Pretty much every kid I have ever known collects something.  In fact I think every child should have something they enjoy and are passionate enough about to collect.  Doesn't matter if it seems silly.  Doesn't matter if it changes every few weeks or months.  It is better than a child with no interest in anything.

When I was a kid I collected rocks and fossils like lots of other kids, but I also had a collection of paperback books of "Peanuts" comics.  Not "comic books" but actual little paperback books that just had a bunch of "Peanuts" comic strips.  I had a whole row of them on my bookshelves.  I also bough a bunch of NFL player cards one year, but lost interest pretty quickly.

So what did you guys collect.  Or what do your kids collect now.

I started a beer can collection, when I was 9. It started with a couple of boxes of "extras" the neighbor down the street gave me to get started. By the time I was in HS, I had over 3,000 unique, and some worth a little something. When we moved residences, my father didn't want me displaying them in the new house. I ended up selling them, boxes at a time, in a yard sale..

As a young kid I collected matchbox/hot wheels cars and trucks. When I got a little older I got deep into the Big Red Machine and had a ton of baseball cards, some football. As a young teen I also collected beer cans and whiskey bottles had a ton. But I had an inside track as my Parents and uncle both owned bars/carry outs.

Reds players baseball cards, but all non Reds went into bicycle spokes for the cool note effect lol.

The year I was seven my mom and dad arranged me to go to a science day camp when we lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. We would learn about butterflies and dragon flies and take nature-oriented field trips to places like Bear Mountain. So, because of that I was one of those kids who catches, collects butterflies and then impale them for display above a bed of parrafin. That was only for a couple of years though.

(09-21-2018, 02:36 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Reds players baseball cards, but all non Reds went into bicycle spokes for the cool note effect lol.

I wonder how many cards that would have been valuable, have been ruined that way? 

Baseball/Basketball/and Football cards mainly.
The last time I checked, my most expensive card I own my uncle gave to me.  its Joe Namath's rookie card from 1965.  I have it encased in glass, stored up in the my bank's safety deposit box.  I should pull some of them out again and go see what they are worth soon.  I also own about 10 different Shaq rookie cards.  also have Scottie Pippen's and Bo Jackson's rookie card.  Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, etc.  I even have a couple walter payton cards, but not his rookie year. 

(09-21-2018, 02:11 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: As a young kid I collected matchbox/hot wheels cars and trucks. 

I remember I had a bunch of matchbox cars until my neighbor showed me his hotwheels.  No more matchbox cars after that.

Hot wheels are the first toys I remember buying with my own allowance money.  Don't know how old I was when I started getting an allowance but before that I just asked my mom and dad to buy me toys.

I'd spend forever looking at all the different cars trying to decide which one to buy.  I doubt they costed more than a dollar but I must not have gotten much allowance because I usually had to decide on just one.

There were quite a few things I collected.
I collected video games, but would also collect manuals.
I collected a ton of Dragon Ball stuff. Stuff I got for $15 are now around $45-$500
All sorts of Bengals stuff

Comics, mostly. And Calvin & Hobbes books. My granddad would get them for me whenever they came out with one.

(09-21-2018, 02:49 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I remember I had a bunch of matchbox cars until my neighbor showed me his hotwheels.  No more matchbox cars after that.

Hot wheels are the first toys I remember buying with my own allowance money.  Don't know how old I was when I started getting an allowance but before that I just asked my mom and dad to buy me toys.

I'd spend forever looking at all the different cars trying to decide which one to buy.  I doubt they costed more than a dollar but I must not have gotten much allowance because I usually had to decide on just one.

Yup I got my two dollar allowance or whatever then of course there was always the bonus money of scouring the neighborhood for pepsi/coke bottles and taking them in for the nickels.

I don't remember what they were ? Couple bucks ? But soon as I had enough saved up I was standing in front of the display at the store picking out my next hot rod ! LOL

(09-21-2018, 02:36 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Reds players baseball cards, but all non Reds went into bicycle spokes for the cool note effect lol.

Oh yes, a clothspin and a baseball card made a bike into a true hot rod !

Remember the stain the stick of gum made on the bottom card ? Hated that ! IIRC I had a Johnny Bench 1970 maybe that had the stain.

I collected baseball and football cards. I continued collecting up until a few years ago. I have my collection which is loaded with key rookie cards stored away and would estimate the value (according to the Beckett Price Guide) to be somewhere in the $10,000 range. My grandson also collects, and he's going to love me when I die.

When I was old enough to help out around the house and got an allowance, comic books were my weakness.As I grew up and got part time jobs it progressed to sci fi novels, horror stories,humor, E R Burroughs' Tarzan series,killer series ( Chuin +Remo ).
I have hundreds of paperbacks.

So many of y'all keep talking about "allowances", wtf was that? If I wanted some money, and I asked my Dad? He said, grab the mower, and start going door to door..

Stamps, beer cans, baseball cards, and football cards.

Trim.

V cards

Broken baseball bats.. We still used wooden bats when I was a kid and I could never bring myself to throw them away ...oh yeah,  dead animals to bury in the backyard .. I remember we once had a full fledged funeral for a hamster with one kid reading from the bible and another playing taps (badly) on the trumpet .There was 4 of us all carrying the coffin shoe box across our back yard like we were putting to rest a great statesman or something .. lol

1977-79 Baseball cards. But I flipped them like everyone else.

1992 Re-introduced to collecting. Basically football cards (made Bengals team sets), and breaking boxes.
Stopped collecting in 1998 as the market was oversaturated.

2005 Got back into collecting (but slowly this time), mostly individual vintage and superstar cards.