Fool's Gold : The collections of a Madman

[UtterFool]

Hello All

I have mentioned on multiple occasions that Playing cards are not the only thing I collect. My wife likes to say that I actually only collect one thing, and that would be collections.
Needless to say, I have a lot of them ... collections that is.

Some folks have shown a modicum of interest when I suggested sharing these other collections and so I am doing that here.

First I will start with a list of my collections. (note that this may not be a complete list as I do tend to forget some every now and then)
I break them up into 3 categories
Active - collections that I am currently adding to and/ or seeking out additions to.
Dormant - collections I have not added to in a while (over a year) but that I still keep and would add to if something came along (like that white whale)
Defunct - Collections that are sitting around the house, garage, basement, my parents attic that need to find their way out of my home (my wife would prefer the trash, but my hoarding nature can't allow that)

I will add approximate numbers of items in each collection next to them

Active
Playing Cards (Duh) ~600 different decks
Uncut sheets ~100
Mugs/ steins ~40
Records ~1000
1940 to early 80s (and some present) sci-fi toys and collectibles ~ 150 items
cribbage boards 10
Political buttons ~ 200 (this becomes active every 4 years )
Autographs ~ 20
Original comic art and signed prints ~50
Cthulhu and Eldritch items ~ 30
Books ~ 1000 ( many people wouldn't consider this a collection as they are not particularly rare books, but I am amazed, and saddened, at how many homes don't have a library. It was John Waters who said if you are on a date with somebody and you go back to their place and they don't have any books, don't smurf them... but I digress)
Board games ~ 200
Hess trucks ~30
Dice ~ Lots (I am a gamer it is what we do)

Dormant
GoShuin about 20 books filled with ~1000 - 1500 temple stamps
Gas Masks 33
Odd Ties ~ 50
Railroad items ~ 100
Hats ~ 50 (I suppose the ones I wear are considered an active collection)
Comic / Anime statues ( I lived in Japan for 4 years, it is what you did)
Teddy Bears (technically this is my wife's collection but only I add to it, therefore making it mine)
God Statues ~ 20

Defunct
Pez Dispensers
Key Chains
Boy scout patches
Hat Pins
Shot glasses (hey ... I was a college student)
cigar labels (see above statement)
Comic Books

That is about all that I can remember off the top of my head, I am sure I could find one or two more if I wandered around my house.
This doesn't include general oddities that I tend to pick up . I.E Things that just drew my attention.

Any way. If you are interested in seeing some of these collections , please reply here and I will post some.
Will have to decide how you would like to have it done.
A wide shot of a collection and then you can ask about individual items or I can just post a bunch of items .

For what it's worth

Utterfool

[flashcards]

UtterFool,

I was not familiar with the GoShuin. I looked it up and have to say that they are something I would definitely collect if I ever made a trip to Japan. Would love to see some of your collection.

[Eoghann]

Holy moly that sounds epic! I'd definitely be interested in seeing some pictures.

[chach]

That's quite the collection of collections. Will we be seeing you on an upcoming episode of Hoarders? j/k

For me, my main collections are cards, comics, zippos, vintage woodworking tools and a variety of Curios & Relics.

[UtterFool]

We will start with Gas Masks
This is usually my most often asked about collection and is the one I happen to have some pictures of on my computer. (for cataloging sake I really should take pictures of everything)

This collection started when I was 12. I picked up a WWI British gas mask in the original canister. I bought it as a whim, I had $10 to spend at a flea market, it happened to cost $10. Walking around the flea market some guy offered me $20 for the canister not even realizing that the gas Mask was still in it. When I told him there was a gas mask in the canister the guy told me to keep it because I had made a rare find.
That set the spark off on that collection.

So any way here are the Gas Masks that I have on display in my home.

In the living room of all places

As I said in my previous post , I have about 33 total Masks. Some are not as interesting as the ones up on the wall and some are too fragile (like my British WWI mask) to display.

I will post individual pictures and a bit of information about each of these Gas masks over the next day or two.
Eventually I will pull out the rest of the collection and take some pictures of it as well.

[UtterFool]

That's quite the collection of collections. Will we be seeing you on an upcoming episode of Hoarders? j/k

you joke Chach but my collections are actually a type of hoarding. Along with the collections I have a quite full work area in my garage and craft room of stuff. Luckily we keep our living area clean and I don't hoard trash. But the OCD hoarding runs in my family (if it wasn't obvious)

Funny story.
My wife and I were watching one of the hoarding shows. And she said " it is insight into her future life with me" .
I said " I am not as bad as these guys... I am not a Hoarder, I just have a lot of stuff".
Not 1 minute later the man on the show they were interviewing said "I am not a Hoarder, I just have a lot of stuff" . The exact line , with the same intonation and everything.
My wife looks at me with a knowing stare. I turn off the TV and go out and reorganize the garage.

[ecNate]

It's quite telling that you said you reorganized, and not got rid of anything.

I'm with you on board games and mugs/steins. Link to BGG collection? Photos of steins? My favorite new stein is the krampus one from Kickstarter. Did you get that one too?

[Cbkimble]

I have a nice little collection of shot glasses myself. That is definitely less expensive to collect than playing cards. LOL.

[UtterFool]

It's quite telling that you said you reorganized, and not got rid of anything.

I'm with you on board games and mugs/steins. Link to BGG collection? Photos of steins? My favorite new stein is the krampus one from Kickstarter. Did you get that one too?

You know I have had a lot of people I should make a BGG list and have never done such. Maybe this thread will finally push me into it.

I did not get the Krampus stein. I am a bit more conservative with my mug/stein buying, than I am with my playing cards, perhpas because of price, most likely because of space. I usually buy them from places I am visiting or ones that just catch my eye. I did pre-order the Cthulhu stein listed during the campaign however.
After I finish with the Gas masks I will put the mugs/steins up next.

[UtterFool]

So the first Mask "or set of masks" on the right side of the picture (displayed in a post above) are my comedy and tragedy masks.
These are 2 childrens gas masks from Czechoslovakia. these are Vietnam to cold war era Eastern block masks, although produced in Czech they were issued through many of the Warsaw pack countries).

The next mask is a WWII era gas mask. This mask was made in occupied France for use by German soldiers. This gas mask is a bit different as it has canvas laminated with a soft rubber, similar to early masks but also has a talking diaphragm which is seen more in cold war to modern era.

The next Mask is a US Navy gas mask. Veitnam era. The filter is fixed and not easily replaced. What I have found out is that this is most likely an Emergency gasmask for fire and smoke in confined spaces inside ships. Something that would be stored next to a fire extinguisher rather than issued to troops. The mask is damaged as it is missing the exhaust flap (you can see the blue plug between the eyes of the mask)

Sorry for the picture Quality... I am no Voltangel.

[Eoghann]

Very interesting! What are your usual spots to find masks like those? Online? Flea markets? I have a coworker who frequents military shows in the summer. He collects military uniforms.

[volantangel]

Damn, imagine those masks with a military crate with some ammo in a dark dusty setting with a couple of propaganda decks, that would make one fine picture!

[chach]

And here I am thinking, "Are you my mummy?"

[UtterFool]

All right then a couple more close-ups of the Gasmasks

Don't know too much about this one. It is a rubber soaked canvas gasmask, which would put the time period as early WWII or WWI (the condition makes me doubt WWI).
The filter you see on it is not the original/correct model. The filter threads for this mask don't fit it. Modern gasmasks ( cold war era all fit the same filter size, for the most part) this is changing with the new technology.

This mask is a WWII German civilians emergency gasmask. It has a permanently attached filter. It also came with the original instruction manual, in German (go figure). Neat old printing style on the manual.

This mask is a surplus coldwar to modern era Czech made gasmask. This is a Warsaw pack gasmask so could be seen in many of teh eastern block countries. I think this may be an officers gasmask or something like that as the quality of it is higher than the standard issue (I will show later). You can see it also has a talking diaphragm on the front.

Here is the Czech made standard issue gasmask. You can see it has the full head cover which is common in Russian/ Eastern block masks.

I will finish up the masks on the wall tomorrow.
You can let me know if you want to see more of my Gasmasks or move on to another collection.

[chach]

I'd like to see more masks personally. I only have one, an M17 with mop hood. Do you have any odd ones like those used for animals or infants? Always found them interesting.

[UtterFool]

I know I said I would update with the rest of the masks on the wall "tomorrow". I am obviously piss poor at keeping up with those things.

Anyway here are some shots showing some of my Christmas decorations.

8 Tiny Reindeer + Rudolph

Some say Santa doesn't exist... I know better, he just "went missing"

40 Slave leias agree

[chach]

Awesome. Love the tree topper

[UtterFool]

Been too long

Sorry
The last two on the wall today.



Gulf war Israeli civilian gas mask. (will upload picture of box later)

And Korean war or Vietnam (can't get the time period pinned down exactly) Navy gas mask. Notice how the air filter is behind the back of the head. That is so it would sit out of water if you were in a life jacket in the sea.