When I was young, like most kids, I collected postage stamps. I loved to collect the Disney stamps especially with my favorite character featured which was Donald Duck instead of the more recognized and popular Mickey Mouse. Stamp collecting (or philately) was my first hobby but I have collected many items since then. I didn’t know what philately meant then as stamp collecting was just my hobby. Philately, beautifully and accurately, describes the collector as a lover of stamps because the word derives from the old Greek word ‘philo’ which translates as ‘lover’. I still have all of my stamps from so many years ago but I guess that is what collectors do…they keep everything!
Later on I collected and made model aircraft, boats, trains and tanks and this hobby lasted several years when I was a teenager. I have gathered a collection of ‘found items’ which is made from items that I have picked up from beaches as I take my morning walks along the seafront. The collection is mainly stones but they are unique in their own way. This hobby led me on to collecting old bottles which I first found in the sea. Alas no messages in bottles but I keep hoping!
In recent years I have become a collect of glass especially vintage glass and antiques. There are so many areas for collectors to specialize when considering glass and I began with glass vases but got disillusioned because of the scarcity and the high price of antique vases. A friend of mine, a fellow glass collector is an ash tray collector. My passion now is for antique bottles, preferably glass ones although I have some ceramic and stoneware ones too. If you are interested in glass bottle collecting (they are in plentiful supply) then some very nice (and small too) bottles can be bought online for a modest $2 or $3.
