HO scale model railroad stuff and Japanese cloisonne...I flipped a sailboat or two a few years back.

Did you buy my fraternity house? Schmidts motto was "drink Joe's beer" and we did, lots, as it was selling for 99c/6 pack back around '79. We lined walls of the house with empties.

I started collecting Hotwheels,Matchbox and any dicast that appeals to me/us back in 1995 with my wife and to this date we have about 10 to 15 thousand of the little suckers and out of that I only have a few handfulls of Redlines but I do have a bunch of 1968 orange track,including sets with the launchers that all work great.I got these from my pets on Fathers Day.

Like bikes, you can find some really nice cameras from the 1950's to 1990's that are pretty cheap because they aren't the latest and greatest. I have several cameras that I have picked up for pocket money, plus others that people have given to me. I prefer the mechanical ones that require user input, the same as I like bikes that have friction shifting.

Small Soldiers, the stuff from the movie. Hilarious stuff.
The one by the sink really creeps my wife out.

She drew the line at authentically mutilating some Barbies to match.
My kid was so disappointed. That kind of creeps me out.

Somewhere, I have 3 paper grocery bags with every Schmidt can they made.
Then I turned to ball caps. Then audio gear (my attic runneth over).

I tried to collect supermodel girlfriends, couldn't seem to get started.
All that running and screaming and calling 911.....

Best item to flip in this recession: Gold. The wife has started to buy gold jewelry. Turns a tidy profit which is helping to offset our diminished income.

True, but the originals used to (don't know about now) fetch a fortune - regardless of the repops.

-Kurt

I have hundreds of these, too. BUT, like you, the rare & $$$ ones I need, too

Once in awhile, I will see the old Atari video games & equipment at a yardsale. I snatch these up & resell. Best deal was $15 buy turned into $157 !

Cameras are my biggest weakness. I collect the whole gamut, from 8x10s to micros. I got into collecting 110 SLRs & accesories for a while... they don't take up too much space And vintage film canisters. I've gotten lucky a few times picking up various glass/optics (including microscope elements) insanely cheap and flipping. makes me feel not quite so bad about it all.


It's sort of bicycle related (but almost toy-ish), but I've gotten into vintage European (specifically Soviet) circus & childrens bikes:

In terms of non-collecting, cooking is probably my biggest "hobby" if you will, although that has led to other collecting sicnkesses, including vintage mason jars (I make my own mustards and preserves), Fiesta Ware, and vintage glassware.

I don't flip and to call what I do collecting is an insult to collectors.

I do however accumulate guitar amps at a frightful rate. Piles of them. I turn and see three in the bedroom. There are some in the living room. Many in the shop. Dozens in storage.

I have seven or eight guitars and I do play weekly, but I'll never flip a guitar. I do have a comic book collection, Marvel superheros, from the 1970's and 1980's that I'll unload someday. Playboy magazines, the same. Baseball cards of the 1960's and 1970's -- I sold most and retained the best few. Books -- some first editions and a small sports library, and a few books on Henry Ford. I started making wine at home. First, from dandelions; next, from actual fruit. I work on my lawn but it's not a hobby. My wife maintains a small kitchen garden, and I help with that.

Don't know if it was mentioned yet, but "she who is my wife" collects bugs. She's got a little jewelry box with about seven or eight gigantic specimens in it. Creeps me out every time she pulls it out to add a new member.

I should post pictures.

I've been collecting WW II uniforms and equipment for quite some years. I began collecting US stuff and eventually branched out to collect British and Canadian uniforms, and then strictly began collecting anything related to the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) from WW II.

I have a pretty nice collection, but realized that everything was either stored away in boxes or displayed in my basement office gathering dust. Last year I started to sell the Canadian and British collection and used that money to build my current vintage bike collection. The bike collection takes up more room, most are in the garage and a couple are in the office, but at least I can take the bikes out for a ride now and then.

MOTHBALLS are your friend !!

I used to collect and repair antique radios, but like others here have noted... Ebay is the main reason that I stopped actively searching for radios. Ebay has ruined the market for antique radios because every person with a radio looks at Ebay and immediately thinks that anything with a vaccuum tube in it is worth $300. And they instantly assume that you're trying to rip them off when you try to explain that their radio is really only worth $40 or $50... *sigh*

My coolest radio... a 1929 United American Bosch cabinet type radio. I paid $150 for it, but when it was purchased brand new... it cost about the same as a 3 bedroom house!! How's that for extravagant? Whoever bought that unit new was very very wealthy.

Vintage surfboards, mostly from the sixties and early seventies. You used to be able to find them at yard sales and even at the local dump. Now the market has gone thru the roof and driven me out. Check out some of the prices from the 2009 auction:

https://usvsa.com/auction/AUCWinnersList.asp

Anybody have one in their garage or basement?

Scott

Call me an idiot but I dont get it?

At first glance, I thought you collected lingerie.