Personalities

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If you have a thing about a well know personality, why not turn it into a collectible theme? Such as Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles or a fabricated one such as Mickey Mouse or Popeye.

If you follow your fancy, you might be able to collect really something interesting.

This form of collecting will involve you in a historical research. such as tracing copies of your subject's birth certificate(or in case of a fabricated personality) it's point of invention and its inventor.

This type of collection is also similar to that of period collecting because of the much important use of the library. Check out the archives of newspaper in microfilms and make copious research about the highlights of your hero's career.

You'll have to obtain pictures of the birthplace or if applicable where he died. You will have to encapsulate a lifetime in your collection. it's a tall order but it could pay dividends.

If you dig deeper, you'll be able to produce something far superior to the records and photographs that masquerade as an average personality collection.


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Decanter

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Decanters have their own problems and this often provide you with a bargain.there's a decanter with an odd glass stopper, or no stopper at all.

Stoppers are prone to get lost or broken and it's quite possible to obtain spare ones. You might have to browse around before you can fine a decent match. But an odd or missing stopper enables you to beat the seller down to a bargain price.

Another potential bargain is the antique decanter whose stopper is stuck. cracked and chipped decanters should be avoided but if you find one that's heavily stained buy it if its dirt cheap. This one can be usually alleviated with an acid treatment.

Jim Beam collectible decanters have been around a long time. They have been the most popular ones for the quality of design and workmanship.

Decanters are sometimes made of fine china, glass , crystal and porcelain.The value of secanters are determined by age, scarcity and subject.

Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Ezra Brooks, Wild Turkey, Lionstone, Kontinental,Mc cormick, Michter's ,Mount hope, Old commonwealth and Ski country are the distilliries that makes the biggest supply of decorative collectible decanters.

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Gramophones (The Record Player)

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This type of collectibles are for people with deep pockets because gramophones ( british ) or phonographs( american ) don't come cheap.

It is generally accepted that thomas edison was first when he patented his first phonograph using a tinfoil later a wax cylinder in 1877. In 1887, emile berliner patented a gramophone that used disc shaped records.

In the early 1900 to 1930's superb models of gramophones were american made, next british and then the rest continental europe specifically France, Germany and Italy.

Other people collect the "hornless" version of the gramophone. It wasn't really hornless, for the horn was inverted and placed inside the body. When closed down, it made a compact portable case.

There are even models that were housed in wooden cabinets. If you happen to come across any with jazzy art deco designs don't let it slip by , snap it up. Any gramophone whether humongous in size as long as it is mechanically sound and really have a nice woodwork will surely be a collector's item.

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Period Collecting

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Does this seem familiar to you? Grateful dead albums, tie dye t-shirts, macrame belts, puka beads, Peter, Paul and Mary's puff the magic dragon and Carole King's "tapestry" album.

Yes they are all a part of the sixties. I'm talking about about collecting anything and everything in a specific era or period in history. It might be the 40's,50's,60's or the swinging 20's or let's say the edwardian era.

If you want to build up a collection that will really keep u busy and immerse in a particular period in history try delving into period collecting.

There are many ways to go about this. one, go to a newspaper library and get access to their stack of microfilms. Scroll down headlines and any specific items of note in a particular decade like style and fashion, music, films, the bestseller book of the day or any specific events like the mods versus rockers clashes in the sixties.

When it comes to music, sheet music and records are both collectable items.. They must be of course, tunes that were popular in that period of time. How about maintenance manuals for cars introduced at that time. The picture above shows the mod fashion in the sixties...take note of the mini-skirt.

You can probably think of many more collectibles just as long you remain to select your favorite period.

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Buttons

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Collecting buttons have been a big business.There are numerous organizations and several magazines published about button collecting.

If you read up all you can about the subject, you will know that there are still plenty of scope to explore. You can join an organization and specialize in a fairly narrow field, so that you will know exactly what to buy and what to sell.

Buying buttons from specialist shops is a rather costly procedure. If you are resourceful enough you will be surprise an interesting button may come up like in an old box of odds and ends, or on old clothes in a jumble sale or flea market.Or you could use the buy and swap method with other collectors as well.

It is advisable to specialize like say for example, collecting only pewter buttons(like the ones in the picture).But what should you collect? here are a few examples to choose from.

Pewter buttons- are flat faced and engraved and the convex shape developed later.it is often coloured with lacquer or gilding.

Livery buttons- are one of the great collectible subjects. these were worn by the employees of great households and were embossed with a coat of arms.These are virtually all in metal.

Uniform buttons-worn on the uniforms of the forces, police, fire brigade, postal workers, etc. You could cover the entire field or just specialize in one area like the police.

Sporting buttons-these are engraved or marked with sporting events.

Wooden buttons-in the 19th century many buttons were made from wood including apple, beech, ebony, rosewood, walnut even irish bog oak.

Ceramic buttons-these can be very beautiful. they were made in earthenware, porcelain or china.

If i were to start collecting buttons i would choose to collect political campaign buttons. It is interesting to accumulate something that is also a part of history of a certain country.

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Ephemera

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The word ephemera is a collector's jargon covers a wide range of subject matter including items that never meant to be collected in the first place.Here are the basic examples:

Bills- an invoice or statement of charges.from an aesthetic point of view, bill headings can be very attractive.

In the early 1900's bill headings were considered exotic,showing steel engravings combined with copperplate handwriting.

Virtually every businessman or tradesman in those days had an engraving of some sort for his trade on his bill headings. very early bills are mostly handwritten. one , in the british museum, details the payment for workers on one of the pyramids.

Apart from the embellishments,such bills are interesting is that it can give you the idea into the costs and services in different parts of the world.

Calendars-the collection of calendars reached its popularity beginning with marilyn monroe sprawled in red satin in the 1950's. different types of calendars like circular dials,calendar medallions or calendars on a glazed ceramic plates are also collected.

Menus- in similar ways to bills and invoices. They tell us what people ate and what it cost them and it was quite conveniently dated.

Menus from the last century were interesting because in the background they embellished it with topical compositions like in the times of war, it was common that menu headings pictured battle scenes.

Other ephemera items are travel, sports,concert tickets. and of course posters...such as shown here. Its a cloth poster of an early airline ad.

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Collecting Cigarette Lighters

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We can only guess how cavemen made thier fires, methods of making light date back to antiquity. Some people collect all forms of lighting such as matches and candles. Let's delve more on collecting cigarette lighters after all they been around since the 1900's. Collectors are not all over themselves just to acquire the items. They are all over the place, jumble sales, flea markets everywhere.

To make the collection more interesting is to accumulate lighters showing the development from birth. If not, you could collect to a theme. For example you could only collect unusual or odd designs.

You could collect petrol, butane or modern electronic lighters. Other themes might include commemoratives, lighters that are marked for coronations, jubilees or specific designs such as art deco or art noveau.

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Storage and Display

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To make the greatest impact your collection should be stored and displayed in an approriate and creative manner. If you collect buttons, it's nice if you will sew them in a white or black wool cloth not the thinner sheets so that it won't crease easily and then hang it on the wall. Cigarette cards, music labels, photorgraphs and share certificates are best displayed under a glass and framed.

For big bulky items such as gramaphones, iron stands, typewriters and sewing machines you'll need plenty of room, but if you are really an avid collector of these you dont mind to be sleeping in a mat, just to make room if your prized collections

Chinaware, jelly moulds could be shown in an open shelved unit but for more expensive ware a glassed cabinet preferably with locking doors is a must.

Display your collection in the context of your surroundings, like if you collect shakers and decanters of course you display it in your homebar, jelly moulds,baking pans,salt and pepper shakers(just to name a few) in the kitchen etc.

Finally if you have very precious collection like jewelries that you don't want it to be handled too much, why don't you just take photographs and display these on an album?

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What makes a collection interesting?

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Whatever knicknacks you decided to collect make sure that you collect to a theme. For example if you like to collect books, it would be more interesting if you collect works by the same author, or books of the same subjects. It's even more interesting if you can tie it up with another hobby of yours. Let's say if your into photography, you could collect books about photography. or gardening or even cooking.

Another example is if you collect autographs. Your collection will be more valuable(if you are collecting as an investment)if you collect autographs of players of the same team. Or autographs of players of different teams but they are all goalies or perhaps quarterbacks. Interesting right? just collect thematically.

When i was in my teens i collected stamps of the same color, if not i collected stamps from the same country, or subjects like sports , vintage cars and birds. At that point it was all very interesting to me. Though i didn't get to attend auctions. It would have been more gratifying as far as experience is concern.

My most prized collection is a set of paperback books by lawrence sanders. It took me nine years to accumulate it. Imagine, nine years of free afternoons and evenings hunting down secondhand bookstores, I finally completed all the works of lawrence sanders.My collection of his books finally concluded when my favorite writer left this planet.As cliche as it may sound, but the enjoyment is in the hunting.

So if you have already started your collection or thinking of starting, just do it with a subject or motiff or theme in mind.

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The Psychology Behind The Hobby Of Collecting

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This is where i write about the hobby of collecting.Why do people collect things? What's the enjoyment that u derive from the act of collecting? Is it the satisfaction of accumulation? The interest of the specific object or for investment?

let's explore.....