[Judgement Day]

Well what about it then? What makes you tick, and makes your pulse increase when you come across it in a shop/saleroom/eBay etc?

Me, well I have been collecting everything since as far back as I can remember - probably the earliest things being animal cards that came free with Bird's (?) jellies in the 1960s. I moved on to beermats (picked up in hotels where we used to go for Sunday lunch) to cigarette packets, bottle tops, coins, stamps - followed by a prolonged and destructive period egg collecting as a early teenager which fortunately ended before I came into contact with rare birds. Twenty plus years collecting railwayana from tickets to full size locomotives which I'm only just recovering from and wouldn't recommend if you wish to remain sane and solvent! Along with collecting railwayana my interest in old phoneboxes developed - I blame the Dr.Who series for this - and at one stage I owned two full-size British K6 phoneboxes as well as a P+T one. A change in circumstances and lifestyle, in recent years, has led to a scaling back in my collecting and today the full-size phoneboxes have been replaced by more practical examples that fit comfortably on my bookcase.

So what does everbody else collect?





The Meccano K6 pictured above is just over 2 inches high and is slightly more manageable than the full-size version which weighs in at almost one ton.

[Mousey-]

old glass bottles if i find them in ditches etc.....milk (got a 1990 world cup one as well) /cocacola have about 5 in my window.

coins for a while, but it lead me into the one ill stick with, militaria (photos, magezines etc....)

[arch staunton]

I like the phone boxes do u still have I collect old ploughs,pumps etc for my garden .I would like a phone box like this to add if the wife allows that is.

[Judgement Day]

Originally Posted by arch staunton

I like the phone boxes do u still have I collect old ploughs,pumps etc for my garden .I would like a phone box like this to add if the wife allows that is.

No, I got rid of mine years ago - hence the meccano one - but they can be had on eBay and a salvage dealer in NI occasionally has them in stock. Expect to pay €1,000+ for one in need of restoration and remember they are awkward to shift. I will post details of the NI dealer if I can find.

[The_Banker]

Football programmes, specifically League of Ireland programmes of now defunct former Cork clubs: Cork Hibs, Cork Celtic, Cork Athletic, Cork Alberts, Cork Utd, Evergreen etc....

Also FAI Cup final programmes. At this stage I have almost everyone from the mid 1940s and still collecting..

[Judgement Day]

As my interest in collecting phoneboxes was caused by the Dr.Who TV series it is not surprising that I also collect items connected with that show. Of course, the Tardis is a fundamental part of any Dr.Who collection and while I fully intend to eventually buy a full size model this phone flasher suffices for the time being. Perfect in every detail this Tardis has a flashing light and makes the materialising sound when I receive a call on my mobile - how sad is that? The Cyberman, K9 and Dalek are all Corgi figures and very detailed - the Cyberman is one of the earlier scary type a far cry from the daft looking Stars Wars type robot which is now used. The tin boxed set of Cybermen videos was predicted as being a future collectable by Millers Guides more than 10 years ago but it is still available quite cheaply on eBay. The photograph is of your truly on Honeymoon in June 2000 at the Dr.Who Exhibition Centre in Llangollen, North Wales - and no, that's not the wife!

[Degsy]

Originally Posted by Mousey-

old glass bottles if i find them in ditches etc.....milk (got a 1990 world cup one as well) /cocacola have about 5 in my window.

coins for a while, but it lead me into the one ill stick with, militaria (photos, magezines etc....)

If you're looking for any 100 year old+ glass bottles(hand made) drop me a pm.

[Judgement Day]

Originally Posted by Degsy

If you're looking for any 100 year old+ glass bottles(hand made) drop me a pm.

Any Irish stoneware ginger beer bottles?

[Judgement Day]

As one things leads to another I also collect postboxes - formerly full size ones but like the phoneboxes I have now downsized to miniatures that fit on the bookcase. Decent, high quality boxes are hard to come by and the two smaller ones here are a diecast alloy and very detailed - royal ciphers etc. They were made in England some years ago under licence to the Royal Mail - sometimes to be found on eBay.
The larger green one was made in China as part of a World series - it is a British Penfold box from the 1860s and is painted in the Royal Mail heritage colour scheme hence its Irish appearance. It is a really superb example, heavily built and all the details of collection times etc can clearly be read with a magnifying glass! They are available through the Hong Kong Post Office but the manufacturer appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth. They are comparatively cheap and are posted by registered mail see more info here: http://www.shopthrupost.hk/product_l...d=CA51&ad=none
The book is a recently published work published by An Post (available online here http://www.irishstamps.ie) or from the GPO in O'Connell Street, and is a lavish production which I can highly recommend. I will return to this subject shortly.

[Blade]

Originally Posted by Judgement Day

As one things leads to another I also collect postboxes - formerly full size ones but like the phoneboxes I have now downsized to miniatures that fit on the bookcase.[/IMG]

Do you still have any full sized ones? Or know where they can be got?

[Judgement Day]

Some useful links here - Unicorn kiosks are about for quite a long time. Shipping costs need to be considered and also the iceberg factor - there is a large base to the pillarbox that needs to be buried deep.

http://www.unicornkiosks.com/post-boxes.html

http://www.britishbits.co.uk/ Full size original British phoneboxes and post boxes.

http://www.englishphoneboxes.com/

eBay is another source but be careful there are many very convincing repros out there, even of the full size pillarbox. Here's a link for a pole box: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ER-II-Cast-iro...item4a9f41d590 not sure if it's a repro.

I know that An Post have 'officially' stopped selling off boxes but I would still think they are worth a try. I used to know a salvage dealer in Cork City that had a couple of very old pillar boxes and I will check for you but even ten years ago he wanted massive money for them.

[ollaetta]

Originally Posted by Judgement Day

So what does everbody else collect?

Old Irish postcards including, don't laugh, the 1960's Oirish diddle e aydle John Hinde ones.

Beer labels and bottle tops.

Old tools and implements.

Pre-1945 European travel books.

Militaria, mostly WW2 but always on the lookout for anything interesting or unusual.

[Judgement Day]

Originally Posted by ollaetta

Old Irish postcards including, don't laugh, the 1960's Oirish diddle e aydle John Hinde ones.

Beer labels and bottle tops.

Old tools and implements.

Pre-1945 European travel books.

Militaria, mostly WW2 but always on the lookout for anything interesting or unusual.

An eclectic collector like myself. I can go along with everything except the John Hinde cards - I presume you only look at them in a dark room - don't worry I won't tell anybody else!

I collect beer labels but still attached to the bottles which means they take up more space and forever need taking down and cleaning. Did you see the militaria link I put up? Some interesting WWII stuff on it here: http://collectireland.blogspot.com/2...a-website.html

[ollaetta]

Originally Posted by Judgement Day

I collect beer labels but still attached to the bottles which means they take up more space and forever need taking down and cleaning.

ditto. I had a load of them up to about a year ago and it was getting ridiculous so bye bye bottles.

Originally Posted by Judgement Day

Did you see the militaria link I put up? Some interesting WWII stuff on it here: http://collectireland.blogspot.com/2...a-website.html

Interesting site indeed. My wife's grandfather was in the War of Independence and had a full set of medals. I would have given my eye teeth for them but the mother in law gave them to a cousin in Scotland. Couldn't really complain not being a blood relative but it would have been great to have them.

[beertons]

I used to collect callcards and beermats. Gave them both up after about 3 years. Still have them in a box somewhere.