Depression glass... or maybe I should say I use'd to collect it. But once I had more that 2,000 pieces and no more room I quit.

houseplants, any I don't have I want, I also collect those dolls that hang from the ceiling (the ones that are sitting on swings) I have them hanging everywhere in our bedroom, and those are the only dolls I like, people seem to think because I have those I collect all dolls, I don't.
so family and friends! stop buying me those other dolls!!!!!!!
LOL.

Snowbabies. Angels. Used to do the Beanie Baby thing as well, but that got old.

Becky

Dust? :o) Not really, but when I'm on the computer--it does seem to be "settling" on me!

So, by "collect" do you mean lots and lots of stuff or could it be "collecting" even
if you got only all you "need" for the space alloted?

I have collected several of a type of lamp, where the globes light on top and bottom--from
the 40's and 50's but once I got all I could "place" without junking up the place, I stopped!

I've also collected small hobby horses to be displayed in a china hutch at Christmas time,
in the past! Also Dicken's type houses for Christmas and all kinds of meaningful to a "Christ"
Christmas ornaments and clear glass types of ornaments and ice-cycles!

I have a small old teapot collection, white/cream with gold trims for a shelf in our dining room!

I love baskets, not the Longerberger ones, the older and primitive types and ones my mother has made!

All of these "collections" are small--so do they count?

janice

I guess I should have started out saying what I have collected for years! My first passion, long ago when I was 17, was Currier and Ives dinnerware made in the 50's, by the Royal china Co. in Sebring, OH. It is blue and white. I am so glad I started on those young, because I have some rare pieces now that sell for big bucks. Yes, we use them for every Holiday dinner here, and I can feed 24, but I rarely get out the serving pieces, besides the big platters and the bowls. I moved on from there to another Royal China pattern, Old Curiosity Shop, which is green and white, and I have alot of that, too. Last year I started on Memory Lane, which is red and white....but I doubt I will ever collect all that.
I also was into granitewear, and have some nice pieces of that, too. OH! and old tins! But, those are going to the attic. I am tired of them.
I have a few antique pieces of furniture as well. I love old stuff!

I can't forget about rocks! Me and my husband have been picking up rocks from fields for 10 years now. All my beds are lined with rocks. Must be at least 10 pickup loads here, if not more.

Teresa....2000 pieces!! Now that's collecting!

A lot of my collections are cyberspace 'collections'. They are easier to store than glassware and don't take up nearly the room! Of course, I have filled up a few hard drives in the process.

After I got my very own computer, and we got cable modem, my husband networked our computers together and we could be on the internet at the same time, if we wanted. Well, back then, Napster was big and not yet deemed 'illegal'. (Ahh, the good old days!) Well, he and I went crazy downloading songs! It was such fun thinking of some old song from the 60s or 70s and seeing which one of us could find it and download it first. We found ourselves up more than a few times until 2 am, searching for a particular song.

I still LOVE my Napter songs. I always have them playing in the background when I'm on my computer. At this very moment, I'm hearing Sugar and Spice by the Searchers, followed by Love Potion Number Nine. :-)

From there I went to downloading hundreds of 'wav' files which are short little sound bites. I've incorporated those in my computer as well. In fact, my email audio announcement is Daffy Duck saying, "What's this? A letter for me?

And, of course, I have saved hundreds of midi (electronic music) files as well. Sometimes I incorporate those as background music in my emails to family and friends.

I've also collected tons of cute icons and cutomized my desktop. I like to change all the icons occasionally, just for fun. Here's the icon I use for 'My Computer' on my desktop. I also changed the text to say Marsha's Computer.

I have also collected hundreds of gifs (animations like Janice uses in some of her posts) and a nice collection of "marsha' signatures.

Before I found the hosta forum, I frequented a 'news group' consisting of people who loved making gif animations. They would freq. take requests for their creations, and I treasure all the wonderful signatures they made for me. I have no knowledge for making them myself at all! They were all wonderful gifts.

Here are a couple of examples...

So, does it sound like I spend every waking moment on my computer searching the world wide web for 'gems' to download? LOL!

Hmmmm, maybe I should have posted this in the 'compulsion' thread! HA!

Actually, I've collected all these things over several years when I could work in some computer time. Now, of course, when I'm on the computer, the hosta forum gets first dibs on my computer time!

I collect three things, for the most part. I have almost stopped collecting and am very, very selective now.

Crackle glass bottles, ie Blenko, Viking, etc. Now I only collect the "genie bottle" style ones w/ the cool stoppers.

Rio Hondo animal figurines - from the 40s and 50s. You'll probably have to do an Ebay search to see what they are. Comical little guys. I got my first one from my dad - it was his as a child. It got me going and now I don't even know how many pieces I have. I'm *very* selective on these now.

Holt Howard Cozy Kitten cat head string holders and wall climbers. I would love to own other pieces from this collection (ie kitchen goods) but they are TOO high priced for my taste!!!

I generally LOVE anything that is 40s and 50s retro kitsch stuff - kitchen things, etc. :)

Andrea

Note to Janice - I was once told that a collection is considered to be 3 or more of something. I'm guessing you have more than 3, so yep they count!!

I'm a collector period, more like a pack-rat!!
I did collect bells - dinner bells - last count I had over 300.
I collect milk glass - I only select the unique pieces now.
I love books, all kinds, lots of "how to" and decorating and craft, and dried flower and gardening and novels etc. etc. I've got books everywhere!!
Hostarox - I too collect rocks - mostly river rock (granite) for the borders of my beds -my hubby and I keep an eye out for them at construction sites! Finally got smart and put some gloves in our vehicles for this purpose - got tired of muddy hands :)
Let's see what else.....
Old linens, chenille bedspreads
Cherubs/Angels
Candleholders - things to reinvent as candleholders - love lots of candles inside and out.
Vintage tablecloths and napkins

I love the thrift stores, garage sales and "dumpster diving"........such interesting and unique things there!

June

hi all....

i "used" to collect beanie babies...but quit a couple of years ago...

also collected "ivy and innocence" figurines and buildings...but lucky for me they went out of business....sooo...done with that also...

now...of course...am collecting "hostas"....and heucheras...can't get enough....

hubby collects packer diecast...

and my youngest daughter collects "cute turtles"...

jill

I hesitated to reply to this post because I didn't want to embarrass myself. I have collected too much stuff over the years and now am trying to unload it on Ebay, lol.

As a child I collected Barbie dolls - those made me big money on Ebay, lol.

In my teen years I collected Holly Hobbie items - I still have a few of my favorite figurines, the rest, Ebay.

After I got married I started on Hallmark ornaments. Now I have so many I can't use them all and am selling them whenever I get time to list on Ebay.

Then it was Calico Kittens figurines, but soon tired of them.

Then it was Boyds Bears. Not the stuffed ones, the figurines. Have too many, hate to dust them, trying to unload them on Ebay, lol.

I'm ashamed to say I got caught in the Beanie Baby craze and have 2 boxes full in the basement. Some charities won't even accept them as donations, lol. I did send a box of them to "Beanies for Baghdad" last year at Christmastime.

In between all this I've also collected old crockery, graniteware, yellow ware bowls. I also have numerous books, but I like books on nature and animals, plants and gardening, so they are mostly reference books.

Some people might think I collect cats, I currently have 5, and three of those are rescue cats.

I'm happy to say now I've focused my collecting habit on hostas and other garden plants. At least I don't have to dust those, LOL!

Janet

Great collections mentioned! And yes, if you have more than 3... it is a collection.

I collect serving dishes. All sorts, but I particularly like ones with red in them. Deep brick reds, bright Christmasy reds, all sorts.

I also have a small collection of those Dickens Village and NE Village houses, but the frenzy of collecting those has sort of worn off. Now I just get ones that I really like or are really cheap (I still have to like it! LOL!). I only set them up at Christmas, so I still look forward to seeing them.

I also have quite a few old cast iron trivets. I don't like the new ones with the cutsey sayings, they have to be really old and have character.

Alexa

My grandmother had a huge Stangl Parrot on her organ when I was a child and I loved it. When she died, my grandfather gave it to me and told me that they had purchased it at the Stangl factory outlet on their honeymoon weekend in Flemington, NJ. It was a second, two of the birdÂs crest feathers were broken, so they got it for a few dollars, but it is priceless to me. I have gone on to collect many of the other Stangl bird pieces.

I also collect older childrenÂs books. When I was just out of high school (no money) I would go to antique shows with my mother. I learned a lot from her about costly antiques, but found that I could afford a few dollars on a childÂs book. IÂve got a bunch, everything from Raggedy Ann, to Pinocchio, and even old primers.

My dad worked as a silver smith for Alfonse La Paglia on Bank Street in Summit, NJ right after he got out of high school. This was at the tail end of WWII when imports of jewelry were prohibited from Europe to the USA. Georg Jensen, a Danish silver smith, worked around this obstacle by licensing several jewelers here in the States to reproduce his designs. Dies were sent over and pieces were stamped out and assembled stateside. On the back of the sterling pieces it was stamped Hand Wrought USA, Georg Jensen with an added "LP" on the La Paglia pieces. My dad worked on the Jensen line for La Paglia, and so IÂve collected many of the Arts and Crafts brooches and earrings with the "Hand Wrought" stamp. I really cherish them, knowing that my dad probably made them.

I collect old chocolate molds, just becauseÂand yes, I use them. I loooooove chocolate!

I started collecting little ceramic cottages made in England. Either Mudlen End Studio cottages or Suffolk cottages made for "Around the Corner" California Studios. I love using them at Christmas as a village under the Christmas tree. I have about 40 of them.

I have Humpty Dumptys, only because everyone in my family has given them to me. Someone bought me one initially as a joke, and it spiraled out of control from there. IÂve curtailed their madness and have ended up with a dozen or so (plenty of Humptys!!).

I have a huge collection of sea shells. Besides the myriad of shells IÂve picked up on beach walks here in the states, IÂve also traveled all over the world and have tried to find them there. I wasnÂt successful in Kenya, never got down to Mombassa, so I picked up a rock in Nairobi (I guess if I pick up two more somewhere IÂll have a collection??).

Its obvious that collecting is an emotional thing for me, a way of connecting with the past I guess. I hope no one out there psychoanalyzes any of this!! LOL!!

Books, Art, candle holders, cats, frogs, turtles, christmas decorations & angels but the major thing is vases and pitchers (or jugs) to put flowers in. I love doing boquets and generally have them all over the house. This is the first year I don't have a cutting garden and I miss it. The majority or these are pitchers and have been collected from thrift shops and garage sales. The sub catagories would be:

blue and white
brass and copper
miniture
art deco ceramic
antique
chalk ware
white or cream
yellow or soft green
clear or transparant glass
heavy pottery
one of a kind

I'm also running out of room and haven't gotten to the point of selling or giving away anything yet. I'm working on it. My love of antique, country and generally cluttered has been changing over the last years to a more simple Southwestern style of natural colors and things made from the earth. I'm still trying to figure out how to transition into this and what to do with all the treasures. McT

Hostarox, it is interesting that you saw the value of collecting antique china at 17. I wish I had your foresight at that age. At 17 I collected Unicorns (and I still have the collection).

Besides seven different varieties of garden plants....I collect table linens. Some are antique, some were made by my Great, Great Aunt Nettie, and many are beautiful new linens I found at the right price. If you saw the collection you would think I hosted a dinner party every night of the week.

I also collect beads to make jewelry, however I spend more time collecting the beads than I do making the jewelry. I can browse in a bead shop for hours....

Wow, collecting, where do I start... I'm basically a pack rat. I collect crocks of all sizes, my biggest is a 20 gallon, my oddest is a small sided 2 gallon butter/cheese crock. I collect salt-glaze and red-wing crocks mostly. I also collect sleepy-eye pottery. I collect large pieces of oak furniture. Most of that you only want to have to move once for fear of developing a hernia. I also collect bridge arm floor lamps and Aladdin oil lamps. I have a couple Victrola's and assorted records to go with them. Oh yeah, and cake plates, depression glass, milk glass, crystal, fostoria, footed to pedestal, I collect them all. Newer stuff I collect are Radko glass ornaments, some Hallmark ornaments. :) That's enough for now. :)

Diann

Hostabuff, I had to sit and think awhile why I did start collecting that stuff so young! It was because my Mom and Grandmother both had those dishes when I was growing up, but they just had the basic sets of plates, cups, bowls, etc. It was when I found out there was serving pieces to be had that I started searching for Currier and Ives dishes everywhere I went.
I forgot...I collect crocks and cookbooks, too LOL!!

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This pic is just mostly serving pieces. I have at least 200 dishes as well.

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hostarox, is that Blue Willow? My mother collects them, she also collects carnival glass, Fiesta ware, milk glass, bells, salt and pepper shakers, cookbooks. that's just a tip of the iceburg, shoot I don't have to collect anything she has done it for me, she tells me often enough that it will be mine someday. oh joy, and I will have to keep it 'cause most of it has been passed down through the family so it has sentimental value to me. I just hope she keeps it long enough for me to find a castle to keep it all in.

Hostarox, you posted that picture just to make me drool, didn't you? Well it worked! Great Red Wing crock!

Diann

Okay, you all have helped "jog" my frozen brain! I also have a "collection" of oil lanterns, some from my childhood that belonged to my grandmother and on up!

I also love "pitchers" and I love sugar and creamers but really don't make it a point to collect them!

I have a large serving platter of the blue Currier and Ives collection you have shown, "Rox"(like the one standing) and I have one of the "Old Curiostiy Shop" as well--both of these are hung on my kitchen walls! I know, not a collection yet--but interesting that I have those that you do! I do have a few other plates that I display on shelves close to the ceiling!

My mother use to collect Depression Glass and had 300 pieces of the cherry pattern. I can't think of the official name of that one, right now!

I have a 3 crocks, two pickling ones with the wire clamp lids and one huge butter churn crock, the one you make butter in with the hole in the lid and a large handle on the side!

I also, love to pick up rocks wherever I go, including Austria (creek bed). Holland, Switzerland, etc.!

Copper pieces, such as Coal buckets from Holland, and other copper pots, including tea pots and some hammered pieces, as well!

Maybe "hosta" is a common denominator of a lot of collectors of other things!!!

Oh, and whiskey barrels--roughly, 37 right now! :O)

janice

I'm too tired to "edit" tonight--long day with friend back in hospital!

Other than hostas, coneflowers, and numerous other plants....I also collect dragonfly items. It started out when my Great-Grandma died 5 years ago. I inherited a beautiful antique silver and aquamarine dragonfly pin, and it has only expanded from there. I have actually already downsized and sold some off.

I also collect Bumbles and Yukon Cornelius characters. Bumble is abdominable snow man from the old Rudolph cartoon. I have quite a collection, and I just can't get enough!

Micke, I used to collect Blue Willow, but sold all I had to an antique dealer about 12 years ago.
Dianne--LOL! I wasn't trying to make you drool. I saw that crock for 2 years in a row when we were on vacation, same antique store. Never sold. I shot them an offer the third year, and they said NO..not coming down. I said, "you have had it for years now" Too bad. So, I left kinda mad, pride hurt. I stewed about it all that day, and finally my husband told me just to go get it. When we pulled into the drive at the shop, the lady came outside, said, "Your back for the crock, aren't you"?? She knew I would return! LOL!!

Janice, measure your platter. If it is just over 13" across, it is extremely rare. The one in my pic that is standing up is a rare one, with the man carrying hay to the barn. Other large Currier and Ives platters are 12" across, and are still fairly common, but getting harder and harder to find all the time.
Too funny...My Old Curiosity Shop large platter is hanging in my kitchen as well!
I love reading what everyone collects!!!

This one's for Margo - I also love dragonfly's. This is a serving tray I made a couple years ago.

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That serving tray is awesome!!

I'm enjoying reading this post, I've only gotten to some of the posts from the 17th. Alexa, I too have a smattering of old cast iron trivets. I like the shaped ones, esp the old Pennsylvania Dutch shapes.

I have a collection of Fenton glassware, but it's not a large collection. I also have another kind of glassware, the name of which is escaping me at the moment as I haven't thought about it in so long. Milk glass with colored rims.

Oh, I LOVE old milk glass boxes, have a nice small collection of them. Old linens (tablecloths & napkins, handkerchiefs). For some reason, old coffee pots, either all shiny and "futuristic" looking or just old. (The really weird part about it is that I don't like coffee, just the coffee pots, lol.) Tea pots. Silver, but I've stopped getting any new pieces because keeping it polished is impossible at this busy point in my life. Pewter is a favorite of mine, love the way it looks and it doesn't require a lot of care.

I'll have to finish reading this post tomorrow and maybe I'll have remembered whatever I've forgotten to post about tonight, lol. (You might also say I collect rescued animals. I found a pitiful little kitten last week and couldn't leave it outside in the cold, much to my older cat's displeasure. There is currently an annoyed loud feline standoff, and the loud one is sitting next to me on the sofa so I'm very distracted. )

What about the collection you never intended to happen.

With me that would be snowmen. It started many years ago with my fathers wife. She gave me one and I thought, oh that's cute, I'll display it in case she visits. And then she gave me more each year. And then people who visited my house saw them and decided to give me more. It soon became a sick joke, give Barb snowmen. Before I knew what happened, everyone was giving me snowmen, co workers, my best friends mother, people I talked to for 2 seconds on the street. I now have snowmen out the wazoo. Someday, I will get back at my fathers wife for this, lol.

But my true collection is poodles. Pink spagetti poodles being my first love, the Japanese stoneware being the second. I have poodles in every corner of my house and I can dress head to toe in poodles from shoes to undergarments. There is not a day that goes by that I do not have a poodle somewhere on my person, it is my trademark, you just might not be able to see it, lol.

Well... I also used to collect beanie babies, big time. They are now mostly in several large rubbermaid tubs, stuffed in a back closet. I do get out some of the holiday ones... I keep those handy. I use the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas ones every year.

I also collect something called "Rocky Mountain Pottery," also called ROMCO. This collection started by accident, when my in-laws got me a few pieces for Christmas about 2 years ago. I fell in love with it, and have significantly expanded my collection since then, both through buying pieces for myself and getting them as gifts from family. I only get the pieces with the pine cone pattern. This pottery was made in Loveland, Colorado, back in the 1960's through the 1980's, I think. The factory no longer exists so 99% of my collection has come from ebay. Here are a couple of pics I took last year when this subject came up here at the GW... Coincidentally, they are decorated for Halloween...

This pottery goes really well in my house... hubby and I try to maintain a sort of rustic style and the pine cones fit in perfectly.

Which brings me to my next collection... we collect "primitives" such as an old wood butter churn, wood buckets, old wash stand, old lanterns, etc.

We also collect ceramic black bears from a place called Pigeon River Pottery, in Pigeon Forge, Tenessee. If you look very closely, you can see them on the top, right shelf in my first picture above. We bought the first bear when we were on our honeymoon, and have bought a bear each year for our anniversary. So we only have 4 for now, and hopefully they keep making them. We have decorated our kitchen in a black bear theme, which also goes with our whole rustic, lodge theme we have going.

My husband has a fantastic collection of vintage baseball memorabelia. Everything from bobblehead dolls, to very old ball gloves (the kind with individual fingers), old cleats, magazines, puzzles, bats, catchers mask, baseball with red and blue thread, etc. Most everything is from 1960's or earlier. All his stuff decorates our office, so I am staring at all of it right now. In our next house, he plans to decorate the entire basement with his baseball stuff. He already has a bunch of stuff that he is storing to get ready for our basement someday...

That's all I can think of for now...

Buff

Buff, I really like that pottery, and I like the cabinet it's stored in, too! Very nice.

"Rox", my Currier & Ives platter is only 12-1/4" so not so rare I reckon.

I picked up (on ebay),the other day, the same 13" oval platter you have for $10.49,
plus shipping, but mine is unmarked. Do you know the name of the scene on your oval platter?

janice

Buff--that is a very nice collection you have and I agree with Roxanne, I love the hutch as well! Sounds like you and "hubby" are well on your way to some very nice "collections"!

When are you going to expand your "barrel" collection? LOL

janice

Janice, the oval platter scene is called 'The Old Inn-Winter" No back stamp appeared on that piece.
Rox

Thank you, Rox!!! :O)

janice

Love the hutch buff.
I have curbed my collection addiction before it got out of hand. (unlike my garden collection lol).
My collection are only limited to a few of everything I love. It has to be old first of all. What I have done is organize (did I say that word) my things in groups or themes for display. For example: My ode to hard working women in the 19th century. Above my washer and dryer I have a collection of 18 & 19 century house hold items. Slag irons, German coal irons, crimping irons, glass washboards, A 1920 Ivory box (unopened), weaving pieces, buttons etc. Womens World Magazines pre 1930's. Anything that would remind me how easy we have it! Group of hand held oil lamps. German sprinkling cans pre World War 2 displayed in my yard and functional)
Since I was born on the 4th of July naturely items with old flags on it. Periodicals,postcards,13 star flags etc. These items are in the Family Room. Cross Stitch Samplers.
Fine linens & quilts, china (onion pattern or flow blue), platters and crystal, most passed down from my Grandmothers. Oh how I ruined some of those quilts when I first got married..ewe Grandma was rolling over in her grave! lol. Until I quilted myself I only then appreciated the artistry in them.
I guess as I get older I appreciate and love all the things in the past. Especially items people make. Primitive or fine items it doesn't matter. It has to call to me and I have to love it to display it. So I guess you would say I am Cottage or Collective...but I do like new furniture. Even my husbands ducks he made in HS. Now that is love.

Since I got several compliments on my china cabinet/hutch, I thought I would post a couple of new pictures of it, so you can see what the entire 2-piece buffet/hutch looks like. I took these the other day...

You can see in the second picture how the doors open... they slide out to the sides. Also in the second picture, you can see the stuff we have on top of the hutch.

This hutch is made by a furniture manufacturer called "Dick Idol." Click the link below to see the rest of the furniture in the series... we also have the dining table and king-sized bed that match the hutch.

You can also see how much more my pottery collection has expanded since last year... and I don't have all the pieces in the very full cabinet. One is on our dining table, and several are on our vintage washstand.

Buff

Here is a link that might be useful: Dick Idol furniture - Mission Valley series

Wow! That's just way too many pine cones for me!

Kidding of course. My sister has a number of Roseville pottery pine cone pieces. I saw a piece in a store and picked it up to check it out thinking I might get it for her. It was $875. Of course I did not get it.

Buff, I love it!! The cabinet is perfect for the collection. Thanks for sharing!