Let\'s change the subject.... What Do You Collect?

stike

was gonna ask, what five books did you last read )or are you reading), but figured I'd go for something that folks could post pics of.

I used to collect watches. At one time had three repeaters, one of them skeletonized, 1820, and a couple minute repeating chronos. If that means nothing, count yourself among the normal people, frankly. If you DO know what that means, try to realize that it was back before i was married and I had kids (i.e. "I could afford to collect watches then")

I now collect the bindings of a somewhat obscure American bookbinder who lived and worked in NYC about 1890-1920.

Here are some pics of my stuff:















it may not look it, but this is the bad-boy. if the house is on fire. this is the one I grab











i think at last count i had 40. these are the best that i have, the rest are kinda pedestrian. the really good ones are way-too-expensive/in-museums/missing

here's what kills me. my wife is better at this than me. a long time ago she did it "my way" (which is to go through rare book dealers) and she got me a first edition (the Riverside Press "first") of Thoreau's Walden for my 25th birthday. doing it my way, she spent the mortgage check.



but then, this summer, doing it HER way, she finds the SAME set for $5 at a flea market in Biddeford Maine, on vacation.

so. what do YOU collect?

bubba tim

Besides Eggs? What else, cookbooks. Well over 500 at last count.. :P

stike

very cool. that too is some pricey stuff. i have run into dealers that carry nothing BUT cook books.

check this

Rare Cookbook Collector

Misippi Egger

Jeff,

Really great looking bindings! Never heard of collecting that before. I think that is really cool.

I don't have anything that i am currently collecting other than books (mostly fiction). Also have all the duck stamps for Mississippi, since they first started issuing them. Nothing really special, except to me.

stike

what's your fiction?

i should ask you the original question: what are you reading?

i hate to say it, but i usually have my morning coffee book. my lunch book, the one i read at night, and the one i read if i have time during the day.

usually have four or five going at once.

actually now, it's "Mayflower" (non-fiction, about the crossing), "The Longest Day" (Ryan, which i've read a few times because it's a quick read, good beach book), currently in the 'Ithaca' chapter of "Ulysses", which I am WAAAY behind in reading this year, and a Harper's mag that came in.

...plus the monthlies "Smithsonian" and "Nat Geo" (cliche')

Misippi Egger

Nothing exotic. Work is so stressful - keeping the plaintiff bar at bay, :woohoo: so I try to read lighter stuff.

Right now I have Greg Iles' newest book (The Devil's Punchbowl) in the "library" for occasional reading. I started Glenn Beck's "Common Sense" this weekend while traveling to and from Seattle (non-fiction, I think).

I read all of John Grisham, Clive Cussler (and his helpers), Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Greg Iles. Also have mags - Newsmax, MacWorld, Delta Waterfowl, American Hunter all in various stages of being read. :ohmy:

I don't have a lot of reading time daily, so i trudge through slowly.

Also have **** Morris' new one "Catastrophe" on the 'to read' list.

I have a lot of 'catching up' to do - I think I need a beach trip! :woohoo:

stike

"library". hahaha
i hear you.

i like to say 'i'll be in the gentlemen's library". makes it sound like i'm on the Titanic or something. Lord knows, something big will be sinking....

Misippi Egger

T.M.I. :woohoo: :woohoo:

Gator Bait

 
Hi stike, Here are a few of my shooters. All the Marlins are .22LR. All the Pythons but the Target are .357 Magnum. The Target is a .38 Special. The Suhl's are East German made target rifles in .22LR and many consider them the most accurate target rifle out of the box. With the fall of the Iron Curtain they are getting scarce and then many have been modified for bench rest shooting. The Marlin Model 39A is the only one still in production and has been manufactured under one model number or another for over 100 years. My 1904 Model 1897 is almost identical to a brand new Model 39A, basically the same gun. The longest gun in production in history. They are still made with much the same quality as they were in the beginning and have always been noted for their accuracy and reliability. An American classic.

1933 Marlin Model 39

1904 Marlin Model 1897 & 1933 Model 39 (same as above)
I often wonder how many rabbits were added to the stew pot during the depression by these two guns and others like them.


1964 Marlin Model 39A Mountie w/ 1964 Marlin Scope
I was 13 when this gun was sold new and would have given anything to have owned it back then.
1971 Marlin Article II Commemorative
1970 Marlin Century Limited Edition

1971 Marlin Model 39D
Only made for a couple years. It was modeled to look just like the Marlin Model 336 .30.30 deer rifle.

1963 Marlin Model 99 w/ 1963 Marlin scope & 1964 Mountie w/ 1964 scope (same as above)
This Model 99 was made in 1963 but not sold by Marlin until a couple years ago, no one knows why. It predates serial numbers on firearms so Marlin had to make one up for it in order to sell it.

1980 Colt Python Hunter
Only marketed for one year the Hunter is one of the rarest Pythons. The custom Leupold scope and Haliburton case were made for Colt just for this model. 1980 is the first year the Python was made with a 8" barrel.

1980 8" Colt Python Target .38 Sp. & 8" 1980 Colt Python .357
The Python Target is another rare model.

1976 6" Colt Diamondback .22LR
This is the first year for the 6" barrel on the Colt Diamondback. The Diamondback was designed to look like the Python but because it was made for 10 fewer years there are less of them and they are equally collectible. This one has never been fired since it left the factory.

1989 Suhl 150-1 & 1981 Suhl 150

I think I have all the dates right. I guess this is about half my collection.

Gator

Grandpas Grub

 
I don't know the value or what to look for, however, the bindings are amazingly beautiful.

Collecting, there are several things I (we/family) have collected as the kids grew up.

We have some petrified dinosaur bones and some indian artifacts (from when itwas legal to collect them) also a lot of unique film pictures of pictographs that are very hard to find.

We followed the laying of the train tracks around where the Golden Spike was driven. Every few miles there were coolie camps and searching/sifting the fire pits we found some 16th century coins medicine and opium tins & bottles.

Searching for and locating old ghost towns and metal detecting we found some old coins, balls from pistols and rifles from around army forts and one musket rifle and a pistol, wood rotted away but the metal was there.

All the finds were given to the kids (now adults) and the treasures the wife and I kept were the memories of time spend with the kids.

GG

Gator Bait

 
I would rather have your collection any day of the week, Kent. I always wished I could have raised a loving family, it was never in the stars. I hope in my next life I can.

Gator

 

thegrillster

I like to collect money, but it has been harder to find in good condition lately!

stike

yikes. remind me to knock if i ever come to visit....

what's interesting to me is finding out there's this whole other world of arcane info that really makes a difference to the collector. you know, most folks see just a "gun" (or a book, or whatever), but if the owner gets a chance to talk a little about it, you'll find out there's a lot more going in.

thanks for the pics.

stike

that is some amazing stuff. we have a lot of history out here, but much of it has been plowed over a million times or built upon. can't imagine finding something like that just sitting in the earth

YB has a great collection of arrowheads. maybe he'll post them here.

i'm almost wondering if I asked the "what do you collect..." question before or if someone else already did. hahaha getting deja vu.

Fidel

What do I collect?

Mostly charged off consumer credit cards, defaulted installment loan contracts, and automobile deficiency balances.

CBBQ

I collect songs. A lot of them are rare out-of-print rock songs from the 60's. 70's & early 80's. Most were one time or very minor FM hits from bands few heard of that will never be put out on cd. All have been digitalized onto my computer and multiple hard drives, one of which is in a safety deposit box.

stike

day job doan count.

show some pics of the stogies

stike

pretty cool. are these traded? i know for example the grateful dead bootlegs are traded.

you hunting down reel-to-reels taken of live performances or something?

pretty cool.

are you Barry Scott ("Lost 45s")? hahaha

my wife listens to that stuff all the time.

CBBQ

I have gotten the songs from a lot of different sources. Some of them legal. LOL.
In St Louis we have the longest running rock station in the US. They started out as a progressive station in the 60's. They still do cutting edge music but on Sunday mornings they play 4 hours of the old stuff that never gets played anymore. I record the entire show onto cd and then lift the song. I'm not cheating anybody because a lot of it can't be bought. By now I really only come up with a song or two every couple of months that I want. I only keep what I like.
When my brother was in college he used to dj at the campus radio station at night. I would get to go into the station's music library and record a lot of music on their high quality equipment.
I don't have many bootlegs because the quality usually sucks. There's so much live Grateful Dead music out there it's hard to find anything unique. The same with someone like Jimmy Buffett who broadcast every single concert live on the radio. But I do have an unreleased song by him called "Please Take You Drunken 15 yr-old Girlfriend Home".

Fidel

I can honestly say I have never taken any photos of my cigar collection. I do have some doozies in there though.

stike

i took photos for insurance. but i decided to take the time to make them decent photos, too. writing a history of the binder, so might as well have decent pics of my stuff anyway.

Fidel

Maybe I should insure my cigars, then smoke them and make a claim they were destroyed by fire.

Wonder if that would float?

Frank from Houma

Clocks, scales, kitchenalia, and lots of antique brass stuff

This Regency Bracket Clock got me on "Antiques Road Show" about 6-7 years ago. That was an interesting experience.




Have two Ogee Clocks (named for the shape of the frame). Not real valuable because oodles were made but I like the story behind them. This clock was made by the Jasper Clock Company in Connecticut prior to 1840. Jasper Clock Company went out of business in the 1840s. While the French and UK clock makers were still making clocks as fine timepieces one at a time the German, Swiss and American clock makers started stamping and turning out clocks that the common man could afford. On one of the first bulk shipments of clocks from the US to the UK the customs official asked their value for duty purposes. When he was told they were value at One Pound each he responded with "yeah right, I'll buy the whole boat load". The American clock makers thought this was a great deal and immediately sent another shipment - LOL.


Some kitchenalia and another ogee clock


Don't have any good pics of scales and weights - here is one cropped from a pic


Most of our collecting was done from '82 to '87 while living in the Highlands of Scotland. Antique shops on the weekend and auctions a couple evenings a month. Had some great times people watching at auctions - everyone has their own style and some are quite comical. One older couple that had an antique shop were a trip - she couldn't hear well and he couldn't see well. He would go down by the rail and she would stay in the stands and he would give her signals - sometimes they would get their signals crossed up - LOL.

Gator Bait

 
They are a lot like your books stike, you have to look to find the story in them. Guns are not violent or dangerous as I'm sure you know and they are so deeply embedded in our history they can be very interesting and some are even works of art. They are also a good investment if you hang on to them and keep them in great condition.

Gator

 

Little Steven

stike,

Great idea for a thread! Nothing sophisticated for me and I can't wait till my whole collection can be displayed but here are a few

Gator Bait

 
I'm envious of you people that can indulge in the hot stuff. I'm convinced that it is something in my body chemistry that makes me sensitive to the heat. I have tried to kill off taste buds gradually by eating hot things in moderation and it has not helped. I once encountered a hot sauce that literally reduced me to tears it was so hot and painful. I don't think it was the sauce as others were eating it. Weird.
That's a neat looking collection Steven.

Gator

Little Steven

Gator,

I think my sweet tooth was defective. I don't like sweets but love the hot stuff. That is abut 5% of my collection, I am waiting for an insurance settlement to get the cabinetry made to display it.

Steve

AZRP

Steve, next time you are in Los Angeles, stop in to the farmers market and check out this store. They have literally 1000s of bottles of sauce. -RP

http://www.farmersmarketla.com/directory/vendor/light_my_fire/index.html

fishlessman

fishing reels, ive got old wooden centerpins from the 1800's to seamasters and godfreys. i mostly like a working collection and will show up at a bass contest with a old bamboo rod and antique reel and compete against the guys with the best stuff on the market. :laugh: i mostly like the reels that have unique features like one way bearings or dual mode drive systems or drum brake drags or a one year produced green side plate or highly detailed scrolling. not always the most expensive stuff, i have alot of junk stuff mixed in with some highly priced stuff.

Little Steven

Randy,

Yer killin me here! :laugh:

Steve

fishlessman

one of ted godfreys earlier trout reels, special ordered from the maker himself. nickel silver, walnut side plates, multiplier, drum style drag, i think he stopped making them years ago and his newer stuff isnt made one at a time any more to order. really love this reel

another atlantic salmon reel by godfrey

a 1953 penn green plate, my favorite salmon reel, ive caught alot of fish with that reel. the green plates were bought up mostly by charter boats so they could tell if someone was stealing a rental rod, just produced for one year and most found are really beat up

my favorite reel to take bass fishing, its an open faced spin caster, not an open faced spinning reel and usually the line holder are missing on these.

this one has both direct drive and antireverse, the only other reel i know with this feature is a top of the line seamaster.


i think im over two hundred with the reels, most of them are working and used.