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Were You A Collector As A Kid?

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As a schoolboy with not much disposable cash I used to collect allsorts of items,cigarette packets,matchboxs,stamps,coins of all nationalities ,American comics,beer drip mats,my bedroom ceiling was covered in beer mats!.It was very rare I paid cash for anything mostly because I hadn,t got any,everthing was swap and barter!.My coin collecting came to an abrupt halt due to my younger bros antics,I kept all my coins in a large leather pouch,after a while I thought it was getting lighter when one early evening a police car swept into our front yard with my little butter wouldn,t melt in his mouth brother sat in the back seat with a huge copper!.He had been caught feeding slot machines at Owlerton fair with my coins,the little swine,he got away with a severe rollicking from dear old dad but not from big bro who afterwards gave him a severe smack,I didn,t have the heart to continue coin collecting so I switched to something else!.I,m still at it now its wrist watches just a bit more expensive than match box,s,does anyone on the Forum have a collecting habit?.

Edited by nikki-red
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Right now, at the age of 40, I am gradually re-buying (mainly through ebay) some of the things I can remember having as a kid growing up in the eighties/early nineties that I wish I had kept. I can't get everything though as certain things have just sky rocketed in value and frankly I'm just not prepared to pay £500 for a Thundercats lair, lol.

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When I was about 8 or so I started collecting foreign dolls dressed in traditional costume. I don't know why I did it as I never liked dolls, they always frightened me (and still do). I used to lay awake for hours convinced they were going to get me. It wasn't long before they were shut away in a cupboard. 

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1950s we collected all sorts didn't we? Postage stamps, film star photos in bubble gum packets.  I had a scrapbook too that I pasted photos in from interest using flour and water paste. Autograph books with silly things in.  Marbles. 

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In the '50s I collected Classic comics (eg War of the Worlds, From the Earth to the Moon etc) and bought them mainly from a stall in the old market hall on theHaymarket. Still have them somewhere up in the loft gathering dust.

Also stamps. My most notable set being a commemoration of Grace Kelly's marriage to Prince Rainier in Monaco in 1956; bought in Monte Carlo a few weeks after their wedding when we were on a camping holiday there. Those were the days!

 

echo.

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I used to write down car number plates waste of time really, not many cars in the fifties, perhaps it was a goid idea at the time?!

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22 minutes ago, scousemouse said:

I used to write down car number plates waste of time really, not many cars in the fifties, perhaps it was a goid idea at the time?!

I once told my grandson w e used to do that and I got a  - you are crazy -  look and a derogatory 'what did you do that for?' I weakly replied 'well it was something to do, not many cars were around and some number plates were funny, like one that went past regularly that spelled BRA.  He was not impressed.

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One of my best sources for stamp collecting was the newsagents opposite the Old Blue Ball Hillsborough,they used to sell them in assorted packets stuck on cards displayed in the window!.It was handy for me as I did a morning and teatime paper round for them which helped finance my collecting hobby,the surplus stamps bartered at school with other kids who were interested!.I also used to collect penknives of all types and sizes,I have just thought if I got the habit from my dad who had an assortment of clocks and various types of radios,only just thought about that never crossed my mind until now!.

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Not much money around after the war, so we collected stuff that was free.

 

Cigarette cards,  bird's eggs (illegal now), shiny objects from magpie's nests, train spotting, and we all had a scrapbook. where we pasted newspaper and magazine photos that we thought would be gone forever, if we didn't save them to look back on. Lol

 

And, of course the autograph book, where my aunt wrote on the first page, "By hook or by crook, I'll be first in this book!"

 

My love was cigarette packages, and the search for them took us far and wide. A great source for the rare ones were the train stations where visitors up from London and far off places would drop them in the litter boxes. A platform ticket was a great investment, for train spotting too. A whole day of fun.

 

Now it's so easy to collect digital images off the internet. I have all the main brands smoked in the 1940's. Each brand, like Players and Woodbines had many versions of their packets, all with slight and not easily spotted differences. I've managed to collect them all, except for the elusive Joy Stick, which has totally disappeared, apparently.

 

My grandfather had a half dozen well worn  books on his dresser that I read and reread as a kid. I managed to pick up the originals from boot sales, antique shops, and E Bay.

 

I also have an almost complete collection of all the movies I saw at the Heeley Green, Palace, Coliseum and Carlton, from 10 years of cinema going twice a week. Including the shorts.

 

My childhood memories still live!

 

 

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On 05/06/2020 at 09:07, gene said:

I once told my grandson w e used to do that and I got a  - you are crazy -  look and a derogatory 'what did you do that for?' I weakly replied 'well it was something to do, not many cars were around and some number plates were funny, like one that went past regularly that spelled BRA.  He was not impressed.

I sold a 3 wheeler years ago that had BRA registration to a Lady who was well happy with it, nearly killed us on the test drive and I refused the offer for her to give me a lift home after she had paid for it - lol.

Collecting wise, we had nothing and yet we had everything. i think i spent alot of my time as a young un drawing (didn't cost owt) but having read the other post's on here I do remember collecting bubble gum cards and I think probably due to the art work. Civil War News and Battle (WW2) and both were very gruesome. other more innocent collecting including Buss tickets especially those with different advertisement on the back of them. Books are a big love of mine and my collection is impressive, Pre decimalisation coins still got them, Old stamp album that was my Gt Grandads (penny Reds etc. I still have magazines I bought in the sixties (Motorcycle). Ok I'm a hoarder with no exusse - love it. 

Restoring bicycles is my latest thing - no engine to mess with and I managed to amass a good collection of British Bicycles for little money before the prices started going up. several on the go at the moment including a Royal Enfield Gents Bike and a Butchers bike both from the 1930's all of which are keeping me busy on lock down.

Like I say we had nothing yet we had everything & I've certainly made up for it since.

 

He who Die's with the most toys wins

 

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3 hours ago, Rockers rule said:

Restoring bicycles is my latest thing - no engine to mess with and I managed to amass a good collection of British Bicycles for little money before the prices started going up. several on the go at the moment including a Royal Enfield Gents Bike and a Butchers bike both from the 1930's all of which are keeping me busy on lock down.

How about the infamous Wiggy's Royal?

 

Not a cool bike at the time. We all wanted a Raleigh!

 

 

Edited by trastrick

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2 hours ago, trastrick said:

How about the infamous Wiggy's Royal?

 

Not a cool bike at the time. We all wanted a Raleigh!

 

 

Sorry no Wiggy's Royal & although i do have a few 50's 60's Raleigh's

I but do have some nice (or will be) ones you might remember.

Rudge,

Humber,

BSA,

Triumph,

Coventry Eagle.

Elswic, (post office & standard)

Hercules.

etc, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

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