I have several collections, things I've been strongly interested in at one time or another. Right now I'm not on any sort of collecting kick, but here are some of the things I was accumulating for a while (in roughly chronological order).
First of all, I never really considered myself a completist, someone who had to have one of every thing in a series (although in some cases I was, like with a card set). I don't like limited editions that are designed for the "collector" market (like sericels), and by "collector" I mean those people who gather things with an eye to investment. I have always picked only the stuff I liked, whether or not it would grow in value was never an issue.
Comics - I started buying them in the early 70's, and still have most of the ones I've bought since then, mostly DC (sorry, Marvel zombies!). I have never done the mylar-bag-cotton-gloves-read-with-tweezers kind of thing. I always fold them on the spine in order to READ them, unless they are too thick. I'd like to go back and visit some of the Swanderson Superman issues sometime. I have at least 12 longboxes of old issues. Some of them have some slight mold or mildew spotting from having kept them in the basement for several years. I guess one good thing is that my Mom didn't include those when she put all my books in a garage sale when I was in Boot Camp. Since my comic shop moved, I haven't been buying much at all anymore. There are only a couple series I really miss. But I have about 4 longboxes of stuff I haven't read yet. Except for the first three issues already done, I still have the entire run of DS9 to read! (among others).
Books - Since I lost all my paperbacks shortly after high school (see above), I have replaced most of the required ones (Bradbury, Clarke, et al). And as I've gotten older and more well off I have acquired quite a library. One of my obsessions is that when I start a new direction/hobby, I know it will be a lifelong endeavor if I get a lot of books on the subject. I have entire shelves devoted to hardcover books on Art Technique, Photography, martial arts, Music Theory, etc, and those are just the instructional books. The paperbacks consist mostly of science fiction. I actually cleared off a shelf of Star Trek Books because they were just getting to be too much and I'd never have time to read them all. I'll see what they might go for on eBay (not my Photonovels, though!) I've had people come over and see my two large bookshelves in the living room and say "Wow! You sure have a lot of books!" I laugh and reply, "Those are just the ones I haven't read yet. Here's my library..." Then I show them the other room. I am suprised (and relieved) if I can get out of a Barnes & Noble spending less than $60.
Magazines - Here's another section where I spend a lot at B&N now. At one time I was subscribed to about 10 magazines a month. Starlog, Artist's Magazine, Black Belt, Cinefantastique, and more. I still have the entire run of Starlog from #1-300. Now I just get TV Guide.
T-shirts - The oldest one I still have, from 1975 -- a picture of a shark rising from the ocean and the phrase "THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH". Obviously bought right around the time of the JAWS craze. For my first Marathon, the expo featured a t-shirt drive. I had just got a digital camera, so I thought it was a good time to get rid of some of my collection. In my previous job, I was able to wear t-shirts to work, but in my new one it was shirt and tie only. So I weeded out several that were (unfortunately) too small, in too bad condition, or too stupid to wear now that I was a little older. Having the digital camera was great, because now I could "archive" them and wouldn't feel bad about letting them go. I saved some of the more special ones so my sister-in-law can make them into a quilt (at her suggestion).
Well, when I piled of the stack of "to-go's", I had almost 200 of them! Most were from sci-fi conventions, or from my year in Japan, and many were ones I had made myself with a home silk-screening kit. They were in pretty good condition, and I liked the idea of some kid in Guatemala or something wearing one of my shirts. Except for the poor kid who gets the one with the big goofy picture of Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) on it -- phrase was "Do I look like I have STUPID written ALL OVER my face?" Now that I'm running a lot, the race t-shirts are accumulating quickly. I'll never get rid of a Marathon shirt, though!
Crystal - I was into collecting "sparklies" for a short time because I liked the way they looked. I had bought some real crystal goblets at Tiffany's on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills (but that's another story...). Mostly it was little things that looked nice hanging in the window.
Pins - Mostly from the comic shop. Once I filled up a 2' by 3' bulletin board (with maybe a half-inch of space between pins), I thought it was getting to be a bit much, especially after seeing pin and button convention-goers on TV. Having a few that mean something is one thing. Having thousands is just too much.
Patches - Same as above, not nearly as many.
Animation cels - Bought my first one at a Worldcon for $5. Since then the market has exploded and the prices have skyrocketed. Especially now that hand-drawn animation is virtually extinct. I have about 20 pieces, including three from Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Say what you will about the movie, I liked it (my first exposure to the story), and I love having a piece of history where I can freeze-frame and say "That's MY cel!!". One from the Filmation Star Trek Animated series (a one-of-a-kind original, not one of the reproductions), five or six from Heavy Metal (including a VERY small Taarna figure!), and several from Japanime productions -- Lensman (AAGHH! Should have bought the other two, $5 only!!), Mobile Suit Gundam (original series), and several I have no idea what show they're from (the show is listed, but never heard of it). I still regret having passed on the Akira cels, but they were out of my price range at the time.
Card Sets - Oh, if I'd kept some of my old ones, if only for nostalgic purposes! My Dad worked for a candy company, and aside from that benefit we'd sometimes get entire boxes of bubble-gum cards. We weren't allowed to chew the gum (although not restricted from the other samples he brought home -- which is why I have a mouth full of silver and crowns right now), but we almost always got a complete set of cards from the box. I recall getting sets from Batman (1966), King Kong, RatFink, Wacky Packages, Laugh-In, Lost in Space, and yes, some baseball cards. Of course those would be worth a lot today, but if my brother and I had kept them in perfect condition, we never would have had the fun that we did with them. Still, I wish I had some of those even in their beat-up condition...
Fast-forward to the 80's, and my Dad still worked there and got me card sets once in a while. I still have the Donkey Kong and E.T. sets. I think there were some other cruddy ones I didn't hang on to. Zip ahead again to the 90's, and suddenly I saw entire sets being offered for sale at $15 or $20 or so. I started getting about a set a week. I was partial to the book-cover/art sets as it was cheaper to get these than the books, and I could get up to 100 samples. I was taking art classes at the time, and I thought, the more reference, the better. Vallejo, Frazetta, Whelan, etc. I got a few movie or tv related sets, but mostly liked the painted ones. When I filled up a small bookshelf with my lucite-boxed sets it looked like that was about enough. However, all these cards are in excellent condition...
Die-cast vehicles - Looks real good on my shelf. These were small, carded vehicles. Favorite pieces - the Lost in Space Jupiter II, Chariot, Pod, and Robot. I'm still looking for a 1966 TV Batmobile -- possibly the coolest car ever made. Other items -- Thunderbirds 1-5, many Micro Machines from Star Trek and Star Wars ships.
Action figures - This was my latest obsession. Waaay back in 1977 I got all the available figures from Star Wars for a friend for his birthday. (Can you imagine what they'd be worth now? Still on the card of course! His went into the Star Wars carrying case. I believe they were $1.97 each, and I think there were only 20 or so.) I only bought a couple for myself, but I did remove all of them from the cards so I could send in for the "Free Boba Fett". This was before I even knew what a Boba Fett was. Yes, I still have him (and yes, I took him off the card at the time -- too bad!). I bought a few more over the years as they came out. I especially like my original-colored Muffitt from BSG.
A few years ago, I saw that the comic shop I frequented was carrying some figures. I started with the small non-articulated ones, if they presented the character well enough. Then they started coming out with more and more. I liked some of the offbeat ones, sometimes even buying characters I knew nothing about. As I got older (and made more money), I started getting the larger versions as these were more detailed and sometimes very appealing. I knew it was becoming more mainstream as real nice figures from Rudolph and Charlie Brown started appearing, and it was difficult not to get every one of those that came out. I limited myself to a few, then finally stopped buying them altogether. I now have one large portion of my basement wall with these figures on pegboard, and it looks like a Toys 'r Us display. The first several I had taken off the cards (you know that toys don't like to be trapped!) and put on my display shelf, but when that filled up I left them on and just enjoyed them with the card art as well.
They are still fun to look at, but it's not like I ever played with them or anything. It was getting to be like the pin thing. There's a point where it just gets to be too much, and it's more about the collecting than it is about the enjoyment of the thing. Favorite pieces - the MAD magazine Alfred E. Neuman versions of DC's Justice League heroes, the Beatles Yellow Submarine figures (recent releases, not from the 1960's), the "Bumble" from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Legion of Super-Heroes (way too many to collect them all!), some of the older Star Wars figures. Do you know how hard it is to find a simple, regular old Stormtrooper? That was the last thing I was looking for to finish off my buddy's box back in 1978, too.
Other - I have a few, more expensive pieces. Disney wood sculptures of Mickey (Sorcerer's Apprentice), Jiminy Cricket, and Pinocchio, and some Franklin Mint busts that I got from my Dad when he moved. One regret was not getting a replica of the original Terminator silver skull during a special initial offer at a Worldcon, half price including display case was $500. A little steep for me at the time, but it was only later that I realized the guy making the offer was Stan Winston himself! (Not what it said on his nametag, so I wasn't sure at the time, but found out later.)
Well, I hope you have borne with me on this (very long) trip down memory lane! There is much more I could say about any of the above, but now it's time to hear about what you've been collecting...
As a postscript, I should say that I'm thinking about cleaning up my collections, paring down, simplifying, so to speak. I may be moving in the future, and I'm at a point in my life where I just don't need all this "stuff", so I'm sharing a little bit of my enjoyment of it with others while I still have it.
Hats, books, blades (swords,knives,axes,etc..), maps, good movies. Unfortunately over the last few years my collecting has been getting sporadic for various reasons not the least of which is expense and startign to run out of room.
R, what kind of knives do you have? I forgot to mention that. I've got a very nice Hibben dagger.
I have all the incarnations of "Star Trek" on DVD.
(Currently working on "Enterprise")
I also have some collectable figurines from "Trek" (Including Counselor Troi)
And of course, my autographed picture of Marina Sirtis as Troi.
(along with my postcards of female Trek crew members)
I forgot to mention my collection of Classical Music & Movie Soundtracks
ScottN, I've got some ornamental stuff I've picked up at yard sales and flea markets, I've got some old bayonets (Ka-bar, enfield, browning), a couple of Buck knives (hunting and tactical), some old knives my grandfather had, a sword kain made by Tom Anderson, a colt and a smith & wesson, a replica tomahawk hand made by a local guy (he has a shop out past bainbridge but is getting ready to retire i heard). I don't have any of Hibben's works. I'm not sure why. I think though that most of them are a bit too impractical or somethign for my tastes. I like a nice clean classical type blade.
I'd love to get my hands on an antique cavalry sabre, but I doubt I could afford it.
I have seen them around at antique shows and there is a store in downtown milford that sells militaria and stuff like that. Cavalry sabers generally run from 200-up depending on condition, whose they where, which side they belonged to, history of the blade and a bunch of other factors.
And yes I would love to have a true Cavalry sword as well.
What! No one collects Troll dolls!
No. They send flaming messages on the internet.
U.S. coins (the circulated kind, not proofs or the such)
I completely geeked out when I first learned about the state quarters, as I recall.
I collect money. Not fake foreign money, but real U.S. legal tender. I currently have several 20s, a few 5s, and some 1s. The rest is in the bank.
If anyone would like to donate to my small collection, please feel free. Any donation helps; if you would like my email address simply ask for it.
Sorry, donations are not tax-deductable and no refunds please.
Thank you for your time.
Not fake foreign money, but real U.S. legal tender. ...
What a pity. I just wanted to send you a german 1000 DM note (the famous fairy-tale one). But then I'll go and spend it myself instead ...
Constanze, do you prefer the Euro? Or do you miss the old D-Marks?
I have gotton a new collection right now. Stress lines. Between some crud goign on in the personal life involving an ex to the reorganization of management at work.
Rona,
well, the Euro is valid at the moment. As for whether it was a wise political decision to introduce it or not ... Books have been written pro and con the Euro.
Since the DMark was changed shortly after the reunification, and then the Euro was introduced, we've had a lot of new money. Though the difficult part wasn't the look of the new money, but the 2:1 exchange rate. (Other countries have more calculating to do, though...)
The fun part of the Euro for collectors are the different backsides of the coins, though - since every country designs them on its own, so Ireland has the harp, Finnland has flowers and swans, Italy has Dante on one, etc.
Since Germany mints 70% of the coins, foreign ones are a bit hard to come by, but it's always fun to find a rare one in the change you're given.
So I don't miss the D-Mark. I do wish they'd designed the notes better, though, with specific buildings instead of generic ones. And I wish some countries - like Germany had choosen nicer/more interesting motives for the back of the coins...
I didn't mean to ask a funny question, it's just that I found a 20 cent Euro coin on the train yesterday. I thought it looked more like a token for an arcade than real money.
I found a 20 cent Euro coin on the train yesterday. I thought it looked more like a token for an arcade than real money
LOL, I haven't seen any Euro's but foreign bills always remind me of monopoly money.
Of course our re-redesigned $20's and $50's now look like someone spilled some kool-aid on the front, so I guess I shouldn't laugh too hard.
A 20-cent coin??? What's wrong with that? I could understand if it was the old Austrian 10-groschen-piece - I always thought it felt like aluminum-foil coated cardboard. But the 20-cent-pieces are just "messing" (Brass?).
Or do you mean because they're ribbed at the edges? That's for the blind, so they don't confuse the 20 cent with the 50 cent, which is similar in size. (the old Italian 500 lire coin had braille dots on the surface, so it wouldn't be confused with the lower values.)
Rona, what design is on the back?
The Brandenburger Tor (a gate) - Germany.
Castle Belvedere (a square building) - Austria
King Albert II (A guy with glasses looking left) - Belgium (rare)
greek writing and an important historical figure - Greece
Cervantes (a head and a signature) - Spain
A woman sowing - France
celtic harp - Ireland
A modern sculpture (and IR) - Italy
Grand Duke Henri (a guy looking right) - Luxemburg (rare!)
Queen Beatrix (a woman looking left) - Netherlands
A seal - Portugal
A lion with a curved sword - Finnland
J - too bad if you don't like coloured money. I always did. (And monopoly money is much less carefully designed than the real one, that's how they're kept apart.)
But then, I've seen several different currencies when I was young - traveling to Austria or Italy, we always had to change money and convert currency.
I don't find the coins particularly odd, but Euro notes always look like Monopoly money. I think it's the fact that they're smaller than British notes coupled with the fact that they're much more colourful and monochromatic.
I remember when the new series of Bank Of England notes came out in the early 1990s they seemed very surreally coloured compaired to the old ones. I think they were the first(BOE) notes to be designed on computer.
I actually like the new money (from what little i get to see of money) and think its neat.
One of the things I've always thought about american money was it is so drab compared to the rest of the world.
Just so everybody can see for him/herself what we're talking about:
here are pictures of the Euro notes (site of the German Bank)
here are pictures of the new DM notes and coins. I always liked the 50 Pfennig coin's motif, and I really miss it on the german Euro coins.
here are the national sides of the coins, sorted by country (the site of the ECB, the European Central Bank)
The US is doing something similar with quarters. From 1999 through 2008, the reverse of the quarters will be designs reflecting the various states (5 per year).
TrekGrrl and her sister are collecting a full set each.
One thing I always wonder about the US banknotes is how blind or visually impaired people cope with it. Is there a way to easily and quickly distinguish a 50 or 20 $ note from a 5 or 10$?
The Euro notes (like the DM and most other countries) are different in size and colour. The new ones, with about 6 signs against forgery, also have a depressed stripe which can be felt with the fingers.
How come the US hasn't changed it money to be more secure? I've heard that was the reason Great Britain changed the notes some 10 or 15 years ago.
IIRC, the US made some changes to prevent forgery several years ago (when the notes stopped being literal 'greenbacks' and are now several colours).
I like the British pound coin, because on its reverse it has a design from whichever part of the UK it was issued in (the royal coat of arms for England, a thistle through a crown for Scotland, a leek and a tiara for Wales, and a Celtic cross for Ulster IIRC).
Also, the new two pound coin has acknowledged Isaac Newton's contribution (he was the head of the Royal Mint and introduced milled coins to prevent 'clipping') by engraving around the outside his famous quote "Standing on the shoulders of giants."
The bills (except for the $1) were changed about 10 years ago. The portaits were made larger, and moved about on the front and many security features were added. About two years ago, the $20 was redesigned again, adding more color, and removing the oval around Jackson's portrait, along with other features. The $50 bill was redesigned similarly and released on 28 September 2004.
See here (from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing) for more details.
Wow, I completly missed that. That must've been after I was there (1989-90), and somehow, I didn't hear it in the news. I also never noticed it in any of the TV series, only the old greenbacks...
The link was for the new bills (initially released somewhere around 2003).
One thing I always wonder about the US banknotes is how blind or visually impaired people cope with it. Is there a way to easily and quickly distinguish a 50 or 20 $ note from a 5 or 10$?
They really don't have a good way. Apparently what they do is fold them in different ways before putting them in the wallet, but they have to be told what each one is first for that to work right. The film "Ray" shows Ray Charles being taken advantage of but hangers on who lie to him about how much money he was being paid to do a show by telling him they were handing him bigger bills and pocketing the rest.
Even the new US money is still mostly green in color and the new bills are all the same size. The US has never been very receptive to changes in the money. Every time one of these new harder to counterfeit bills is introduced people complain that it looks like play money or Monopoly money; something that many also say about foreign currency.
The US has also been trying every few years since the 1970s to replace the dollar bill, because dollars are so handled they only last a few years and their are so many of them in circulation the mint spends millions per year disposing of and printing new dollars. They tried introducing the $2.00 bill, so they would only need to print half as many. They tried several dollar coins, since coins last longer than paper notes. They had the large silver dollar with Eisenhower on, but people thought it was too big. They tried the smaller Susan B Anthony dollar which was the size of quarter but had a different edge to help distinguish, recently they had the golden dollar, which was gold in color and had Sacagawea on it but none have ever taken off and gone into wide use. The biggest reasons are apparently cashiers who's cash drawers don't have slots for the new money, so they won't stock the drawer with new coins or $2.00 bills. If someone happens to give them one they will usually push it to the back to be deposited with the rest of the day's profit. With the golden dollar the mint even made a deal with Wall-Mart and IHOP to stock the coins for a year or so hoping that if people got them in change they would take off. If given them most customers would say that they would prefer paper bills. Personally I think if they wanted it to really take off they should have cut a deal with Coca-Cola and had they modify all of the coke machines to give and take golden dollars. That way if someone used a $5 bill to buy a coke they'd get 4 golden dollars back instead of 12 quarters. Since America is a nation of caffeine addicts so many people would be carrying them around and using them later in the day to pay for things.
In Britain in the past few years we've done away with the pound note (except in Scotland), introduced a (large) £2 coin, and there is now talk of getting rid of the £5 note and replacing it with a £5 coin for the same reasons Brian mentioned - the £5 notes wear out rather quickly.
I know I actually like using the gold coins, (goes with the midevil/pirate motif :-) ) but whenever i do I get some rather bad reactions from clerks. I've even had one go get their manager claiming I was trying to pass fake money when they first came out.
But the only way the feds are going to get rid of the dollar bill is if they get rid of the dollar bill and force people to use the coins. But that would be a screamfest I'm sure constanze could hear from home without any help. But the pop machine deal would be a wonderful help.
And yeah my wife's dad was blind and he had to have his wife tell him which bill was which and he folded them differently each.
here are pictures of the new DM notes and coins. I always liked the 50 Pfennig coin's motif, and I really miss it on the german Euro coins.
Wow, I can see why Rona would think they look like a videogame token. That's what they look like to me as well based on those pics.
I know I actually like using the gold coins, (goes with the midevil/pirate motif :-) ) but whenever i do I get some rather bad reactions from clerks. I've even had one go get their manager claiming I was trying to pass fake money when they first came out.
A few weeks back, there was a story in the news about someone being arrested for using a (genuine) $2 bill, because both the store clerk and the cops who came didn't even know there was such a thing. The guy was eventually released, and the charges dropped, but still, this is ridiculous!
One thing I always wonder about the US banknotes is how blind or visually impaired people cope with it.
I don't know how real this is, but on the show Blind Justice, the main character uses some sort of tiny scanner to read the bill (every bill except the $1 has some sort of strip embedded in it, for part of the security features among other reasons). It looked sort of like those credit card "skimmers" the news is always warning about in the indentity theft paranoia segments. Anyway, it would say the amount of the bill, then he folded it a certain way based on what it told him.
But the only way the feds are going to get rid of the dollar bill is if they get rid of the dollar bill and force people to use the coins. But that would be a screamfest I'm sure constanze could hear from home without any help.
I know I'd be complaining. I don't like coins. I never carry them if I can help it. With the next main denomination being the $5, this would wind up leading to carrying many more coins after getting change.
Bottom line, if people don't want dollar coins, and they've shown time and again that they don't, then the government has no business trying to force it upon them. They're supposed to work for us, not the other way around.
J: Bottom line, if people don't want dollar coins, and they've shown time and again that they don't, then the government has no business trying to force it upon them. They're supposed to work for us, not the other way around.
As Constanze pointed out, the German government (and others) had no problem with forcing the euro on a population which may or may not have wanted it, with no consultation whatsoever.
Bottom line, if people don't want dollar coins, and they've shown time and again that they don't, then the government has no business trying to force it upon them. They're supposed to work for us, not the other way around.
Umm, but the govt. and the Mint is working for you (the people) by providing them with legal tender. If - as Brian explained - 1 $ bills cost too much to manufacture*, then why shouldn't the Mint stop printing bills and switch to coins? Thande has pointed out that the british managed it, too (and they have a longer tradition then the US )
The Mint no longer produces real gold coins, either, as was the custom several centuries ago, when each coin was based on it's gold/silver/copper value. Today, no mint does that anymore, since they couldn't supply all the necessary coins at the inflated price. (Here, the "copper"-coins - 1, 2, and 5 cent - actually cost more to produce than they're worth, but they're needed for change.)
*what are they made out of: paper or cotton? Over here, money is made from cotton (and thus survives even an accidental wash in the washing machine!), and therefore, lasts quite sometime.
I know I'd be complaining. I don't like coins. I never carry them if I can help it. With the next main denomination being the $5, this would wind up leading to carrying many more coins after getting change.
Don't you need coins for all these machines (vending, parking, telephones, ...)? I don't have too much coins in my wallet, because I spend them again. When I have to pay 2.34 Euros at the bakery, I don't use a 5 Euro bill, I use the small change.
Thande,
Maybe I didn't tell it clearly. The population in some countries, mostly Germany (because people were afraid the strong DM would be weakened by the southern countries with more inflation and weaker economies, who wouldn't be able to keep the budget limitations*) was divided, some against, some for the Euro.
But remember that the people voted for the politicans who made the deal about the Euro, so it's not some unknown conspiracy foisting it on us... (although some people will still claim it was a plot by some bankers or shadow forces...)
* the irony, of course, is that now Germany has a lot of trouble meeting the standards of the stability pact, with the low economy and high unemployment.
A few weeks back, there was a story in the news about someone being arrested for using a (genuine) $2 bill, because both the store clerk and the cops who came didn't even know there was such a thing. The guy was eventually released, and the charges dropped, but still, this is ridiculous!
That story's been on snopes for some time.
Yes it actually happened several yars ago.
Constanze: Thande has pointed out that the british managed it, too (and they have a longer tradition then the US
Ah, but you see we used coins before we used notes, so you can present it as 'we're throwing away this modern rubbish from 1700 and going back to good honest sixteenth century money'. The only way you could get us to accept the euro is if you convinced us it's equivalent to something we were using even before that! 
We love tradition...
I don't know enough about the history of the British money to do that...
But it would save you all the bother of changing money when you go to the holidays in Spain... (Though my fiancee said he misses the different money in Austria - he says now it doesn't feel like being in a different country anymore )
But didn't the British also manage to switch from the funny duodecimal shilling counting system to the more sensible decimal (1 Pound = 100 pence), and although old people maybe still use the old system, the young ones have adapted? And there was no bloody revolution or civil war over it despite tradition? (Or is that only because the English are too polite and well-mannered and don't own enough guns like the Yanks that stopped them from a revolution? You know what they say about why the Germans always fail in their revolutions... )
Since this board is about collecting, let me ask others about autographs they have from famous people. When I used to go to conventions quite often in the 90s, I always used to look forward to the autograph signing at the end of the conventions. I have most of the autographs from the casts of ST:TNG, ST:DS9, Doctor Who companions, and most of the original Trek cast. Of course, Shatner and Nimoy are famous for not signing autographs. Is that old story true about Shatner that when a younster asked for his autograph, he demanded $50?
Constanze: Or is that only because the English are too polite and well-mannered and don't own enough guns like the Yanks that stopped them from a revolution?
Absolutely. Most people over 20 or so in the UK still mentally convert everything into 'old money' or 'real money' as it's otherwise called. And personally I'd rather we still had non-decimalised money either, for a variety of reasons, mostly the same ones for that I prefer using the imperial system of measurement as well.
I've gotten autographs from Denzel Washington, Isaac Hayes, Chris Rock, and Steve Buscemi. When I was a kid, I once got an autograph from actor Daniel Hugh Kelly.
As Constanze pointed out, the German government (and others) had no problem with forcing the euro on a population which may or may not have wanted it, with no consultation whatsoever.
Then in my opinion, that was not a good thing for the German government to do. Though it's hardly the worst thing the German government has ever done, I suppose.
Umm, but the govt. and the Mint is working for you (the people) by providing them with legal tender. If - as Brian explained - 1 $ bills cost too much to manufacture*, then why shouldn't the Mint stop printing bills and switch to coins?
Because that's not what the people want them to do. If people want $1 bills, then the govt should continue to provide them, even if they cost more. Now, sure they should inform the people that it costs more, and will therefore either require some sort of tax increase or a reduction in spending in some other area to cover the additional costs, but if after all is said and done the people just don't want to switch to a dollar coin, then it's obscene in a way for the govt to ignore the will of the people and do so anyway.
Thande has pointed out that the british managed it, too (and they have a longer tradition then the US )
Well, hooray for them. If the people wanted it, then fine. If they didn't, then quite frankly that s*cks.
*what are they made out of: paper or cotton? Over here, money is made from cotton (and thus survives even an accidental wash in the washing machine!), and therefore, lasts quite sometime.
Some sort of custom material that only they are allowed to make and use. People tend to think of it as paper, but in reality it is probably more some type of cotton. They do survive a washing, though it does wear them a bit. They seem hardier to me than any of the foreign money I've come across, though I've hardly come across every currency out there.
I hear Australia now has plastic bills. I'd like to see one of those someday, if for nothing else than the curiosity factor.
Don't you need coins for all these machines (vending, parking, telephones, ...)?
I rarely use vending machines, and those I do usually take bills as well. Where I live there aren't a lot of parking meters, and if I don't have access to a cellphone and have to use a payphone in an emergency, I'll just call collect. Not that I use the phone much anyway.
That story's been on snopes for some time.
Well, this was on the news as happening recently, so maybe something in real life just coincidenally took place similarly to an urban myth. Hey, it happens sometime. I really did know a kid who jumped out the window because he thought he was Superman. He was lucky. Unlike the kids in the myth who died, he got off with a broken arm.
Since this board is about collecting, let me ask others about autographs they have from famous people.
All my autographs are wrestling related. I have autographs from Mick Foley back when he was Cactus Jack and also from the Rock & Roll Express. I also have a poloroid of my dad, myself and the R&R that they also autographed.
I have autographs of Patrick Stewart and Patrick Moore, but I've not made a big thing about collecting them.
As an aside to the above remarks about the euro and Germany, a recent poll mentioned in a BBC report today said that 56% of Germans want to revert to the Deutschmark.
Thande,
maybe these posts should be moved to a more approriate board, but ... I wonder how representative that poll was, and how exactly the question was phrased. Because none of the people I know would say that, and none of the serious politicians of the major parties said anything like that, either. (BTW, as for the government foisting the Euro onto the unwilling population - all major parties always were in favour of the Euro and the EU. They express criticism of course with things that should be improved, but no major party wants to leave. The only one I can think of at the top of my head is the Bavarian party, which had a slogan in the last election battle about seceding from Germany and leaving the EU, too. They didn't get a lot of votes, and were grouped together with the other fringe, odd, and slightly crazy parties...)
Getting the Euro at a fixed exchange rate means that exports and imports in the EU countries are easier and more calculable for the companies than with currencies and exchange rates fluctuating all the time. Since most of the exports and imports are in EU countries, getting out of the Euro would hurt the industry.
Besides, most people know that the current economic problems, while they may have started around the time the Euro was introduced, aren't caused by the Euro, but a variety of factors (one major factor is international companies who close factories here, sacking thousands of employees, to move the factories to cheaper countries in the East and Asia. If most people are afraid about the security, they won't spend a lot of money, and a major part of our economy is internal.)
Aside from the fringe crowd of conspiracists, the only reason I can think of why so many germans would prefer the DM is if the question asked about the design of the actual coins and notes - that the DM was prettier, or that they were more used to it. (Though I don't hear any complaints about that, either. By now, most people have a grip on the new money, as far as I noticed).
Constanze: The only one I can think of at the top of my head is the Bavarian party, which had a slogan in the last election battle about seceding from Germany and leaving the EU, too. They didn't get a lot of votes, and were grouped together with the other fringe, odd, and slightly crazy parties...)
I find it strangely reassuring that you also have nutty separatist parties.
The BBC didn't go into details, simply quoting this poll from another source: the relevant article is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4082610.stm
As for all the major parties being in support of or opposing X, (and this isn't just about the euro or Europe in general) I can think of a number of issues (particularly in the past few years) where all the major British parties were in favour of or against X when public opinion was divided with a substantial percentage having a differing view. Strange, but that seems to be modern politics... 
Comments on that article:
A recent cover of Stern magazine showed the German eagle, struggling for breath, with a euro coin stuck in its gullet.
Well, I don't read the Stern, since it's not the most-reputable magazine - that's the Spiegel. (The Stern was caught pants down with the Hitler diaries, after all...) I wonder how recent that cover was - maybe in the summer break? At the moment, Schröders decision to move the general election to this autumn , and the results of the election battle are prominent news.
The reaction from German Finance Minister Hans Eichel was swift.
"There has been no debate in this house about a break-up of monetary union," he said. "There is no basis for such a debate."
Yes, that would be the logical reaction I'd expect. Maybe that was also why it quickly died down in the other news media ... (though I haven't followed the news in the last weeks closely, anyway.)
"Initially, one hoped the euro would be backed by fiscal discipline, enforced by the Stability and Growth Pact, and more political integration. None of these conditions are in place."
The Stability Pact limits eurozone countries' debt levels, but critics say it has been watered down after Germany and France have repeatedly breached it.
Which is of course exactly why a return to DM wouldn't help Germany at all....
For many ordinary Germans, the euro remains an unloved currency.
"Ninety percent of people will tell you the euro led to permanent hikes in prices," says Lutz Erbring from Berlin's Free University.
"You can always find examples where something really got more expensive: hairdressers doubled their prices maybe. But then the price of computers went down. It's a mixed picture."
That is a true sentiment - that prices have risen with the Euro, when it's a combination of general inflation and greediness /unwise action by the merchants. (A lot of restaurants converted their prices 1:1, effectively doubling from DM to Euro. They claimed they hadn't raised their prices in years, but since they had to print new menu cards for the Euro anyway, they changed the prices to reflect the inflation of the last 10 years. I don't know whether that's true or not, but it was an unwise move, as people stopped eating out and therefore, the restaurant's income plummeted.)
And of course, it's also a question of perspective. By now, I no longer convert mentally in DM; I compare the price to my pay and how much I've left over in my wallet after fixed expenses. But many older people still double the Euro price to get DM and complain it's too expensive.
The economic argument is that the euro gives Germany higher than necessary interest rates.
Germany cannot decide by itself to reduce them, so it is stuck with one-size-fits-all rates that must balance the needs of booming Spain with an Italy that could be sliding into recession.
Okay, I'm no economist, but I wonder where they came up with this. Privately, I know that the interest rates for loans - and savings, too, of course - have been low in the last years because of the ecnomic recession. Recently, interest rates have risen slightly, but the banks haven't yet passed it on with higher savings rate (an old problem...) I don't see how we're going to get people to spend money to get the economy moving again if more and more people are laid off - even as companies make record gains... It's not a culture of fear typical for germans, as some claim; it's the realistic look at our society and the need to save money, since our social system is being dismantled, the pensions we expect to get after saving for them during working life won't be there in the future, and jobs will be hard to come by, too.
Thande,
...Strange, but that seems to be modern politics...
I think it's more the realisation that some things are unavoidable, whether people like them or not. Of course, while a lot of opposition is based on emotion instead of logic (which is then exploited by the demagogues), a lot of opposition isn't to "Yes" or "No" for X, but "Yes, but with different terms and conditions". (This may have been why many French voted against the current EU constitution - some are anti-EU, some are against their current French govt., but some would like a better constituion.) Sadly, that often gets lost in the yes or no battle...
After a bit of trouble with the Stern website, I found the article. The poll was made by Forsa, which is usually a respectable institut. But they still only mentioned the results, not the way the questions were phrased.
I strongly suspect* that the 56 % who want the DM back don't really want to turn around now - that wouldn't solve any of the Euro-related problems - but that they think that the times before the Euro were better, and they want that time back.
(Many East Germans say in polls they miss the GDR - not because they want back the wall and the unfreedom, but because they want back what was better at that time compared to now: better child care, better possibilites of studying; more jobs compared to unemployment; not being picked on for being "Ossies"...)
* or rather, I hope that not that much of my fellow countrymen are this dumb that they truly believe leaving the Euro currency union now would solve the problems, and bringing the DM back would help the economy back to it's previous level, while prices drop...
You know, someone who collects off topic posts sure could strike gold with this thread!
;)
(I know, I'm a big part of the OT stuff as well! Don't mean to imply anything, just making an observation.)
I used to collect comics, and still technically do, but at some point I went past caring about the collecting part and now only care about it for the reading part. I don't even bother with bags & boards anymore, nor has my collection sorted in any sort of way since sometime in the early 90's.
^ been sorted in any sort of way since sometime in the early 90's.
You know, someone who collects off topic posts sure could strike gold with this thread!
That's what have been doing the whole time, collecting posts - you didn't notice?
If keeping them and throwing them in a drawer counts as collecting, then count me in for movie ticket stubs. I've been saving them for over a decade.
I used to collect comics, but not for collection value; I read them if the stories and/or artwork was interesting to me. (Thus, my collection is probably worth next to nothing monetarily. However, it's very easy for me to find back issues for various series at very low prices, if I can actually find back isues at all.) I got tired of the whole "forced collectibility" that many comic companies started a few years back, with multiple covers of the samme issue and other gimmicks to drive up the "value."
I've saved coins (circulated) over the years, and I'm trying to save a set or two of the US statehood quarters, but don't consider myself a collector in that realm.
I do still have most of my Star Wars action figures from my childhood, off the cards (which I saved) but still in good shape (with weapons & accessories no less!), in spite of my having played with them for years. I occasionally pick up some of the new ones to add to the collection, but cost, the huge number of different characters made and the scarcity of certain specific figures all combine to prevent me from even trying to get a complete collection.
Occassionally, I'll pick up die-cast cars (such as Hot Wheels) if they look interesting to me, or are variations of a specific vehicle. (For example, Hot Wheels has re-done the Ford GT-90 in several very interesting color schemes over the past decade.) I don't know if that qualifies me as a collector, though, because it's more of an impulse thing I do when it strikes my fancy.
This isn't really a collection thing, but I build plastic models, not just kits, but "kitbashes" and scratchbuilds as well. I like to make dioramas (3-D scenes) rather than just building a model to collect dust on the shelf--now I have miniature scenes collecting dust on the shelf instead. Unfortunately, I'm one of those "I buy more than I build" type of guys, and now I don't even do that... too expensive for the most part, and I really should actually finish some of the two dozen projects I've got half-completed! (Someday, maybe I'll have time to do so.)
I also read a lot, so I have a huge library (fiction & non-fiction), as well as a large-ish (and kind of eclectic) dvd collection.
Oh, I do sort of collect Space: 1999 stuff, since that's one of my favorite tv shows from my youth (well, at least the first season anyway). I mostly have the stuff I want from that show (much of it from my youth, but some of it perchased in recent years), but again, cost is a prohibitive factor in getting new stuff. (And I do mean NEW, as some companies are making new models and/or re-releasing old things such as figures/dolls with new packaging & adding new figures to the line.)
By the way, I heard something on the radio that the state of Ohio Workman's Comp department allegedly invested millions of dollars in taxpayer funds into rare coin collecting (to draw a profit, I guess), and lost millions in the process. They also seem to have lost a bunch of the coins. There are also allegations of bookkeeping problems, and the whole thing's under investigation.
Anyone else hear about that, or have better details? (This might actually be a PM topic, but the coin collection angle made me think of bringing it up here.)
Yes it is true. Heads have rolled in columbus as the person in charge has either resigned or got resigned (If you know what i mean) as a result.