Re: non-calculator collections Message #2 Posted by Fred Lusk on 20 July 2003, 5:56 p.m., in response to message #1 by Sean McNamee
Sean…
I collect dust :-)
Seriously, though--I used to collect coins, but sold most of my modest collection about 20 years ago to help finance my first house. Unfortunately, I was in college when Bunky Hunt tried to corner the silver market and wasn't paying attention. For a short time, my silver dollars, silver half dollars, and silver quarters were worth about four times what I ended up selling them for just a few years later.
Now, I collect maps of all types: topo, highway, aeronautical, geologic, atlases, National Geographic, star charts, etc. Very few are worth anything more than face value…I just like looking at them. I have at least 3,000 individual maps and perhaps 30 atlases, plus some computerized maps. My collection is only partly organized. Yet another project I need to get to. As a civil engineer and geography buff, collecting maps seems like the natural thing to do.
I also collect pins from places I visit, but I only have about 100 of those. Most of these are on a hat I used to use for hiking before it got too heavy.
I guess I collect books, too, but not in an organized fashion. I read about 40 books a year, mostly history, science, etc (and maybe one novel every other year). My wife reads maybe 30 books a year, mostly fiction. Some books we buy, some we get from the library. Several years ago, when we had about 1000 books, my parents decided to sell their house and buy a smaller one. They had at least 5000 books and didn't want to move them all. They took membership in the Book of the Month Club very seriously! They gave me first shot at their library and I took about 1200 books. Some are still in boxes because I don't have enough bookshelf space.
I have had a subscription to National Geographic since I turned 5 and have kept every issue (I'm 44 now). Several years ago, I went to a used book sale and added the previous years back to my birth.
I "collect" waterfalls. By that I mean, when we travel, I like to see and photograph as many waterfall as I can. I actually started a database of waterfalls in California, but my plate has been too full to work on it much. Besides, a woman by the name of Ann Marie Brown wrote a very nice book titled "California Waterfalls" which serves my purpose just fine.
That's enough of my life story.
Fred
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