Do you/ have you collected anything ?

My ex-husband had a small collection of old coins, which he did not take with him. There’s nothing too exciting, but if I am reading the dates correctly, one of them is from 1897

It's a really interesting collection.
Do you have a favourite one? (apart from your husband)

I think it must have been after we married, it started off with a garden gnome policeman, I've got clocks, cups and another cabinet full of policeman teddies ?

That's a lot of policemen!
Did you start the collection before or after you married?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202205/medium-231531-125a0789-8b74-4347-98ec-c7b8bdba04ee.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202205/medium-307945-12d14cb1-aeb3-40eb-a5d5-c7756444260e.jpeg

I collect policemen, I even collected a real one as I married one ?

I have a large postcard collection but I got rid of all the meaningless ones as there were far too many. I've kept postcards from family mostly as they have so many memories of holidays and special places. I'm sure the AC will love reading things they wrote in the 1990s when they were children. Postcards are a great thing to collect because they stay in a box, take up very little room and don't need dusting!

When I was a child I collected stamps and the Robertson’s g***y figures you could send off for.

For many years I also had a nice collection of stray cats who made their home with me!

I also once collected watercolours and prints by Norfolk artists but now live there and don’t need pictures of what’s on my doorstep.

My house is quite minimalist now and I’m actively getting rid of things rather than collecting more possessions so as to make things easier for my son when I shuffle off. And I hate dusting!

I am currently starting to declutter. I inherited good quality cut glass bowls that my Mum loved, they were not cheap then. There seems to be little value in then now, and they're not my taste, so I'm sending them to the charity shop, but I do feel guilty. Likewise several other small collections. One from my lovely Nana. Little white porcelain shell, house, basket etc with the crest of name of a resort, Brighton etc. I'm going to keep just what I love now, and will be able to admire with less clutter.

Not rigorously enough to buy sets when issued, but the odd 50p that appeals and only in recent years. We do have a Kew gardens one, now worth far more than it’s face value. Years ago I collected candle sticks, but they involved a lot of cleaning, all given away. The 50 pence pieces are just kept in a box in a cupboard.

I collected animal ornaments when I was a child, and had almost all of the 'Whimsies'.

It sounds like an unpleasant condition now.

"I've got the whimsies"
"You can buy cream to put on that".

Are we allowed to mention the little enamel brooches that came with Robertson's jam? I used to love those as a child. I used to collect stamps and still have quite a few but no one is interested these days. Some of them date back to the nineteenth century.

I collected stamps and once owned a penny black.

I used to collect Fred the flour man items. Now it is anything to do with donkeys, but they are not on display, so what is the point I ask myself?

I collect glass animals. A lot are Wedgewood until they stopped making them and some have come from Prague as they make lovely ones much cheaper . My children still buy me the odd one and I bought one in a rummage sale for only 50p a few weeks ago. I do love them, they are on the two shelves of my dresser. I wash them in the dishwasher delicate cycle and they come up sparkling

I like Art Deco especially watches I do love the style of an era long gone. I like coloured glass objects but my main interest is Champagne coupes not flutes I think they are lovely.

I have eight Doulton Slaterware items, but I am very clear that I do not collect them and, except for one small item DD has, I am firm that I do not want any more.

It started with a hotwater jug that belonged to my mother and it fascinated me from early childhood, I then inherited a tall vase, and then bought a large jug at auction, a couple were given, and I then said 'enough'. Althouh I did buy a jardiniere last year.

I keep/collect empty Marmite pots on the dresser in the kitchen, does that count? They have different labels but since covid there don’t seem to have been any new ones issued. Probably a good thing - just more stuff?

I used to collect bars of soap. The different scents used to remind me of a particular point in time. Now my sense of smell is very poor so there would be no point.

For years I collected chickens, had a great flock of them on shelves, mantlepieces etc. Then I fell for flamingos after seeing them in the Camargue. Both of these flocks have been partly culled now. These days it's sea-glass. I haven't got enough yet to make a picture but I'll keep trying.

I collected Poole pottery for a while. I have the pieces displayed throughout the house.

Nice cabinet Franbern. I forgot something I have had for years- corks, I have a wicker basket full sat near the fireplace. Nearly all screw tops these days.

I've never been a collector inside, but in one house I used to have a mint bed with over twenty different mints in pots. I enjoyed looking after them and it was a fairly cheap way of adding purpose to visiting open gardens.
Hadn't though about it 'til now but might start a similar one here in this garden.

luluaugust I had an aunt who collected trios and displayed them on a dresser. My Grandad remarked one day that she had got through a lot of nice tea sets - he thought they were the remnant of a whole set! She wasn't slow in putting him right!

luluaugust

I used to collect cup, saucer and plate trios, mostly 1930's. Impossible to get rid of now and I enjoy looking at them.
I would go round junk shops so very little money spent on them.
Now I just look at costume jewellery and have a good rifle through boxes of mostly plastic stuff, amazing what gets mixed in with the tat!

It’s always worth spending time having a rile through. I once bought a very pretty brooch, that the dealer charged me £12 for because it was silver.
When I got it home and looked more closely it is platinum, seed pearls and small diamonds. I still wear it occasionally on a black jacket.

My gymnastic display cabinet

I collect red Carlton lustreware after being given a beautiful red preserve pot that had been one of my parents’ wedding gifts. I don’t haven many pieces. A couple of pieces are Rouge Royale. I’m not a purist, there is a lovely Crown Devon jug in there as the colour and pattern fit in.

I have collected other things over the years but I’m busy decluttering now.