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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;verybrad, post: 10238486, member: 37&quot;]Started collecting at an early age, maybe age 3-4?&nbsp; Collected rocks and other natural things at first.&nbsp; Collected bird nests and eggs too.&nbsp; Still have my rock collection that has been continuously added to over the years.&nbsp; At age 13 my grandparent&#039;s had passed and their home was liquidated via auction.&nbsp; Most of the furnishings actually dated back to my great grandparents.&nbsp; I kept a few things including a couple antique etchings.&nbsp; This was the beginning of my art collection.&nbsp; The Oliver typewriter I recently showed on the typewriter thread was one of the items. I also picked up an old spool bed in pieces that didn&#039;t sell.&nbsp; It was my first refinishing project and I still have it. By age 18, I was buying some and re-selling for profit a little here and there.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years I have collected various things.&nbsp; A large padlock collection was consciously stopped and liquidated about 20 years ago.&nbsp; My radio collecting has also stopped, though I still own a couple dozen.&nbsp; I once had a pretty good collection of toy ray guns, though most were sold long ago. My pottery collection was pared down to my best pieces from over 100 pieces at its height.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have a pretty good collection of arts and crafts period metalwork and occasionally add to it.&nbsp; Still have a small collection of art glass and would probably add to it if good pieces were not so darned expensive. My art collection has grown to over 300 pieces and is my primary collecting interest these days. I have a lot of antique furniture but, besides a few family pieces, it has always been to use. I own more lamps than I could possibly ever use.</p><p><br /></p><p>The line between collections and inventory has always been a little blurred.&nbsp; I often live with things for awhile and, later, move them on.&nbsp; I am sure I have some things that could be considered a collection, though I can&#039;t say that I have consciously collected them.&nbsp; Folk art items would be an example of this.&nbsp; I sometimes just buy things I like.&nbsp; I have quite a bit of Native American and Mexican pottery.&nbsp; Not sure that it is entirely inventory, as there are a few pieces I would not easily part with.&nbsp; I also buy things for potential profit that I have not really tried to sell as of yet.&nbsp; I have a pretty good collection of MCM glass that fits into this category. While I have some penchant for it, it is not really what I would call a big collecting interest for me.&nbsp; My dozen or so lunch boxes and some toys I still hold would also fall into that category. I have quite a bit of jewelry that I pick up for cheap but it has always just been considered inventory by me. I do not wear any jewelry at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>The issue of what we pay for things is an interesting one.&nbsp; I find that I will definitely pay more for something that falls within my collecting interests.&nbsp; I have paid more for pottery, metalwork, and fine art than anything else.&nbsp; Have paid a bit for mineral specimens and fossils.&nbsp; Other things need to be a bit of a bargain. </p><p><br /></p><p>I used to say that my grandfather was the chief packrat.&nbsp; I am sure that I have surpassed him.&nbsp; My mother was a collector of glass and china.&nbsp; My siblings collect a bit.&nbsp; All of us have antique furniture.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know if collecting is genetic or learned behavior.&nbsp; Maybe, like a crow, we are just attracted to that shiny object instinctively.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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