As a newer member, of a couple of years, I continue to wonder: Do some folks have boxes of stuff like this laying around? What year did you start collecting rare or uncommon items?

My appreciation for The Acaeum, information and community continues to grow - only slightly faster than my estimated value of some folks collections and expected regret for the few items divested over the years.

Edit: I forgot to ask the most important question, what year did you start collecting rare and uncommon items? I just added it.

My collection pales in comparison to some of the giants that roam these pages but 2/3 of a closet is all I can muster.  Neatly stored in plastic filing totes stacked 3 high, 5 wide, and 2 deep which can hold about 20 module sized items each.  I like to think it's not about quantity but quality...  

On a philosophical note..
It has been a little over 20 years since i have 'stopped' actively collecting and my wife (wanting some more closet space) has asked me a couple of times what my endgame is for the collection.  My kids have shown zero interest in an imagination game and that has left me thinking that maybe it would be better served in someone else's hands for them to appreciate it as much as I have...

I would be curious how many people are like me that are on the fence but leaning more towards possibly letting everything go...

-SKA

I have about 300 books/modules. Most are first print hardcovers or shrink modules. Some loose maps and dice in random drawers around the house.
I have my collection on display, on two book shelves. I have the rarer items on frame stands so the whole cover is visible. I have some graded rpg comics also on display too. Ive all but stopped collecting books however. My interest now is in original art and autographs.

When I could. Basically, when I could afford the items I didn't already have or know about. Anything I did was accident as it was not really intentional... I was trying to get stuff I didn't already have or maybe get a better copy or more play copies.

I guess I really started to get into it more after my brother returned from Gen Con SoCal 2003 (which I believe opened on my birthday) with a stack of all the AD&D 1st edition hard covers in basically untouched condition; I had only asked him to try and find Unearthed Arcana as mine was falling apart (and had already lost 6 or so pages, which I had to stick back in the cover.)

I was very much into Shadowrun then (and still am) but had some hard times, became homeless, and ended up selling my collection... so, when I got back on my feets and my wife saved me, I jumped into (with her permission) getting back stuff I used to have. I'd just buy lots on eBay and hope I'd get something good.

After some time, I discovered Crazy Egor's was around and started to get stuff from him. And that really opened the doors on rare items -- even ended up, not through him, getting a 2nd print woodgrain which is likely the most valuable item I have but not the most precious. That would be my signed OCE -- signed by Gary in his house. I know signatures mean nothing to some but this one means a great deal to me.

Thunderdave wrote in Country when country wasnt cool...:Pictures!  I’d love to see pictures of collections, especially when things on on display

You mean crammed into a 6 foot wide closet?  

Here are some really old pics...


Crap is that a GAZ5 in there... WTH I've been looking for it not realizing I already have it...  

Now i have to pull everything out to find the darn thing...



and this is an example of a tote filled...

-SKA

I think I MAY have a couple of class 3 Items, but nothing rarer than that.
My collection, however, is getting larger.

Currently, all my 1st edition modules are in a footlocker, which they fill completely.
Plus, I have 11 bins (Sterilite 66 quart) full of hardbacks and magazines, 1 bin of my KoDT magazine collection, and 1 bin full of miniatures.
I have enough product on my dining room table to fill another bin.
The collection spans all editions, and to keep from buying duplicates, I enter everything into an excel spreadsheet.

I never really started collecting per se. It just happens organically. It doesn't help that I do have a collecting gene that gets the better of me more often than I like. Usually that happens when I get a mass of stuff dumped in my lap, and I get the urge to continue looking for the rest.

Over the years, I've done bottle caps (and bottles), baseball cards, football cards, and a couple of others that I no longer persue.

Currently, I have a coin collection, and a Heroclix one that I started because I wanted to use them in TSR Marvel Supes games. Just looking for one good mini of each character in this case. Might let that one go eventually.

As far as D&D (and games) goes, my 'collection' has ebbed and waned many times over the years. I usually get in a culling mood every so often. My latest may be my last, as I believe I have finally had an 'eureka' moment as to what I find appealing to play.

Currently, my collection, as it is, fits within one small closet. Top shelf is the Heroclix stuff. Next one are the board games, like Risk, Monopoly, Battleship, Scrabble, etc. Next are the Avalon Hill Bookcase games and non-TSR games, like Squad Leader, World in Flames, Pendragon, MERP, Feudal, Circus Maximus, etc. The rest of the closet is taken up by a cabinet, the top shelf containing non-D&D TSR material, like Gamma World, Top Secret, Gangbusters, Star Frontiers, etc. Next shelf has TSR D&D box sets and AD&D books, from a full set of OD&D, B/X boxes, AD&D rulebooks, Greyhawk folio and box, through 1E Battlesystem. Next one down has my D&D modules, AD&D2E books, C&C books, and some Metagaming material. The bottom shelf has the minis I use for games outside my house, extra dice, bags of counters for games like Marvel Supes and module DL11.

The minis collection is stored away in extra drawers I have in the room.

Once the current cull is finished, I still have the intention of going through the closet to finalize my A-list. Then comes the minis culling.  

All in all, I still intend to have a collection of sorts, just much more narrowly defined and manageable than it once was.

My collection. Everything acquired since 2005.



Left: TSR D&D 74-82. Other TSR games 74-85.
Middle: 1: Ballantine Adult Fantasy
Middle 2: Appendix N Lit.
Middle 3: Japanese D&D and Traveller; French D&D
Middle 4: Dice
Middle 5: GDW Classic Traveller
Middle 6: JG D&D, Afterglo D&D
Right 1&2: Other TSR Games; Chaosium: RQ, CoC, and Pendragon; FGU Games; T&T; MERP; GURPS & TFT
Right 3&4: TSR D&D 83-94
Right 5: Periodicals: Dragon, Strategic Review, Dungeon, Polyhedron

grubbiv wrote in Country when country wasnt cool...:My collection.

Middle 5: GDW Classic Traveller

I loved Traveller.  Sadly, finding anyone to play with was impossible.

-SKA