Anderson Taylor is a museum curator in Cambridge, Illinois. He first went looking for fossils after a television show about dinosaurs mentioned them. While on a family trip to a small dinosaur museum in Scotland, he got the idea for one of his own. In 2024, he opened his museum, which holds minerals, Native American artifacts, taxidermy, insects, and animal bones alongside the fossils. Guinness World Records lists him as the youngest person to curate a museum. Most of what he finds himself, he finds in his own driveway.

He’s still hoping to find a Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

Follow Anderson and the Cambridge Natural History Museum at their website, and on Instagram.

***Before we get into Anderson’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Anderson: I collect fossils, minerals, native American artifacts, and newer items, ie. Taxidermy, dead insects and arthropods, and animal bones.

2. How did it begin?

   Anderson: I first thought of making a museum when I went to Scotland 4 years ago when I went to a small museum similar to mine now. After many board meetings we decided on a space in the downtown area of Cambridge. From there we just kept growing until we are where we are today.

   

   

   

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Anderson: The first thing that I ever collected was a small limestone rock with coral on it and a couple of crinoids.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Anderson: I was watching a show about dinosaurs and they were talking about fossils. So I decided to go looking for them, and I found them, and they just fascinated me from then on.

   

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Anderson: Most of the time if I'm the one collecting them, I find them in my driveway!

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Anderson: I haven't really gone super far to collect anything crazy except for Scotland which is pretty far.

   

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Anderson: My favorite piece is our mastodon femur.

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Anderson: I wouldn't want to part with anything in my collection, there is no one thing I wouldn't keep.

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Anderson: Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

   

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Anderson: They would see how much the community cares about our museum.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

is a lecturer at San Francisco State University and lives in Santa Rosa, California. A 1930s wallpaper sample book that someone had used as a scrapbook opened her eyes to what sits inside old pages. She now keeps hundreds of books made by strangers between 1840 and 1978, along with the diaries, letters, and photo albums that come with them, full of ticket stubs, hand drawn maps, and in one case a puppy’s tooth. She is still thinking about 600 letters a mother wrote her son during World War II.

Follow Mandy and her collection on Instagram, and read her writing on Substack.

***Before we get into Mandy’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Mandy: I collect scrapbooks made by other people between 1840 and 1978. The longer answer is that I like any older paper that tells a creative, surprising, or relatable story (including letters, diaries, and photo albums). I prefer hybrid books that have a little bit of everything.

   

2. How did it begin?

   Mandy: When I was around 19 years old, I found an old wallpaper sample book from the 1930s that had been used as a scrapbook. It was at an antique store in San Diego, California.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Mandy: As a young kid, I got a little metal lunchbox and put a few stickers in it. I remember the adults around me saying it was a “collection” and that I was a sticker collector. I was fascinated by the concept and had great respect for what I felt was a world-class collection.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Mandy: I fell in love with old postcards in middle school. Their affordability and

   variety make them a great starting point for someone who likes to dig around. I was always happy to flip through hundreds of postcards and buy two or three that stood out to me. Most postcards are the same, but some pack a lot of personality into a small space. The qualities I looked for in postcards back then are the same qualities I look for in scrapbooks now.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Mandy: Usually on sites like eBay. They can be found anywhere vintage items are

   sold, like estate sales, garage sales, in-person auctions, Goodwill, etc.

   

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Mandy: I bought a WWI album in London once.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Mandy: In the late 1940s, a young man in Holland made a scrapbook for his American pen pal who he hoped to meet in person one day. The scrapbook covers everything they would do together, day by day, if the pen pal ever traveled to Holland. The book is full of writing, ticket stubs, photos, and hand drawn maps. Towards the end of the book, the young man asks his pen pal to share the scrapbook with others so that more people might see the pages. I haven’t shared that book anywhere yet, but I look forward to showing it to thousands of people one day. A scrapbook that asks to be seen is perfect for me.

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Mandy: I have a collection of four diaries written by a boy in Florida in the 1930s. He documents his daily adventures, his love of reading, and his pet turtle named Popeye. Many of the pages are illustrated in color. I haven’t seen anything like it before or since. I’m thankful for all multi-book sets that have stayed together.

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Mandy: I have a running list of things I regret not buying when I had the chance. Eight or ten years ago, I saw a listing for 600+ letters written by a mom to her son during WWII. The letters were chatty and decorated in so many different ways. I think she glued cotton balls to one of the pages to look like snow (all very scrapbook-like). I believe the letters were stored in the big wooden crate that they were mailed home in (I would have stored them differently, but I like the idea of the crate). The price was a little high and it kept going unsold. I don’t know what happened to those letters, but ten years of collecting tells me I probably should have bought them. I’d love to see where they ended up or get a second chance at buying them.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Mandy: I see the books as exciting and strangely current. I don’t think of them as sad relics of loss, or anything like that. Hopefully, someone browsing my collection sees the perspective that I bring to it.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Bruce Pascal is a commercial real estate broker in Washington, DC. He got his first Hot Wheels in 1968, then packed them into a cigar box and forgot about them until his mother returned it in 1999. He almost sold the box for $200 before realizing the cars had value. Today his collection of more than 10,000 cars is a study of Mattel’s earliest years, shown in his own museum. His prize piece is a pink rear-loading Beach Bomb prototype, one of only two known in pink and, he says, the most valuable Hot Wheel ever made.

Follow Bruce and his collection on Instagram and at his website, where you can take a virtual tour.

***Before we get into Bruce’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Bruce: Hot Wheels and memorabilia from the starting days of the product 1968-1977.

   

   

2. How did it begin?

   Bruce: Played with them when they first came out in 1968 when I was 7. Put them away in a cigar box and my mother gave back to me in 1999, when I was 38 years old.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Bruce: Hot Wheels!!

   

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Bruce: I have been collecting so many things over the years, started with coins, stamps, political items, antiques, posters and cars.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Bruce: Estate sales, eBay, and sites on Facebook. Always hunting!

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Bruce: Several times flew across country to California.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Bruce: The Pink Rear Load Beach Bomb, the rarest and most valuable Hot Wheels in the world. It was made in 1969, and 2 are known to be in pink. This is the rarer and better shape version. Been in many magazines, shows museums and TV shows with it.

   

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Bruce: A very rare 1968 over chrome antifreeze Camaro. It was originally used for TV ads, and shines like a Christmas ornament. Beautiful and very coveted.

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Bruce: I dream about finding another one of these TV show cars, they are so beautiful and rare. They look like jewelry.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Bruce: That I just don't collect, I study the history of Mattel and display my collection in a museum. That separates me from almost every collector. I want knowledge and to be a collector.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Jian Yang is the co-founder and co-owner of an advertising and PR agency in Singapore. What started with a single Barbie for Christmas has grown to over 13,000 dolls, most of them found on his travels. On many of these trips, he dresses a Barbie in couture made from toilet paper, photographs each creation for his book, Flushable Fashion, then flushes the dress. He says he has everything he wants, but with no flea markets or thrift culture at home, he still searches secondhand markets in Australia and London, hoping to turn up some 90s classics in pristine condition, cheap, one day.

Follow Jian and his collection on Instagram.

***Before we get into Jian’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Jian: All toys, but focused on Barbie and 80s boy’s toys, which I used to love as a kid. I love Masters of the Universe, Transformers and Star Wars, as well as more obscure brands like MASK, Centurions, Dino Riders and Sky Kommanders.

   

2. How did it begin?

   Jian: I’ve always loved toys, and was probably a very spoilt child. Barbie entered the toy box one Christmas and captured my imagination. So I continued buying her. Later, someone called my 200 dolls a ‘collection’ as a headline in a newspaper I used to write for, and that was the beginnings of how my toys became my ‘collection’, and I started being viewed as a ‘collector’.

   

   

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Jian: I very consciously collected Swatch watches in the 90s because they were the epitome of fashion. In school, that’s what could show your personality, because we all wore uniforms. I’m also from a line of watch collectors (both my grandfathers collected watches), so it felt right.

   _{Swatch Commercial Aqua Love during an episode of Late Night with David Letterman.}

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Jian: I like the hunt. Truth be told, once I find the thing, I lose interest in it immediately.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Jian: I travel a lot, and that’s where I buy most of the good stuff. Otherwise, I enjoy physical stores or amazon. I try to stay away from platforms like eBay (I don’t even have an account) because of the temptation that adult money opens you up to.

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Jian: It’s a very subjective question. I’m not sure I’ve gone to great lengths. But I have lived in Bahrain during Arab Spring, and regularly left the house to buy dolls which in a way was a form of escapism, but it was also a window back into the real world through the eyes of consumerism.

   

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Jian: I have many, because favourites will shift. Current favourites are Shanghai Barbie store exclusives, which were only available in the Shanghai store for the two years it was open. In a strange turn of events, the people that opened the store back then now own a whole district in Zhongshan, China, which includes a Barbie themed hotel and theme park, and I was just there to help them set up their epic display of dolls. They now don’t have an exclusive doll, but I did bring the Shanghai dolls back through Shanghai for a shoot, and it was magical for me.

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Jian: I think everything is replaceable, so the answer is nothing.

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Jian: I have everything I want, but I’d like to find some 90s classics in pristine condition for cheap in a flea market one day. This brings us back to the eBay conversation. I like to physically see a doll or stumble upon it before I buy it. Singapore, where I live, has no flea markets nor a thrifting culture, so these things while common to many, are a luxury to me, and I spend hours in Australia and London trawling flea markets simply because we don’t have them here.

   

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Jian: That I’m a lot more complex than I look.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

is an artist, writer, and publisher who runs a small university press in a town just north of London. She calls herself a magpie, happy to pick up almost anything small and secondhand, with a good eye for what other people walk past. The tiny radios, toasters, seahorses, and swans she gathers become daily still lifes she arranges and photographs. Some of her most treasured finds come off the ground, like the discarded passport photos she always keeps an eye out for.

She is still looking for four of the six china cups designed by John Vernon Lord, each painted with a character from Punch and Judy.

Follow Jane and her collection on Instagram, and find her art and writing at her website, and on Substack.

***Before we get into Jane’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Jane: What don’t I collect? I’m such a magpie: I’ll happily pick up almost anything as long as it’s small and secondhand. The more the better, really, because I use my tiny stuff in different ways and so things can have more than one purpose. The shape and the colour can be just as important to me as what the object actually represents. If you looked at my shelves, you might just see a chaotic slew of objects from vintage puzzles to tiny plastic cows, but there are some things I’ll be more excited to find than others, such as little radios, seahorses, toasters, robots, hairdryers, flies, hands, swans, cactuses, well, the list goes on and on. All tiny, please.

   

   

   

2. How did it begin?

   Jane: It began when I was a small child, but I wasn’t a ‘collector’ in the sense of amassing examples of a single thing, such as frogs or costume dolls. It was more that I never wanted to part with anything, so I quickly became an accumulator. My mother was into dollshouses and she found one for me too, so that’s perhaps the reason why I became hooked on very small things, as they would fit straight into the fantasy world of the dollshouse.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Jane: I’ll have to say my ‘treasures’, which were not really a conventional collection as they were all different kinds of things, but they were what I valued the most and I kept them in a special set of little drawers. I often took them out and really scrutinised them, or looked through them (a lot of them were made of glass) or put them in order of how much I liked them or what colour they were. I’ve still got them: things like paste gemstones, old buttons, bits of watch mechanism, buckles. I was very young when I first started keeping special things like this – but if I’m honest it’s not that different from what I do in my Instagram posts now.

   

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Jane: I think I drew inspiration from both my parents. From my mother I got the love of dollshouse accessories and from my dad his sense of orderliness. He was the sort of man who painted outlines of his tools on the wall below the nails for hanging them on, so that every tool would always be returned to the right place. He also taught me the importance of measuring things accurately and getting things at the right angle. I don’t worry about that too much in my Instagram layouts but there’s usually a bit of tweaking before I get a photo I’m happy with.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Jane: I’m an unashamed scavenger now. I mostly scrabble through boxes of small items in charity shops and at car boot fairs and flea markets. I also sometimes buy things at auction sales. If the auction house is selling things from a house clearance, there’ll usually be one or two biscuit tins or boxes at the end where they’ve put all the tiny things they couldn’t sell as separate lots – that’s my idea of absolute treasure. And when I said, earlier, that I ‘pick up’ things, I also meant off the ground – a genuinely found object is so good (my favourite discarded thing to find is passport photos).

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Jane: Wherever I go I’m on the lookout for new little objects and I love buying things at markets when I go abroad. They make wonderful souvenirs. So I guess the furthest afield I’ve been is New York, a few years ago. There were wonderful flea markets there and I found things that instantly remind me of NYC whenever they come to hand. I’m thinking in particular of a great little television that was actually a salt and pepper set. I collect tiny TVs with my husband and it’s one of the things we’re most dedicated to accumulating.

   

   

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Jane: That really is an impossible question as the totality of my ‘stuff’ almost feels like a single entity now. I’m very fond of a lot of individual things though, especially things that actually belonged to me as a small child. OK, I’ll pick my bright pink Liddle Kiddle doll (originally from a locket) – she’s going a bit bald on the back of her head but that’s ok.

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Jane: I want to say I’ll never part with any of it. People do quite often ask me whether I’ll sell them things they’ve seen in my posts and I almost always say no, sorry. The only things I did agree to part with were some of my plastic camels, because an American gentleman wanted to give them to recovering alcoholics as symbols of sobriety and I thought that was a good thing to support.

   _{Photos showing how Jane organizes some of the collection.}

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Jane: There’s a set of china cups designed by John Vernon Lord that feature characters from Punch and Judy. I’ve got two of them and I’d absolutely love to find the other four. All six are in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection but they don’t name the designer. Cups aren’t tiny things, admittedly, but I’m also quite a keen collector of various types of cups – that started with pink lustreware when I was a teenager but has branched out now into different sorts.

   

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Jane: Great question! I think they’d see at once that I’ve never grown up, that I’ve hung on to a child’s delight in funny little things. They might see that I love colour and am interested in the subtleties of different shades. It’s pretty obvious I’ve got the hoarding tendency, but luckily when it’s all in miniature it’s more manageable. Someone scrolling through my IG account, foundandchosen, might see a person who is pretty committed to their art, a curator who has kept on finding new permutations of tiny things for over a decade now.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Josh Schafer is the owner and operator of Lunchmeat based in Raleigh, NC. What started as a kid watching tapes has turned into a magazine, a shop, a drive-in festival, a free video store, and a co-authored book about video store sticker history called Stuck on VHS. Lunchmeat is one of the largest VHS operations in the country. He's still looking for an illustrated cover of Revenge of the Zombie on Star Classics, a tape he cannot confirm exists but believes should.

Follow Josh and his collection at Lunchmeat, on Instagram, and on YouTube.

***Before we get into Josh’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Josh: VHS tapes and video store era ephemera.

   

2. How did it begin?

   Josh: I never stopped. I grew up watching VHS and I just never stopped watching them. They have always been the way I watch movies.

   _{An ad urging viewers to go to the video store.}

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Josh: It would probably be trading cards or comics, maybe action figures. I loved those little football helmets you’d get out of the quarter machine.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Josh: Things have energy. And the things that bring good energy and inspiration to me, I’ve tried to surround myself with things like that.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Josh: I would say everywhere. VHS tapes wind up in the strangest places sometimes. I am no longer surprised. I also use eBay and social media.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Josh: All the way, baby! I would say for a specific piece or a collection, probably like 3-4 hours, but I travel all the time with Lunchmeat and find stuff that way.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Josh: My signed copy of Video Violence.

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Josh: My signed copy of Video Violence.

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Josh: A tape I can’t confirm exists but theoretically should. It’s a copy of REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIE on Star Classics with an illustrated cover. There is a photo cover in the series for ROTZ, and all the other photo covers in the series have illustrated release counterparts, but I’ve never seen one for REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIE. I’m not sure it’s really out there but it might be. It should be. I’ve never seen it. I believe if it exists, I’ll find it one day.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Josh: That I like a lot of horror and cult movies. I’m a lover of the weird. I have a little bit of everything on video. There’s so much stuff you probably haven’t seen. There’s a whole different world on VHS.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Miranda Worby is an artist based in Suffolk, UK. She has been collecting My Little Ponies since 1997, when online auctions opened up a world of variants and editions she’d only dreamed of finding. For Miranda, the ponies were always a little universe she could take anywhere and make her own, and she is not precious about condition. A well-loved MLP with a few scuffs is as welcome as a mint one.

She is still looking for BonBon, a late G1 with fantastic 90s vibes.

Follow Miranda on Instagram, YouTube, and on the My Little Podcast.

***Before we get into Miranda’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Miranda: I collect everything My Little Pony.

   Miranda unboxes a new delivery.

2. How did it begin?

   Miranda: I got my first MLP when I was three because I wanted a real pony but my parents said no! A plastic toy it was, and that was the start of my obsession. Every Christmas and birthday was MLP.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Miranda: I remember getting my first pony called Snowflake and can see her sitting in the toy shop on the shelf looking bright pink. I also remember getting the Dream Castle that Christmas along with the Nursery and some ponies. That was a good Christmas!

   The Dream Castle in an 80s commercial.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Miranda: When I was little, the fact I wanted a real pony and loved them so much. For me, MLP meant I had a pony I could take everywhere with me and I could make up my own stories and little world. I started seriously collecting in 1997, when I had the thought “wouldn’t it be great to get them all?!” Online auction sites opened up a whole new world and I could get ponies from worldwide locations that I’d only dreamed of.

   Miranda’s MLP collection.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Miranda: Now, it’s usually auction sites. But I do find the odd ones in charity shops here in town, or FB marketplace if I am lucky.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Miranda: I drove over two hours once to pick up a dream item of mine -the Paradise Estate playset. I also brought a 90s arcade ride on near to where I live, not realising it would only just fit in my car and I’d have to sit in the footwell for the drive home!

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Miranda: Right now it has to be a new addition to my collection called ‘Salty’ he is a Spanish version of this pony and I love his pose and colours. My friend eponyart kindly repainted his symbol as he’d had a bit of a rough life. But now he looks amazing and I love seeing him in a different pose to what he is normally!

   Miranda shows off Salty before restoration.

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Miranda: My Megan and Sundance from when I was a child. I remember getting them for my 5th birthday and I couldn’t believe Santa brought them to me. To this day, they are a special part of my collection.

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Miranda: I think a lot of pony collectors want to find that illusive Rapunzel, but my holy grail at the moment is a pony called BonBon from generation 1. She was a late edition to the G1 franchise and pops up now and again online, but I always miss out on her. She is lemon yellow with purple hair and she gives me 90s vibes. She is in one of my favourite poses called the ‘shy pose’ too.

   

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Miranda: They’d learn I’m not a fussy collector. Sometimes I love a pony that has been adored by their previous owner -scuffs and all. They’d also realise I’m really grateful to still have MLP in my life 40 years after I first fell in love with them and long may it continue!

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Kerchie is a designer, artisan, and content creator based in California. Her collection started with a reboot ordered on Amazon and a wave of nostalgia. What followed is now a collection spanning the entirety of the toy’s three-decade production run.

Her holy grail is still out there. It’s Disney’s Hercules Playcase from 1996, if you know of one at a reasonable price.

Follow Kerchie and her collection at kerchie.com and on YouTube and Instagram.

1. What do you collect?

   Kerchie: I collect Polly Pockets! Vintage, modern, and everything in between. I’m currently the Guinness World Record holder for largest collection of Polly Pockets.

   Guinness World Records interviewing Kerchie about the collection.

2. How did it begin?

   Kerchie: I started collecting in 2019 after heavily considering it a couple years prior. What got me to finally make the jump was when I ordered the Partytime Surprise reboot on Amazon, which is a recreation of the original set from 1989. Upon opening it, I was immediately hit with nostalgia. So I thought I would at least buy my favorite set from my childhood, Jewel Magic Ball (1996). I found it on eBay, and when it finally arrived, the feelings of wholesome nostalgia just got stronger and stronger. I knew I wanted to keep growing my collection. The rest is history!

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Kerchie: The first things I’ve ever collected in my life are stickers! But the first Polly Pocket set that kickstarted my collection is the Partytime Surprise reboot for Polly Pocket’s 30th Annivesary.

   Kerchie talking about the 1989 Partytime Surprise vintage Polly Pocket, and also the 2018 special edition for Polly's 30th anniversary.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Kerchie: I collected a lot of stickers and stationery growing up. I was actually inspired by my older girl cousins who collected Sanrio stuff. Then at some point, I had a Lisa Frank collection, and a small but respectable Barbie collection. My dad is also a big collector and he taught me the value of appreciating vintage things.

   Mattel commercial for the Polly Pocket pet parade toy set from 1994.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Kerchie: I find the vintage sets on eBay and the modern sets from big retailers. Once in a while, I’ll find a set from a random mom-and-pop shop. My friends and fans also contact me when they want to send me a set that they’ve come across. One memorable fan sent me her Lucy Locket Polly Pocket set from her childhood because she wanted it to go to someone who will treasure it.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Kerchie: I don’t think I’ve ever done anything crazy for the sake of adding to my collection, but I suppose it was more so convincing my husband that this is what I love doing and how important it is to me. I wouldn’t say that’s going too far though because he’s very supportive of everything I do.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Kerchie: My favorite set is the Jewel Magic Ball (1996). It was the set I had as a kid and I remember playing with it for hours. I love how it opens up into multiple rooms rather than the traditional compact functionality. It’s also super gorgeous and to this day, every time I look at it, I get a wave of nostalgia from my childhood.

   

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Kerchie: Although I don’t plan on getting rid of my collection, like ever, I’ll certainly never part with anything vintage. All my vintage sets are very precious to me. There’s just something about the ‘90s and ‘00s that’s so magical and that’s how I feel about these sets.

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Kerchie: I would really love the Disney’s Hercules Playcase (1996). I have quite a few Disney Polly Pocket sets, but that one is super rare and I’m keeping my eye out for one that’s not in a crazy price range.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Kerchie: That I’m insane, probably! But no, many women relate, because they had Polly Pockets growing up too. I suppose they would learn that I’m someone who’s a kid at heart and who wants to live her life exactly as she wants, and it’s true!

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Jane Labowitch is an Etch A Sketch artist based near Baltimore. She grew up drawing on a vintage Etch A Sketch at her grandmother’s house. Around her eighth or ninth birthday, her dad gave her a sparkly blue pocket edition of her own, and the collection grew from there. She has spent years tracking down every variant of the Etch A Sketch, and in 2015 won an art competition hosted by the company that makes it.

She’s still looking for the white and black Swarovski Crystal editions to complete her set.

Follow Jane, her art, and collection at princessetch.com, and on Instagram and TikTok.

***Before we get into Jane’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of Substack’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Jane: My main collection is Etch A Sketch variants!

   

2. How did it begin?

   Jane: I've been into drawing on an Etch A Sketch since I was around 4. My dad bought me a sparkly blue pocket (small) Etch A Sketch for my birthday when I was a kid, and it became the default gift to give me throughout my middle and high school years. I'd add more to my collection by spotting them on clearance at Kmart and stumbling onto unique variants at thrift stores.

   Sketching with Bob Ross.

   Step-by-step tutorial explains how Jane preserves her one-of-a-kind Etch A Sketch art.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Jane: Old coins and Pokemon merchandise. From a very young age I became enamored with the concept of rarity. I remember asking my dad if our vacuum cleaner was rare. When he told me it was, I remember perceiving it as a thing worthy of greater respect.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Jane: I was always fascinated with the idea of organizing and cataloging objects meant to exist as part of a series. Coins were so easy to organize by date, and the older the coin the more I perceived its rarity. The state quarter series gave me immense joy, and to this day I pocket any bicentennial that I stumble upon. But the slogan of Pokémon hook line and sunk me. “Gotta catch ‘em all” was the perfect command to inspire me to complete my Pokedex.

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Jane: These days I find most Etch A Sketches on websites like eBay, and I’m always checking the toy section at thrift stores.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Jane: I recently traveled to NYC to purchase a rare red FAO Schwarz Swarovski Crystal edition Etch A Sketch. Only 4 were made so it was worth the adventure!

   Jane presents one of her most prized pieces in the collection: a rare red FAO Schwarz Swarovski Crystal edition.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Jane: The honor of my favorite Etch A Sketch right now has to go to the above-mentioned FAO Etch A Sketch. It’s truly the most elevated version of the iconic classic red Etch A Sketch, and might be the rarest variant ever made commercially available.

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Jane: I’ll never part with my Etch A Sketch trophy. Not only does it have my name on it since I won it in an art competition hosted by Ohio Art in 2015, but it serves as a physical manifestation of the work and dedication I put into developing my skills as an Etch A Sketch artist.

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Jane: There are a few grails - some of which I cannot speak about out of fear that someone else will pick up a scent before me, haha. I'm most interested in finding the white and black variants of the FAO Schwarz Swarovski Crystal edition Etch A Sketches to complete my full set. On a more affordable note, I've been on the hunt for the red variant of the PowerPenz Doodler Pen for like a decade now and I can't believe how uncommon they are!

   

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Jane: I am incredibly nostalgic at heart, and I collect for the fun of it. There's no real market for Etch A Sketch, so it's been a blast to pick up new versions for just a few bucks. I also deeply care about the history of Etch A Sketch.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Nikki Igol is an image researcher and archivist based in New York City. She co-founded Library180, a nonprofit archive of 2,500 magazines and art books, open to the public in Manhattan's Financial District. Almost everything in the collection has been found in person, in bookstores and from dealers, including a good number from Amsterdam. She is still looking for issues of Joe's, Six, and early i-D.

Follow Nikki and her collection at Library180 and on Instagram.

***Before we get into Nikki’s interview, this newsletter was recently featured in an edition of ’s Weekender. You can read it here.

1. What do you collect?

   Nikki: Beauty, Fashion, Nightlife, Design and Culture magazines.

2. How did it begin?

   Nikki: I came across three issues of Details magazine at a garage sale when I was 10 - I was hooked from that moment on.

   

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Nikki: After buying the Details, I went to other vintage stores around the Detroit area, to see if they had older magazines from the 70s and 80s. This was 1993, so a good time for contemporary magazines as well.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Nikki: The photography inside of Details. Stephen Saban’s nightlife roundup, Bill Cunningham fashion show coverage, Ronnie Cooke’s editorials.

   

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Nikki: In bookstores or from book dealers - I can count on one hand the amount of times I have purchased online.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Nikki: I purchase books and magazines from everywhere I travel. A good amount of material in the library is from Amsterdam, they have wonderful bookstores.

   

   

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Nikki: Aside from the Details magazines, maybe George Wayne’s issues of R.O.M.E. I love his voice and humor, he literally makes me laugh out loud.

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Nikki: My collection of Details magazines, that is now quite large.

   

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Nikki: There are a lot of titles I have on my wish list...Joe’s, Six, early i-D...

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Nikki: That I am pretty firm on images living in their original context—fuck Pinterest.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Frank Gasking is a software/web developer based in the UK. He runs Games That Weren’t, a digital archive of unreleased or cancelled video games that never made it to shelves because companies went bust, projects were abandoned, or disputes got in the way. But Frank keeps these games alive. One of the archive’s biggest recoveries so far is Daffy Duck – And the Great Paint Caper, a cancelled Commodore 64 game Frank first read about as a kid and spent eighteen years tracking down.

Follow Frank and his digital collection at Games That Weren’t and on Instagram.

1. What do you collect?

   Frank: I currently collect and preserve unreleased video games, as well as prototypes and earlier builds of released games for my digital archive called Games That Weren't. Rather than collecting physical copies to keep, I am often loaned materials which I digitally back up and preserve, and make available through the archive (with the original materials then returned to their owner).

   Promotional footage from the cancelled SIN CITY game by Australian development team IR Gurus in late 2007.

   Frank reconstructed the final build of Resident Evil on Gameboy Color.

2. How did it begin?

   Frank: For me it started around 1993 when I read a gaming magazine article about unreleased games for the Commodore 64. I was fascinated, as there were a number of great looking games, but I wasn't meant to play them. The games never got released due to companies going bust, the game not being finished, or various other reasons. The whole thing intrigued me, and because I wasn't meant to play them, the more I was drawn to wanting to play them.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Frank: One particular game stood out for me from that article - a clone of Super Mario Bros called The Great Giana Sisters. This game had a very limited shelf life before it was pulled from shelves due to a dispute with Nintendo. I felt I had a chance of finding it, and the idea of playing a game I wasn't meant to was very exciting. Eventually, I got a copy from a friend (and later found an original), and this was the very first cancelled game that I had got my hands on. It was incredibly exciting being able to play something I wasn't meant to.

   

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Frank: When I was given a copy of The Great Giana Sisters, my friend also included a few others from the article, along with some unreleased games I had never heard of. It was then I realised there was likely so much more out there. Because I had such a huge buzz from playing these unreleased or unfinished games, it inspired me to start looking for more. And so began a passion which has now been going for over 30 years.

   

   

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Frank: For unreleased games that are already preserved, these days I check the internet and various archives (such as Archive.org, CSDB.dk or Gamebase64.com). For materials not yet preserved, I get in touch with developers, artists and producers to see if they still have anything. This might be to include material in the archive, or to help preserve items from old obsolete media. Often, people involved with unreleased games get in touch with me directly and offer to have their lost work preserved. Occasionally, I also find materials on eBay or through forum members who have prototypes they are willing to part with.

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Frank: I have never paid out a huge amount of money to obtain a prototype to preserve. I could set up donations like some preservation communities, but I don't personally feel comfortable taking other people's money. That said, I have occasionally paid £100-200 for tapes, disks or prototypes to ensure they are preserved where possible. Most recently this was for a set of prototype VIC-20 games, which I later gifted to a collector friend who had helped a lot by loaning hardware for preservation work.
   
   I have, however, travelled quite far. In many cases I have gone to other parts of the country to pick up suitcases or boxes of old floppy disks and materials. A couple of years ago I preserved many disks from the late Archer Maclean, and last year I worked through a suitcase full of disks from Enigma Variations following a London meetup with Mark Greenshields.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Frank: My favourite unreleased or unfinished game overall is a title called Spellcast on the Commodore 64. It was just a single level demo, and it was probably the first cancelled game I ever played without realising. It was given away on a magazine cover tape, and I completely fell in love with it. It is a real shame it was never finished.
   
   In terms of something I have personally recovered, it has to be Daffy Duck: In the Great Paint Caper on the Commodore 64. I remember reading about it as a kid, only to find it never appeared in shops. The company had gone bust just as it was about to be released. An 18-year search followed, and in 2015 we finally recovered all of the source code from the original developer and artist. After a long trip and bringing back a suitcase of materials, the game was reconstructed. It was one of our holy grails finally found.

   

   

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Frank: It is a tricky one, as my collection is not really physical. However, I do have an original tape copy of The Great Giana Sisters on the Commodore 64 that was taken off the shelves quickly. I would never part with that. I also have a very rare disk copy of Gauntlet 3 on the Commodore 64, which had an extremely limited release through a software catalogue. That is not going anywhere either.

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Frank: Although Daffy Duck was recovered and considered a holy grail, there are still others. One is a game called Murder! by U.S. Gold. It was released on PC, Amiga and Atari ST, and a Commodore 64 version was fully reviewed in magazines and received good scores. However, for some reason it was never actually released. We have tried everything to recover it, but it feels like it may be the one that got away. Another is a cancelled Batman Returns game for the Commodore 64. It was abandoned as the platform began to decline, but there is believed to be a half-finished version out there. There is still hope that one day we might recover what remains.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Frank: If someone looked at the archive, they might think I am slightly crazy for taking on something like this. It is a collection with no real end, you can never complete it, even if you focus on just one platform like the Commodore 64. I would hope, though, that people see the amount of effort and care that goes into it. Everything is done in spare time, without funding, and with a genuine passion for preserving lost history. And hopefully, if they have something to share, they might even get in touch.
    
    It has been around 26 years running the archive so far, and I hope I can keep it going for many more.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Rafael Pavon is a Creative Director based in Spain. Collecting one of the most recognizable faces in science fiction actually happened by accident, and now runs to 730 helmets, a custom photo app, and a 3D model pipeline to document every one. It is not the rarest piece in the archive he will never part with, but a cracked 1978 Stormtrooper with the word LOWE scratched into the back.

Follow Rafael and his collection at stormtrooperobsession.com and on Substack.

1. What do you collect?

   Rafael: Everything related to the Imperial Stormtrooper helmet design from 1977: toys, memorabilia, objects, and things inspired by it.

   

2. How did it begin?

   Rafael: By accident, which is probably how most collections begin. For years, I was just someone who liked that helmet. I'd spot one in a shop or a market and grab it without thinking too much about it. Then one afternoon in December 2015, while wandering around Covent Garden before watching The Force Awakens on opening day, I walked into a comic book store called Orbital Comics and picked up a loose original Kenner Stormtrooper for £7. I got home, put it on the shelf, and realised I already had about twenty of them. That was the moment it went from a habit to a real problem.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Rafael: I wouldn't call it collecting at the time, but my uncle ran a toy shop in Madrid in the early eighties. I was a kid, and Star Wars figures were basically the most exciting objects in the known universe. Two of them survived. They're items 475 and 476 in the archive now, two battered little 3.75-inch Kenner Stormtroopers that I assumed were long gone until they turned up at my cousin's place decades later.

   

   

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Rafael: It's less about collecting and more about a question I can't let go of. The Stormtrooper breaks every rule of what a memorable character is supposed to be. No face, no name, no backstory, almost no lines. And yet somehow it sits alongside Spider-Man and Barbie as one of the most reproduced toys in history. Kids pick it over the heroes. Artists across every discipline keep coming back to that helmet. Jony Ive said it influenced the iPod and AirPods. It's shown up in LEGO, Barbie, Mickey Mouse, Mr Potato Head, on toothbrushes, shampoo bottles and keyrings, even on beer labels. So, at some point, I stopped thinking of this as a toy collection and started thinking of it as anthropological research. There's a hidden message somewhere in people's fixation with that helmet, and I haven't cracked it yet. That's what keeps me going.

   

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Rafael: Everywhere, which is part of the problem. I've tracked down pieces in London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Santiago de Chile, Ciudad de México, Madrid, and Los Angeles. When I want to look for really special items or art toys, I love places like Toy Tokyo and myplasticheart in New York. And probably my favourite place in the world for Star Wars toys is the Persa Franklin in Santiago de Chile, a massive street market full of unexpected troopers.

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Rafael: It kind of became a thing to fly to a city knowing there's a trooper somewhere waiting for me. I once took a train during a snowstorm just to visit the Imperial Castle Toy Store in Pawling, NY, 2 hours north of NYC. In terms of effort, building a database, creating a custom photo app to capture them all, a pipeline to turn them into 3D models, and designing a website display is definitely the furthest I've been for the collection

   

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Rafael: Item 006. It's a beat-up Kenner Stormtrooper I found in Santiago de Chile at Persa Franklin. Cracked across the chest, nothing special to look at. But someone, a kid, scratched their name into the back: LOWE. I have no idea who Lowe is. I don't know where they grew up or what happened to them. But at some point, they wanted everyone to know this figure was theirs. Decades later, it ended up in a box at a street market on the other side of the world, and now it's in my collection in Spain. That journey is more interesting to me than any mint-on-card rarity.

   

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Rafael: Probably, Items 475 and 476. The two original Kenner Stormtroopers I played with as a kid in the 1980s. They came from my Uncle Fernando's toy store in Madrid, and I thought they were gone forever. They're not in great condition. They're worth almost nothing on the market, but they're the reason the other 730 exist.

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Rafael: An original 1978 Kenner Stormtrooper, sealed, on the 12-back card. That's the first cardback Kenner ever produced, with the original twelve figures on the back. They surface occasionally, but finding one at a price that doesn't require selling a kidney has been the challenge. But the 1978 original is still out there somewhere, waiting for me.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Rafael: That I take pointless things very seriously, and probably too far. But I think they'd also see that I'm drawn to the things that connect people in ways that aren't immediately obvious. A kid in Chile scratching their name on a toy. A factory in Poland making unauthorised copies because the real ones never arrived. An artist in Thailand putting a Stormtrooper in a bomber jacket because that helmet meant something to them too. None of these things are supposed to matter, and they're all connected somehow in a fascinating way. I think that's what the collection is really about.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.

Steve Silberberg is a wilderness backpacking guide. What started on a United Airlines flight in 1981 has turned into an archive of more than 3,500 bags, pulled from airlines, rock tours, political campaigns, and at least one space program. He is still looking for a barf bag that Gray Davis had made about Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California recall race.

Follow Steve and his collection at barfbags.com.

1. What do you collect?

   Steve: Air Sickness Bags

2. How did it begin?

   Steve: I was on a long, empty United flight from Boston to San Francisco in 1981. I looked in the seat back pocket, saw the air sickness bag and thought, “I’ll bet nobody collects those”. It turns out I was wrong, but I didn’t find that out until much later after I had already committed to collecting them. Prior to this epiphany, I had been collecting sardine keys. But not only aren’t there a lot of sardine brands, nobody can tell a King Olaf sardine key from an Underwood sardine key. So sickbags were a step up.

3. What’s the first thing you remember collecting?

   Steve: When I was a child, I collected stamps and coins. It soon became clear that I would never have the largest collection of coins or stamps in the world. Especially because I didn’t even have the largest collection in my own bedroom, because my older brother’s collections were larger.

4. What first inspired your love of collecting?

   Steve: Inspired is not really the right word. There is a predilection for hoarding in my family, so collecting things are just natural. Fortunately, when I concentrate on a single passion – barf bags – I do not feel compelled to collect anything else, which keeps my inclination towards hoarding at bay.

   

5. Where do you usually find the things you collect?

   Steve: I can find them on airplanes of course, but since I have over 3500 bags, chances are that I already have a bag from every flight I take. So like everything else, the internet facilitates a handful of niche collector communities in which collectors can swap bags internationally. Occasionally, someone will sell interesting bags on eBay but most sickbag sellers have little understanding of which bags we collectors value, overpricing common bags and underpricing rare ones. Or worse, packaging them with Safety Cards (which are found in exactly the same place). Safety card collectors are insufferable! (JK)

   

6. How far have you gone to add to the collection?

   Steve: Not too far, I guess. I did visit one collector who lives 2000 miles away, but I was already near his home, so I don’t know if that counts.

7. What’s your favorite piece in the collection right now?

   Steve: Right now? How about Shakedown Vegas? This is a branded reprint of an original 40-year-old Grateful Dead bag. So it’s a tribute to an already unlikely offering from an iconic band that put out a novelty item many years ago. Of course I like airline bags, but bags that reflect culture are even more interesting to me. I also like Super Limp. In Spanish, it means Super Clean, but in English it connotes super-impotence.

   

8. What’s something that you’ll never part with?

   Steve: My immaturity? But probably the Space Shuttle space sickness bag. Where would I ever find another?

   

9. What’s the one thing you dream about finding? Tell me about your holy grail.

   Steve: It’s not a single bag that I dream about finding, since I already have the Holy Grail (Space Shuttle). But I’d love to have a Jim Jeffords barf bag. He was a US Senator who had a barf bag made about him, but I have never seen one. Oh and also, Gray Davis released a bag about Arnold Schwarzenegger when they were running for Governor of California. I would LOVE to have one of those.

10. If someone looked at your collection, what would they learn about you?

    Steve: That I am very unpopular with women.

Have a collection you’d like to share? Tell me about it.