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What Other Collections Do You Have?

73K views 580 replies 223 participants last post by  Dxnnis 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Do people who collect watches also collect other things?

My only other collection is books, maps and memorabilia of South African Witwatersrand gold mining 1886 - 1899! Beat that for obscurity!
 
#3 ·
Hi jot, i can't beat that for obscurity, but i collect motoring/garage memrobilia, the old enamel sign's, oil bottles, tins, any thing really to do with the Oil and Petrol companys, i have them plasterd all over my small garage, fag lighters,a few watch's, pump sign's and nozzles, the funny thing is that what i collect is what used to be thrown away, and now i am buying it back, funny old world. cheers fred.
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi JoT.

Good question! I collect books too .... loads of 'em!

There's a particular fantasy author I like called Karl Edward Wagner (sadly dead now), he used to write about the exploits of an immortal hero (as cursed by the Gods no less!) called Kane. I suppose in a similar vein to Conan, however the character Kane is not a nice person at all, very ruthless and looks out for number one, woe betide anyone who gets in his way! Which to my mind makes him all the more interesting! I've got as many of his books as I can find and have a couple of first editions too.

I've got loads of Robert E. Howard books too, he was the writer who developed the character of Conan the barbarian back in the 1930's. He wrote loads of stuff but committed suicide in his 30's. They're a good read but not particularly demanding (pulp fiction) and are a left over from my teenage years. I don't read them at all now but I don't think I'll ever get rid of them.... too many memories!

Got the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books too .... another good read but how do you teach yourself to read when the only language you've ever heard is that of apes?? I enjoyed the books but just couldn't get my head round that bit!

My other collection is of books featuring the work of fantasy artists (there's a theme developing here isn't there?). I have books by Chris Achilleos, Michael Whelan, Jim Burns, Boris Vallejo, Roger Dean, Syd Mead (who's not really fantasy but a great artist) and Rodney Matthews amongst others. Nothing by Frank Frazetta though .... which I've only just realised!

I could go on but I'll spare you, I can't get enough of books!!!

My Dad used to collect maps and used to spend ages examining them on the kitchen table much to the annoyance of my Mum!

Cheers

Paul :)
 
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#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
I blame the internet;I have tracked down, all over the world, every book written on the Witwatersrand. There is only one I havent bought, the dealer has had it for sale now for three years, nobody wants it but me, but he wont drop the price.

Havent come across three wheel die cast models though! I like Fred's signs, if I didnt live in a bloody flat in bloody London and I had a garage it is something I wouldnt mind collecting.
 
#7 ·
Paul - This Kane charicter sounds a lot like the Elrick of Melnebone series by Michael Moorcock (all of that spelling may be wrong). You might want to check that out. I don't conciously collect books, but I have thousands. I've got all the Conan books too, great reads. Check out the movie "The Whole Wide World" when you get a chance. It's kind of a bio pic about Robert E. Howard with Vincent D'Onofrio as Howard.

Besides Stamps and Coins as a kid I really don't collect anything.
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have a small collection of East German Praktica bayonet mount cameras and lense. Some are becomming quite sought after now.

Why collect these? Because no one else wanted them then and thought they were a joke. Now, some people would love my 50mm f1.4, 80mm f1.8 and the 55mm macro lens :photo:

But they should have thought of that before :laugh:
 
#498 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have a small collection of East German Praktica bayonet mount cameras and lense. Some are becomming quite sought after now.

Why collect these? Because no one else wanted them then and thought they were a joke. Now, some people would love my 50mm f1.4, 80mm f1.8 and the 55mm macro lens

But they should have thought of that before
i like vintage cameras. the East German cameras were not popular. the shutters were not accurate, the contax camera, before the war, was as good as leica, east german contax clone (russian) was poorly made and short lived. on the good side,! the lenses are very good and compete with leica. so; after the war all the lenses we snaped up but the camera bodies were left without lenses and worthless. as it still today. vin

Nice! I write with a Parker 45 I've had over 30 years but I've hankered for a 51. Do you sell them?
collecting vintage ink pens is very good, like watches if you can fix them, you can use them. vin
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Sorry, no weird collecting habits but my neighbour has massive collection of pot golliwogs in his front window (remember them, I think you had to send off umpteen jam jar labels to get one little pot golliwog) deliberately designed to annoy passersby

He has court orders from the council requesting their removal but this has only served to increase the amount displayed in his window
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi Sargon

Thanks for the info regarding the Robert E. Howard film, I hadn't heard of it, but shall make the effort to seek it out.

Elric of Melnibone is another fantasy character I liked as a teenager. I blame my Dad who read me The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings as bedtime stories (obviously for many years!). I seem to remember that Michael Moorcock had loads of heroes ..... Corum and Count Brass were a couple of others I think. If you've never read any Kane stories then I think they're well worth trying. I love them. Wagner wrote three Kane novels which have just been released in one volume, this is what I'm reading at the moment. The other Kane stories that I know of are all short stories, very well written and very imaginative.

Cheers

Paul :)
 
#11 ·
Stan,

I like all the earlier Praktica stuff.

My first SLR was Practica Super TL, which was introduced in 1968, a full 10 years before the B200 that you are collecting.

I still have some prints from it, as a manual camera with TTL match needle it was great to learn about photography with.

I was so into photography that I worked in a camera shop for 2 years when I left school.

This was around the time that the Cannon AE1 set the world alight with the first AE program. And the Contax RTS was introduced, the smoothness and quality of which I will never forget. Also the OM2 was introduced but I never felt happy with Olympus. I moved on from Practica to Nikon and 20 years on am still a Nikon man.

This should be in the Photo forum I expect..... maybe we can continue it there?
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi Stan,

The wife's uncle takes the most fantastic natural history pictures, from small insects and flowers with macro lenses, working with a few mm's of depth of field, to birds in flight using telephoto's up to 600mm, all on old Praktrica equipment. Indeed he has never got on with a modern "auto everything" and uses his Praktrica with manual settings every time when he go's on a shoot.

His pictures are that good he gets asked to do slide presentations. Go's to show it's not the camera, but the person behind the veiwfinder.

I will not tell you what he thinks to these "new fangled" digital cameras :photo:

MIKE..
 
#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello Mike,

I reckon your wife's uncle has found something that works for him and he's sticking to it. Sensible man :wink:

A camera, like other things, is just a tool to do a job. It's not jewellery although some might disagree.

This man seems like he's well sorted out :wink:

Cheers.
 
#18 ·
Good thread!

I can't compete with JoT! Sounds like a specialist subject on Mastermind!

I used to collect older Campagnolo derailleurs and other components. Also used to collect anything to do with an Irish band called Thin Lizzy.

Since moving to London I am a bit limited, can't wait to live somewhere where I can store things.
 
#23 ·
I collect all sorts of stuff..

Lots Ferrari (racing) related items, I have some pretty rare autographs of drivers, including Tazio Nuvolari.

I have quite a bit of Apollo related "stuff" , again some of it quite rare.

I also like to collect first edition books signed by the author, one of my favourites of this collection being a Dennis Wheatly signed first edition.
 
#25 ·
ericp, among my garage stuff i have a couple of plates that you used to see on the front of the car's in the Monty Carlo Rally, the ones usually on the front of the car with the rally name and a number, the one from the Monty is [i think] a French Press plate from around 1972. i got it from under a stall at an Antique fair only cost a couple of quid when i turned it over it has Fangio written in ink/felt tip on the back, dont know if it's authentic or not,must have come out of some one's collection, the other ones the Mobil economy run, remember them. fred.
 
#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have asked this before about eight months ago, but as the membership of the forum (with a few exceptions) has changed in this time I will pose the question again.

What else do you collect?

I collect books, maps and prints that concern personalities and mines of the Witwatersrand goldfield, South Africa between 1886 and 1900. My prize pieces are a signed letter by Cecil John Rhodes and the first map of the Witwatersrand published in 1887. There is now only one book I haven't got.

I also have a collection of rocks and ores from all the mines I have ever visited or been involved with most of which are neatly wrapped in paper and never see the light of day.
 
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