About Collecting

The hobby of collecting involves collecting and acquiring items of interest. There are various kinds of things that people like to collect but the hobby itself does not involve just acquiring these items and throwing them in a box. It involves organizing the collectibles in an organized manner, cataloguing them and also displaying them to show off to other people who are interested. The hobby of collecting is largely dependent on the specific individual who is collecting items and therefore the breadth of things that can be collected is large.

There are some kinds of collectibles that can be completed. This means that all the kinds of collectibles can be acquired. At least a sample of all the types can be acquired in many cases. People who achieve such complete lists of collectible items are often called completists. While some people stop collecting once they reach a stage of completion, other go on to another sub niche or expand the scope of their collection to continue the hobby. Some people also change their hobby into a profession by collecting various samples of a single kind of collectible and then sell it to others who are looking for a similar sample. In case the idea is not to monetize the hobby, these extras can be used to exchange items too.

The decision about what the collectible will be depends on the financial capability of the individual too. While some people may be able to collect sea shells, other will be able to afford stamps or coins and only a few may have the luxury of being able to collect items like sports cars or vintage cars. Some people also collect things that are not physical in nature. This could mean collection photographs or observations associated with specific areas like aircraft spotting, bird watching and so on.

The interest in a hobby like collectibles has been used by many brands and advertising companies in order to further sales of their products too. Cereal box prizes, Cracker Jack's, Pin-Back buttons and Tazo's from Frito lay are some of the collectible campaigns that met with a large amount of success.

Some of the other areas of collectibles include architectural finds, art objects like prints, artifacts and paintings, books and periodicals, cards, ephemera like bookmarks, pamphlets, post cards, posters and greeting cards, clothing and fabric, coins, currency and stamps, films, glass and pottery and memorabilia too.

Collecting can be a lucrative hobby especially if you are collecting something that is of value. Some people have known to have extremely expensive collections of coins and stamps that are worth millions of dollars too.

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