Toy collectibleCollectibles?

There are three types of collectibles- ones that are specifically designed to be collected, natural objects that are collected, and manufactured objects that people collect for their uniqueness or rarity. Collectibles specifically designed to be collected were first produced as incentives to buy products. One example would be the toys included in McDonald’s happy meals. The toys are added to appeal to children to buy the meal. To increase the desirability of a collectible item producers will often create series of collectibles. As a result collectors will often try to obtain all the collectibles in order to have a complete set, thereby increasing sales. An example of a series of collectibles would be sports cards included in products such as cereal boxes. However, often these collectibles have evolved to be sold in their own right. This is especially true of memorabilia- for movies, music concerts, national events (coronations, royal weddings), celebrity memorabilia, etc.

Natural objects that are collected can be valued for their beauty or rarity, or simply to be studied. There are many naturally occurring objects that are collected from sea shells, to butterflies, rocks, samples of snowflakes, pelts, etc. Finally, there are man-made objects that were meant to serve a purpose but can also be collected. Whether collections of stamps, posters, biscuit tins, toys, matchboxes, spoons, paintings, books….anything of which there are variations of a kind can be collected.

Collecting Antiques

Antique typewriterAn antique is an object collected because of its age or period of origin, but it is usually also beautiful, artistic and scarce. But what is classified as old? Usually items are considered antiques if older than 50 years, however more modern items such as cars and electronic gadgets are sometimes considered antiques when only 25 years old. Of course some items are collected simply because of nostalgic value rather than any societal value, and can be called curios (such as antique comic books).