What do you collect??

Hi everyone!

Thought it would be interesting to start a thread to see what other members collect as a hobby.

They say there is an instinct in most of us to want to collect something or other - be it pottery, stamps, books, films, memorabilia etc etc... what do you collect. Is it particularly unusual? How long have you been doing it. I'd love to know!

I'll start off with my main collection thing - masks and ethnic art. I especially love wood carved artefacts, but masks of all kinds fascinate me - what they represent, why humans feel the need to hide behind something to become something else.... what does a mask do to our psyche?

Anyway here are some pics - just a few as I have a load still in the loft and nowhere to hang them... most I've picked up at car boots, charity shops and junk shops. The Venetian masks were a present from my mum and brother - the long nose Venetian mask is called Il Dottore - apparently it was worn by doctors during the plague as they believed it would protect them from contracting it from their patients. The African masks started after I visited S.Africa as a student and fell in love with the place. Also, African ethnic artefacts have always enticed me since I first saw a shrunken head in Liverpool museum as a very young child - scared the willies out of me but started a lifelong curiosity.

Some of the masks are Indonesian, native North American, Thai etc - I love all ethnic tribal art.

The last mask is very modern - from a film I really enjoyed - V for Vendetta - Hugo Weaving played the entire role behind this mask and his talent meant that all emotion was produced purely from vocal and body language - a feat which he performed masterfully. How many of us put on a mask in everyday life - are we showing who we really are to the rest of the world?

 

Please post what you collect too!

 

I don't collect anything anymore.
I have been through the wall plates, teapots, ornaments etc.
Now I like the minimal look in the house.
Less cleaning

I spend all my spare cash on the garden.
Where I suppose I collect plants.

A number of years ago when I was baby sitting the family I sat for had some of those masks like yours , they frightened me so much they had to take them down when I was there on my own at night.:D

I was only about 15.

 

Ah Lyn...

Oh for a nice tidy house like yours! I'm afraid I will never have that as I love surrounding myself with things I love - like my books, music, film collections, masks etc....

It is funny - the reaction to the masks often is love or hate - there doesn't seem to be a middle ground when confronted face to face for the first time. Many masks are representations of demonic faces or dangerous animals - I guess this is all superstition and ancient beliefs. No matter how scary or ugly they are, I love 'em all.... although I do have problems with one with snakes on its head and have never really felt comfortable around it.

 

Its funny you should say that Lyn, because I find them quite scary. Silly really, as my favourite read is a good horror story!!:eek::eek: 02

 

Oh Shiney.. how marvellous!!! You do well to keep him out on display - may he long continue to bring you good fortune. You are very privilledged to have had him carved personally for you. Incredible!!!!!

 

O2 - I love all things ghostly and horror related too - I think there is a certain thrill to be able to experience mild fear in a safe environment. I think our basic superstitious past is never too far below the surface of our civilized modern veneer....

 

I quite agree cookie a good horror film or book you can't beat it. I don't think there is a Stephen King I haven't read. I Tell a lie I'm on "Lisey" at the mo., then It's straight on to Duma Key. Having said that I don't think he's as good as he used to be. I'm finding "Lisey" hard work.:eek: 02

 

O2 - you and I appear to share another collection in common - I have a bookshelf devoted to horror fiction. Stephen King is not really my bag though - I prefer the old masters like Edgar Allan Poe, Denis Wheatley, HP Lovecraft, MR James, Bram Stoker etc etc... I find the modern authors tend to put bad language - both grammatically and the sweary variety! - in their writing which I don't like - I prefer the old gentile and grammatical ways of chilling the soul! The Victorian and Edwardian era is the best for me!

 

As you say cookie there is no need for the bad language in a horror story. I read anything that takes my fancy. I love supernatural stuff it really gets the imagination going. you can keep all your mills and boon, give me a good horror anytime.:D 02

 

I collect He-Man action figures from the 1980's. :D

Yeah, I know it's not really the thing for a 36 year old man to be doing. I guess I'm catching up after only ever getting one (Triclops) when I was a kid.

 

:D:D:D That takes me back Ant, my son used to have loads when he was a kid. makes me feel old, he will be 26 on the 19th :eek::eek::eek: 02

 

Hey don't knock it Anthony! Mr Cookie Monster has action figures from the old Universal Horror films - The Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, Bela Lugosi'd Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon etc.... he also has many other more modern day horror action figures - they are all in a storage box at the mo because we don't have the shelf space to house them.... Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhess, Michael Myers, Anthony Perkins in Psycho etc...

and Mr Cookie has turned 40 !

My mum collects Cornish Pottery called TREMAR - it used to be really easy to find in charity shops but since the advent of the internet and ebay it has become more well known and now the collectors grab it all and dealers have got wind it has become collectable... mums collection is very impressive and she has shelves and shelves of it...

here is a link to the pottery itself....
http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bi... (mark)[2935|Tremar wine jug&m=Tremar Pottery