Virtual Collections

Collecting anything, whether it's rare coins, stamps, or baseball cards, can be an expensive and frustrating hobby. Trying to find the items you want, figuring out how to pay for them, trying to make sure you got what you paid for, and working to keep your collection in perfect condition - all that can discourage even the most enthusiastic collector.

There is an alternative though. Virtual collections or "e-collections" can be almost as rewarding as the real thing. There are a number of websites or other sources where you can scan or download documents, photos, or drawings of the items you want. Then just add some descriptive or explanatory text to each one. And once you have a good start on your collection you can use a photo editing program to organize and present your collection.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind though if you're building an e-collection. First of all, unless stated otherwise assume that all photos, drawings or other images you find on the internet are copyrighted. In general that means that you can copy those images for personal use only. If you want to be able to post them on a web site, include them in a magazine article or book, or reproduce your collection for display you need to contact the owners of the images and get their permission. And even if the collection is strictly for your own personal use it's a good idea to include in your collection a list of the names of the images and the URLs of the pages where you found them.

Keeping the above restrictions in mind, here are a few websites where you can find items for virtual collections:

http://www.coinsusallecollection.com/online_collections.htm - This site includes high-quality images of a wide variety of coins, stamps and medals. You can download a virtual "album" and buy individual photos for a few cents each to fill the album or you can buy a complete album for a few dollars. The website also offers some step-by-step instructions on how to use a graphics editor to format your collection.

http://www.vintagecardtraders.com/virtual/ - At vintagecardtraders.com you can download images of old baseball, basketball and pro football cards for free. The only restriction is that you can't use them for profit. There are Major League Baseball cards from 1910 through 2002 (front side only), NBA cards from the 50s, 60s and 70s (front and back), and NFL football cards from the 60s.

http://www.cyberstampclub.co.za/ - This site calls itself the home of "virtual philately" and provides stamp collectors with a place where they can discuss, collect and trade virtual stamps for display in electronic albums on a computer or mobile phone.

http://www.lilesnet.com/50/classic_cars/ - lilesnet.com offers images of classic cars ranging from a 1937 Buick Eight to a 1952 Alfa Romeo "Disco Volante". You can download the photos for free and build your own collection of classic cars.

Of course you can find your own images too. For example if you're creating a virtual collection of vintage typewriters just go to your favorite search engine and type in something like "typewriter museum" or "vintage typewriter images". Click on the image results and follow the links to the source pages on the internet.

After you've gathered a group of items for your e-collection you may want to edit the images or arrange them into a slideshow. Here are several popular graphics-editing programs that can help you do that:

Adobe Photoshop - Photoshop includes just about any tool or feature you could want, but it comes at a price - $500 or more. Plus it takes time to master and may be a little confusing if you haven't worked much with this type of program

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro offers a less expensive option for around $100 and allows you to batch-edit your photos so that you can make the exact same changes on a whole group of photos.

Paint.NET is free and includes the basic tools you need for most photo-editing, including some that you would normally find in more advanced programs like Adobe PhotoShop. For jobs that just involve laying out photos and making a few adjustments, Paint.NET may be all you need.

Whatever you want to collect, an "e-collection" can provide you with hours of entertainment looking for items to add to your collection and researching each one so you can include some background information along with the image. Not only can you build a nifty collection you may also learn some interesting facts about the items in your collection. Give virtual collecting a try - you can do it for free, have fun and learn something at the same time.