What Can I collect

What can I collect is a question I never had to ask myself. Collecting seems to be in my nature and over the years I have started so many collections.

Collecting has been around for a long time as a timeless hobby that anyone can get into. It's a fun activity that lets you develop and build your interest in different things you come across in life. You have probably wondered to yourself, what can I collect? The possibilities of things to collect is endless - it knows no bounds. From popular stamps, coins and comic books collecting, to collecting beautiful, bizarre and personal things like sand, sea glass and flowers, there is a wide range of items you can start collecting for an exciting hobby.

There is no definitive answers to the what can I collect question. I collect stamps, postcards from my hometown, Notgeld, sand, sea glass and many vintage things.

As you will see, there are a myriad of items that you can use to start your own collection and the beginning of a fun hobby. So if you're ever thinking, what can I collect - think about what's in front of you, or what you're passionate about, and see whether you can convert into a collecting hobby.

Vintage petrol can collection by Chris. P under CC BY 2.0 license.

The most obvious answer to what can I collect

Stamp, banknote and coin collecting has always been an old favorite for many people.

With stamp collecting, apart from collecting postage stamps (mint or used), you can collect covers (first day covers, philatelic covers, advertising covers or commercial covers), booklets or various philatelic documents. Because there are so many stamps out there, you can choose to collect specific countries, topics or time period. There are many ways stamp collectors can get their stamps. Stamps can be obtained from personal mail, from friends and relatives. Current stamps can be bought from the post office. You can find rare and expensive stamps by visiting stamp dealers and auctions.

I have been collecting stamps since I was 8 years old

Collecting France postage stamps
France is an interesting country for stamp collectors. The first France postage stamp was the 10c Ceres issued in 1850. France stamps offer a wide range of t...

France Valentine day postage stamps
France fashion designers valentine heart postage stamps. Every year, for Valentine day, La Poste (the French postal service) issues postage stamps designed ...

Buying Stamps kiloware
Kiloware is a fun and cheap way to build your stamp collection. Kiloware usually refers to stamps on paper being sold by weight. It involves a bit of work si...

Buying postage stamps online: Philatelic Bureaux and Postal administrations
Buying postage stamps online is easy. Most postal administrations and philatelic bureaux have online stores. If you are a stamp collector, one of the best wa...

Great Britain Machin stamps
Since 40 years, the Machin postage stamps have been the Royal Mail (Great Britain postal service) iconic figure.Thousands of Machin stamps issues and booklet...

Coin collecting is also a popular collecting hobby. You can choose to collect coins from a particular country or date, coins with famous people on them, rare coins, antique or medieval coins, unusual coins, historically significant coins or errors coins. You might want to try to complete a set, and have a coin for each year. Or invest in gold coins. It can be a cheap or very expensive collection depending on what you want to collect.

I collect Notgeld

Banknotes are tiny pieces of art and make for a beautiful collection. I collect German Notgeld because these are pretty cool and the topic are original.

Collecting Notgeld
Notgeld, also known as emergency money, is a fun and inexpensive collection to make. This page will focus on the banknotes, although Notgeld were also issued...

Collecting autographs is a great idea and can give you exciting mementos regarding special events in your life. You can decide to stick to a theme when collecting autographs, such as Hollywood or athlete autographs, or choose to collect as many autographs from famous people as you can. There are different ways you can collect autographs, by attending concerts, shows, movie openings, award ceremonies, fundraisers, red carpet appearances, book launches, and sporting events, or by sending letter requests. You can get your hands on autographed collectibles as well.

Sand and Sea Glass, fossils, rocks, sea shells and glass floats

Nature offers a lot of collecting opportunities. Sand collecting allows you to capture memories of your adventures by taking a scoop of sand from the beaches you visit. You can place the sand in jars, label them with the location and date, and keep them as personal souvenirs. While on the topic of the beach, sea glass collecting is another great possibility. Sea glass is nature's beautiful recycled material, and can be a treasure for avid collectors. These smooth frosted pieces of glass come in a myriad of colors, and can be found along the tide line at beaches. Kids might also love collecting rocks and seashells. I know my son does and he has quite a collection. It doesn't cost a dime unless you start buying unusual pieces. Fossils are also popular.

Glass Floats
As weird as it may sound, there was a time were glass floats were used to keep fishing nets afloat. Glass floats were designed to be hollow and as they were ...

Collecting Sand -- The Basics of this Fun Hobby
Sand collecting might not be the most popular hobby, but it is one of the cheapest!

Authentic Sea Glass Jewelry
Collecting sea glass is fun, especially if you are crafty! You can turn your sea glass collection into tiny pieces of art.

Another interesting and fun collecting hobby is to collect flowers – real flowers. Flowers get dry within a matter of days, but they still remain intact for many years if cared for properly. You can collect them for their beauty and the pleasant memories they entail. They might have come from an important gift to you, a holiday abroad, or a special occasion. You can keep them in jars, an album, scrapbook or a binder with protective sheets. Make sure you put a label with each flower, to remind you when you got it. Kids are born collectors and flowers/plants are something they can collect easily, so this hobby is not for grownups only!

Starting a comic book collection is another great idea for a collecting hobby. Comic books are filled with colorful characters, action and amazing graphics. There are many comic books you can decide to start collecting, from comic books that have become hit movies like Batman or Spider-Man, and Marvel DC superhero comics, to collections based on a certain artist or writer. You can check out and purchase comic books at local comic book stores, bookshops and websites.

I still have some of my cool silver age Thor comic books. I was a fan. When I was a little girl, my babysitter use to bring me her older brother comics from time to time.

There is a vast selection of collectibles when it comes to famous people or character. You can collect dolls, souvenir plate, figurines, magazines, photos and so much more.

Collecting movie or concert tickets is a great idea for movie lovers who can turn their passion into a collecting hobby. It will allow you to keep track of all the shows you've seen in your life: the good, the not so good and the bad. You can keep your tickets in a scrapbook, and with each ticket, have a note about how you felt about the movie or the concert, who you were with and the experience.

You can also start collecting vintage tickets, some are rare, some are even quite nice and colorful. Pick a group, singer or single movie and see what come up in auction.

There is so much to choose from!

Barbie makes various limited edition dolls, the latest being 2 beautiful Elizabeth Taylor dolls.

Many groupies collect dolls of their favorite band or actor. Right now, The One Direction guys are extremely hot and their latest dolls (the One Direction Singing Dolls) sale like hot cakes.

Character dolls also make an interesting collection, especially with all those limited edition and hard to find limited release. One of the latest craze in doll collecting are the fabulous Monster High Dolls.

Here's some more "what can I collect" ideas:

Postcards: I do collect postcards of my hometown: Plessisville in Canada. Inexpensive, you can start by buying postcards from the places you travel to.

Vintage photos: I have a huge collection of weird and wacky vintage photos. It's such a fun collection. Find a topic you like and try finding great photos to add to your collection. It's a quite affordable hobby.

Bookplates, antique maps, antique prints, matchbox covers, greeting cards, vintage sewing patterns, paper dolls, prayer cards, vintage ads and vintage chocolate wrappers are just a few paper ephemera you can collect.

Catholic Prayer Cards
Catholic prayer cards play an important role in the Catholic faith. They're a convenient, portable visual source of inspiration, often used to convey a spiri...

I love vintage. Not only do I love vintage, I also use vintage collectibles around the house:

Vintage tins are turned into flower pots and planters

Vintage linens grace my beds

My collection of vintage tablecloths are on my table when I have guests

I actually use my vintage porcelain service quite often

My food is stored in vintage glass jars and I have a beautiful vintage French lemonade blue glass bottle for serving water

I wear cool vintage t-shirts and when I wear jewelry (not often) I wear vintage jewelry from my collection

I buy vintage pottery to use as planters