Your Acquisition Disorders...And Why?

Here on this particular forum most of us refer to AD as an "affliction" pertaining specifically to the collecting of various razors.

However, AD can go beyond that.

Do you have other AD? What do like to collect and why?

The following is the history of my various acquisition disorders:

1. Vintage radio receivers; particularly the late 1950's Zenith Trans-Oceanic and the Sony ICF 2010. The Hallicrafter (sp?) is in another league altogether.

2. Vintage Morse Code (CW) radiotelegraphy keys (I have a U.S. Amateur Radio license).

3. Antique telephones. First, vintage rotary-dial, then the later Western Electric/AT&T Princess and Model 500 Touch-Tone telephones.

4. Firearms...always firearms. I have a particular fondness for the various Swiss Schmidt-Rubins, Mosin-Nagants, Marlin lever action, Savage Model '99 and Smith & Wesson revolvers.

Note: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Savage '99. The absolute epitome and pinnacle in design of the classic, uniquely American lever-action rifle. Buttery-smooth action that can be cycled while still shouldered and sighted on target. Made by a Yank, blue-collar "Joe", now long gone. Probably by some highly skilled, union represented machinist with twenty to thirty years experience and seniority.

Wouldn't surprise me if he, the machinist of my very own rifle, didn't learn his trade during WWII and continued on into the 1970's.

The kind of guys we will never see the likes of again.

5. Vintage razors.

Can't really say why I have a particular fondness for the above, but I suspect that I, like many others, have an attraction for products that were attractive in design and of high quality in manufacture.

Remember when, forty-five to fifty years ago, things "Made in Japan" , or "Made in Hong Kong" were considered junk, with the possible exception of electronics?

Much like "Made in China" today?

Now, we are lucky if anything were made in either Japan or Hong Kong. Consider those to be "top-shelf". Japanese automobiles and electronics (actually made in Japan) immediately come to mind.

Forget "Made In USA". That is in the stratosphere of things that once were, but will probably never be again.

Just wondering: Perhaps forty years from now things made in China might be considered better than that trash made in, for example, in Sri Lanka.

Maybe folks collect things because we recognize certain products made with a high level of pride and craftsmanship as representing something that is from another era and now gone.

Just a thought.

What are your opinions?

Warmest Regards,

David

a few

1. anime (dvd / digital)

2. movies i dunno how i managed upon a collection of 800+ dvds while being a broke college student all these years but it happened.

3. trinkets this one is ill defined. i end up buying things i will never use because they look cool and are typically not expensive. e.x. watches, knives, little flashlights, a calligraphy pen or two (actually did try to take it up but uh i am a computer person did not stick with it long) and things like that. list watches because i do not wear one just have some in a drawer.

do have other hobbies but lucky me not enough money to turn them into AD's

At current count I have 4,525 albums in my music collection. These are digital copies of physical CDs that are either in storage at my parents home, in storage in my apartment, or traded to and from friends over the past 5+ years. Genres span all the generic categories (rock, alternative, pop, hip-hop/rap, jazz, easy listening, folk, indie, metal, world, etc.) and many are split into subcategories based on region or some other defining characteristic. In short, I've taken it upon myself to catalogue 40+ years of my father's listening habits and 10+ years of my own into one large collection. Makes for interesting listening when the shuffle button comes into use.

Books, I have lots and lots of books. It's not so much that I acquire them, but that once acquired, I almost never want to sell them or give them away. There's always the possibility that I'll want to read one again that I haven't touched in twenty years.

Watches. Nothing very expensive or rare, but I have more than I need. A few automatics, some manual wound ones, but mostly quartz.

Bicycles. More than I strictly need. There's only so many that I have room for, though.

chfair, I know what you mean about "trinkets" I think. Me too. Neat little inexpensive things that I like having around.

My shaving related ADs are pretty much restricted to razors. Okay, blades, but a large stockpile of consumables isn't quite the same thing. A pretty large stockpile of soaps and creams too, but that's more because I didn't realize at first how long these things last, and most of it is Williams and VdH. Not all that interested in brushes after I got a couple that worked.

Cameras and photographica from the thirties to sixties. I have around 400 cameras, mostly German 35mm & 6x6. On top of that I have several hundred photography books from the period, and around 75% of the issues of UK monthly magazines published in that period. Add in slide projectors, enlargers, slide mounts and mounting equipment, unused vintage films and flash bulbs, darkroom equipment like ceramic trays, glass graduates, timers, thermometers and apothecary balances. It does feel like I live in a camera museum most of the time.

Vinyl albums, tho less by quantity(I only have around 500), but I like to have mint, first pressing copies of the records I love.

With books it not so much AD as an inability to let go of a book once read - I work for a publishing company, so have a constant supply of free books... AD might have been an advantage when I was offered 6 first edition copies of the first Harry Potter novel from our warehouse... my disdain for them cost me the several thousand pounds they'd have made when the series became massively popular.

OV1kenobi said:

Remember when, forty-five to fifty years ago, things "Made in Japan" , or "Made in Hong Kong" were considered junk, with the possible exception of electronics?

Much like "Made in China" today?

Now, we are lucky if anything were made in either Japan or Hong Kong. Consider those to be "top-shelf". Japanese automobiles and electronics (actually made in Japan) immediately come to mind.

Forget "Made In USA". That is in the stratosphere of things that once were, but will probably never be again.

Just wondering: Perhaps forty years from now things made in China might be considered better than that trash made in, for example, in Sri Lanka.

Click to expand...

i'm often puzzled by this myself, especially when it comes to big name clothing brands that are manufactured in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. it amazes me that consumers are spending top dollar for clothing that is essentially mass produced overseas and the only reason we're doing so is because of the name brand.

cfriend said:

At current count I have 4,525 albums in my music collection. These are digital copies of physical CDs that are either in storage at my parents home, in storage in my apartment, or traded to and from friends over the past 5+ years. Genres span all the generic categories (rock, alternative, pop, hip-hop/rap, jazz, easy listening, folk, indie, metal, world, etc.) and many are split into subcategories based on region or some other defining characteristic. In short, I've taken it upon myself to catalogue 40+ years of my father's listening habits and 10+ years of my own into one large collection. Makes for interesting listening when the shuffle button comes into use.

Click to expand...

you've got me beat by a mile. i've got about 3100+ records and cd's in my collection. are you a member of discogs.com? I pretty much have a similar selection to yours when I was still collecting.

I don't collect one particular thing, but various items depending on what my interests are at the time.

When I was really into cars I spent a lot of time at swap meets buying various items of use including tools. I still buy tools, but them for specific purposes even if they've only been used a handful of times.

As a beginning wetshaver I bought a lot of razors and brushes to try them out. I've settled on two razors and brushes and sold the rest.

One thing I do collect is guns. I don't collect one particular make or model, but various types. I like variety in my collection. Most of them have particular uses for hunting or self defense, but I do have some specifically to punch holes in paper.

1500 Horror & Sci-Fi movies 'cause I like watching them
Soldering stations and related tools
Shaving soaps? Nah! At 53 examples, I'm pretty sure the acquisition phase is over and I'm at some kind of balanced acquire-divest stage (BADS) where I'll trying some as I divest myself of others.

I don't consider my paltry 700 CDs an AD, since I'm in no way attempting to acquire any and all of them just because they're there. Wish it was 7000, 'cause I like listening to them. I do want almost every watchable horror and sci-fi flick ever made and I do want to try out most decent soldering stations.

RBE17 said:

One thing I do collect is guns. I don't collect one particular make or model, but various types. I like variety in my collection. Most of them have particular uses for hunting or self defense, but I do have some specifically to punch holes in paper.

Click to expand...

where do you live, Compton?

Actually, the one thing my wife and I both collect are shot glasses. However, they're only shot glasses from places that we visited. Sometimes, folks will buy us one as a souvenir from places they've been. Right now they're not on display.

gaseousclay said:

where do you live, Compton?

Click to expand...

Nope. I just have an affinity for firearms. There for awhile, when I had plenty of disposable income, I was going to try and collect S&W 686 in 6" barrels. The collection never grew to more than two, but now it's at one since traded one in for a S&W .460 XVR.

With me, it's books and guns. There's something like 800 volumes in the apartment, with another 200 spread over my parents' and grandparents' and in-laws' places. Like an earlier poster, I don't like to get rid of books- in my whole life, I've sold probably 15 back to the used bookstore.
The guns, I'm afraid, are far less in number- two, for right now. It's much cheaper to collect books, after all, and it's only recently we've had disposable income again.

DH collects tube radios and restores them; replaces faulty wiring and old paper-and-foil capacitors, etc. There's a lot of people who have a radio in the back of their attic they don't want anymore, so he's always finding a new one to tinker with from somewhere. One of these days he's planning on making a tube amp or two from spare parts.

Other than my AD for vintage razors, I also collect/smoke cigars. I have 5 humidors with well over 1,000 cigars. My wife and I are both readers so we have a vast book collection as well. When we bought and moved into our new house, we turned the dining room into the library. My humidors and pipe tobacco are kept in the library so I spend a lot of time in there.



DL

I also love old tube radios and work on them. My favorites are the "boatanchors," which are multiband communicaions receivers. I have an Amateur Radio license, as well.

Having mucked around with tubes, that dragged me into audio. I've got a few headphones and speakers, a nice turntable, and about 1,500 CDs, SACDs, DVD-As, and LPs. Love them.

I've mostly stopped because I have enough, but I spent a few years hunting antique and junk stores for furniture that needed work. I'd get it cheap and fix it. Turned out well - I have nice furniture that cost less than even the cheapest new stuff. I love refinishing and upholstery - I'd love to do more if I had the room.

I've collected and used fountain pens for quite a few years and have a number of watches. I am really looking forward to the Los Angeles Pen Show on February 14. Always a lot of great stuff!

Recently, the RAD has kicked in. I was quite happy with my Fatboy. Then curiosity kicked in and I've got six razors on hand and another four in the mail. I might buy another over lunch and will likely end up with another dozen or so.

Interesting to see what else folk get worked up about. These days, I let the prozac control my AD's.

But what's with the tube radios...
I am hopelessly addicted to collecting: British 'lunchbox' portable tube radios; tube Zenith Trans-Oceanics; the Hallicrafters S-38D; All-American Five tabletop sets in plain-jane bakelite cases; Nikon camera bodies (particularly the F2, FE and FM) and lenses...I had to call a halt as I ran out of space and we're looking at moving to another country...but there's always more, right?