I've inherited the love of the acquisitiveness of collection making but I for me the thrill is in the chase.
If the items are too easy to collect then it isn't interesting. If it is purely a matter of spending money to collect the set then that isn't my style.
Going on this holiday I have realised that I might want some souvenirs. And a quick google search has shown that there are some beautiful and challenging and not too pricey things I would enjoy finding.
- Disney Pins (badges)
- Squashed Pennies
- Letterboxing stamp impressions
- National Park and State quarters.
Clearly I could just get on trademe or ebay and buy buy buy and make the set, but that wouldn't really be fun. I want to find these things in the wild.
I have ordered a random selection of less desirable disney pins from ebay to get me started on the pin trading "craze". Apparently I can go and swap any authentic disney pin with cast members at disney for one that they are displaying on a lanyard. I would love to build up a collection of pins that are commemorative of our trip there - 2012, halloween theme or something like that. And cute ones too of course. I don't have a favourite character though so not sure if my collection should have a theme. Pin Trading info http://disneypintrade.com/. Lots of google images and websites out there. Think this is the sort of thing that gets a bit obsessive.
The squashed pennies bring back a memory of me at age 9 getting one made at Brisbane expo 1988. And I've seen the machines around locally. There are heaps of these machines in Disneyland and also in lots of other tourist sites we will be visiting. I'm going to need a lot of quarters and pennies to make all the designs at the machines we track down.
Disneyland machines http://www.disneynow.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x5910a44b and California in general http://www.pennycollector.com/Locations.aspx?area=45
Letterboxing is a dormant hobby of mine. It involves following instructions from a website to locate a hidden box with rubber stamp and log book. You take a stamp impression of the stamp to show you've been there. There is often a hike involved and a folk-art hand carved stamp of something relevant to the location.
In NZ there are few letterboxes and not many people in the hobby. In the US it is big. I took a peek at the listings for California and there are heaps of letterboxes. Not many Yosemite way which surprised me, but a lot at places like Big Sure, Carmel, and Monterey. I shall have to get a notebook and two contrasting colour small ink pads. Lots of letterboxes listed at http://www.Atlasquest.com and I am pleased to see that an android app has been developed, so that should save some trees.
The last thing is special design coinage. I already am the proud owner of 3 state quarters which I found in geocaches in Europe while on my honeymoon. I would love to add to this with a California coin and whatever other state quarters fall into my hands as change. There is another series now of National Parks and I will certainly be wanting to get the Yosemite coin seeing as we are visiting there.
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