Be a Collector!

As one who has been collecting items for as long as I can remember, it occurs to me that maybe there's an opportunity out here to assist the young or uncollectioned in their developmental efforts. By no means do I suggest the ordinary. Across the US, we probably have thousands of avid collectors of spoons, magnets, shot glasses, coins, stamps, poodles and postcards. I hope not to offend these folks. But in the way of being helpful, I've spent some time thinking about fun and unusual items to collect. The process of beginning and growing a collection, however, may turn out to be the most gratifying aspect of the process.

The first category of items will be those for the kitchen: Some are still in use, some are antiquated but available nonetheless. This collection group will include such things as: lunch boxes, cookie jars, butter dishes, oyster forks, milk bottles, corks, wine/jelly/juice glasses and coasters. The best sources for these? Garage sales, swap meets, yard sales, flea markets, estate sales, antique shops. Ask any of the generations before you if they have any or know where to get them. Once you've progressed past the basic locations, check web searches and in many cases you'll discover that there are groups out there that collect exactly what you do.

Items for and about children are next. These will include such collectibles as toy trucks and cars, baby blankets/booties/caps, rattles and christening dresses. Of course dolls would fit into this group but you may want to specialize or branch out from the wide category of dolls to something more specific. Included here will be stuffed animals. Pick an obscure animal (platypus, perhaps?) and dedicate yourself to that.

Personal items are always an excellent choice. Included would be hand mirrors, doilies, darning eggs, pincushions, compacts, thimbles, combs, hat pins and tie tacs or bars. If you need an explanation as to what these are, be sure to ask a parent or grandparent.

Finally, there is a group of items that are difficult to label. These would include old train schedules, keys, ticket stubs, produce/crop signs, calendars, blotters, cigar boxes, gambling chips or bingo cards. I've certainly overlooked many items that are worthy of being collected and certainly those that have collector groups that should not take much effort to identify.

One idea is to make a club event out of your items. Gather some friends and decide that you'll decide on something of interest to all of you and launch your own individual searches. Then you can display your treasures at a monthly gathering of some sort. By all means, visit a library or web search to find out what you can about what you're collecting. You'll be surprised at how many people will try to help and how much you have to learn while you're enjoying the entire journey.