Monday, January 29, 2007

Collecting

My husband and I have decided to collect vintatge crime paperbacks and picked up four this weekend-all under $3.50 and consequently not very valuable. We got a copy of Laura, The Thin Man, a Vin Packer novel and an Ed McBain.
This is not our first collection. Over the years, because we like to prowl around junk shops, we have collected everything. For instance, we collected postcards of Ocean City, Jersey briefly. Ones that had been sent to someone. My favorite read "Dear Myrta, I am still intact. Cold but fine weather here. Best wishes, L.C.
We also collected photographs of weddings for a bit and displayed them in a fan-shaped holder. I got tired of people asking if they were my parents and looking shocked when I said I had no idea who they were. It just seemed such intimate pictures needed rescuing from a junk shop. But it turned out, they can't be rescued by strangers.
We have also collected Mexican pottery, white candlesticks, water pitchers, Frankoma pottery, old cook books, books by obscure poets, carnival prizes, stones.
The main criteria has always been it must be cheap. We've never paid more than ten dollars or so for anything. Usually under five.
What do you collect? Or are we the only ones?

5 comments:

mybillcrider said...

I have thousands (and thousands) of old mystery paperbacks. Not to mention hundreds (and hundreds) of SF paperbacks and digest magazines. Somebody stop me!

Anonymous said...

hi patti, i found you in the movie list...they found me too! i collect stuff similar to stuff you collect. i guess i would say i don't actually collect things, though, they accumulate! i too, pick up mexican pottery, and cookbooks, (i am partial to older ones) but also, orphan china with pink flowers and gold filigree, and old cordial glasses...and lately, i noticed that shot glasses with a mexican theme come home with me too!

Anonymous said...

Hi Cindy. Mostly my blog is about writing but I go to at least one movie a week. We're addicted.
I like older cookbooks too although usually we don't use the recipes. More just enjoy them. I'll look for you on the site.

anne frasier said...

i started collecting old mystery paperbacks about ten years ago. the weirder the covers the better. haven't gotten any in a few years, and i'm not even sure what i have. next time i move i'll hopefully run across them. now i tend to collect albums, but i don't think i qualify as a collector of anything because i'm not dedicated and have no method!

i've come across a couple of old hardcovers that teach young women how to be a good wives. at one time i thought i might collect that kind of book, but i haven't seen many of them. there are also medical/female health/childbirth books that fall into this weird category.

pattinase (abbott) said...

The problem with books is its a collection not easy to display. For instance, my collection of vases I can put on the mantel. My collection of French movie posters (well 5)I can hang on a wall. But those little books just get lost amidst our other 10,000. We need to move too.