2010

Amber (really my wife's collection, she finds it).
Minerals.
Seashells.
Eggshells.

All on display in various display cabinets w/lighting.
Or in display drawers, for the not so spectacular stuff.

Oldish electric lamps (in use)


Trying to build a collection of rather common objects, i.e. office staplers, 9 of each, to be displayed in custum build cases. Possibly just an excuse for gathering random objects, though...
posted by Thug at 3:02 PM on December 17, 2010

Vintage Pyrex and matryoshka dolls. The Pyrex is used for cooking and baking and serving, and the matryoshka dolls I just have evenly spaced on my bookshelves.

My mom collects cat items and figurines. I recommend that if you start to collect something, make it fairly specific. My mom has over 2,000 cat figurines and items in her house, and gets new things every month. It's a complete mess, is unorganized, and looks very unattractive.
posted by kerning at 3:03 PM on December 17, 2010

Oh, I forgot the skeletons/skulls.
Also (mostly) in the cabinets.
posted by Thug at 3:03 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect arcade tokens. It's like coin collecting, but, oh, even dorkier. I keep them in a velvet-lined jewelry box, with the special ones in the ring section.
posted by Gucky at 3:06 PM on December 17, 2010

I have about 50 pairs of chopsticks.
The ones that come in cases live in their cases on a baker's rack in the kitchen, the kids size ones live in a plastic Hello Kitty cup, the rest live in a large drinking glass in the dining room.
They definitely get used, except for a few special pairs. However, because we rarely have 50 people over for dinner, not all of them get used regularly.
posted by Adridne at 4:01 PM on December 17, 2010

My stepmother used to collect cows with a passion-- cow stuffed animals, cow figurines, mugs, wall hangings, crosstitch, pictures...everything. Cows. Everywhere. The kitchen used to be the cow shrine of shrines (with cows stenciled on the walls!) but she's cut down in recent years.

Stepdad collects shot glasses which are displayed on wee little shelves on the kitchen wall. Beer steins across the top of the cabinets.

My mother--glassware. She changes up her displayed collection in a corner glass-doored curio cabinet. Currently the red glass is out for the holidays.

I collect movie tickets that I just shove into an old watch tin. Tiny Buddha figurines (the fat ones, made out of anything--stone, resin, etc). I used to buy tumbled, polished stones everywhere I would go that had them, especially when I was a kid, but those fell by the wayside (and really were just kept in a box anyway).

I also like weird little old bottles--any type of glass, really, they're often old medicine bottles and the like. I put them on my bookshelf. Really I just have an affinity for all sorts of silly little knicknacks, often picked up at "antique" (read: junk) stores.

Skeleton keys! I love those.

I have a "special things box" that has grown progressively larger over the years where I just tuck little sentimental things, if that counts as a collection.
posted by adrianna aria at 4:11 PM on December 17, 2010

Christmas tree decorations. It's fun to remember trips as I put them out each year.

Ticket stubs and programs.

Magnets from museums.

Buttons.

For a while I collected Ukrainian painted eggs, and I'd like to do that again someday.
posted by Sukey Says at 4:24 PM on December 17, 2010

M.A. Hadley stoneware. I display it on a bakers rack in my kitchen. The collection originally came from my grandmother, but I try to pick up a piece here and there when I see it.
posted by sundrop at 4:35 PM on December 17, 2010

My grandmother collected salt and pepper shakers - made it easy to bring her souvenirs from any family trip. They were displayed on two dedicated shelves of her china cabinet.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:05 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I collect war-era Japanese dolls (example of one of them). They aren't worth much, but I find them to be absolutely stunning. I have over 30 now, so I rotate them out. At any given time, I might have five on display. They are displayed high on a bookshelf out of the sunlight and get dusted occasionally. The rest live in a acid-free box in a dry place.

I also collect kimono. I have an old trunk that I lined and they live in there, folded properly. I gained too much weight to wear them anymore, but once in a while I take them out to show off.
posted by bristolcat at 5:32 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect thimbles from places my husband and I visit together, I have a thimble shadow box that hangs in my kitchen for display. I wish I had gotten a postcard from locations we have visited, but the thimble collection got started and I keep it updated as a keepsake for me and my husband.
posted by sandyp at 5:35 PM on December 17, 2010

I collect postcards, and those postcard-sized advertisements from art exhibits and concerts. I don't have that many yet so no special storage required, just a piece of string and some clothespins.
posted by janepanic at 7:58 PM on December 17, 2010

I mainly collect old cookbooks (a lot of company premiums with old images rather than serious Fannie Farmer types) and old magazines (all from the 1920s-1980s). Unfortunately, I don't do a very good job as far as organizing them. Once I scan a lot of the images (and save them to data discs), they just get thrown into boxes with no organizational system. Some of them get put into ziploc baggies or manila envelopes.

I come from a long line of collectors, and I do have other smaller collections, but I don't think of anything as especially quirky. My advice is buy what you like. Never buy something just because you think it might be worth something down the line. When I look at old magazines or new collectible books, I'm drawn to a lot designs and detailing from the 1920s-60s especially, and, if I had the space and money, I would be purchasing furnishings, decorative pieces, and other small tchochkes from those decades. I'm also really into television and movies, and watching shows like Hollywood Treasure really makes me wish I had the money to buy up all the movie and television tie-ins and props that are out there. I usually just turn to Flickr to view others' collections. It's cheaper and it only takes up my time rather than my money.
posted by Mael Oui at 10:15 PM on December 17, 2010

I'm a collector of many things which is exacerbated by my many monthly trips to antique malls:

Banjoleles

Garfield things from 78-82 (lots of stuffed animals and ceramics)

Vintage crewel pictures of a bird themed variety

Vintage bicycles (takes up a lot of space, there's one room in the house that is filled with them)

Vintage jewelry, I tend to like vintage plastic (bakelite, thermoset, lucite, reversed carved lucite), but I also like rhinestones

Various bird themed vintage framed pictures

Vintage purses with a bird or owl theme

Vintage hand blown glass figures, usually of birds, owls or other animals, some Murano.

Mid century modern anything (furniture, clocks, wall hangings, kitchen items, anything)

This list could actually get longer but it's going to make me sound fucking crazy. There was a point in my life that I could have earned a spot on the show Hoarders...and I'm not really exaggerating here. I try to keep my madness contained but it's really hard.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:19 PM on December 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I want to build a quirkier collection (find new interesting things to collect)

I set out to build a couple of collections, as such, mostly because I liked the hunt, and getting the daily/weekly packages from Ebay.

Perhaps the single most collected item of all time is salt and pepper shakers. My quirky take on that was that the material composition should be multiple layers deep. My first was a shaker made of plastic, representing a pipe made of deer antler. Another was a shaker made of porcelain depicting a pig made of yarn. There was a shaker in the shape of a wicker basket, molded out of plastic intended to look like marble.

It was fun for while, I liked to see who would "get it," and who wouldn't. Some people did get it, and found it delightful, others never could and gave me regular S&Ps that were just goofy figurines.

For a while I went on Ebay and collected collections. I'd buy somebodies entire weird collection of watch winding knobs, or ticket stubs, etc. Display them all together, mainly for the fun of seeing it dawn on people that is was a meta-collection.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:48 AM on December 18, 2010

I've collected postcards and displayed both sides in archival safe sleeves in a large binder, from Postcrossing.com.

I currently, over the long term, collect hot sauce labels. I usually have at least 2 hot sauces at a time (currently I have 4 open, and 12 on the shelf), including any kind from Tabasco to those weird cheap little hot sauces you can buy at Wal*mart in the Christmas gift packs. I make a lot of ramen noodles and Mexican food, so I go through it fairly quickly. I alternate heating the empty bottle with a hair dryer, soaking it, using Goo Gone, or putting it in the freezer. It all depends on what kind of glue they used behind the label. I then tape the label (it's not a very elegant system, but I don't mind) into a small Moleskine notebook with a rewrite of the name, some ingredients (if they're notable or if I had to toss that part of the label), and a rating on how hot and what kind of taste it was.
posted by DisreputableDog at 1:13 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]