Collectors' Passions Vary from Buttons to Beerbottles
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For the longest time, people have [A]collected[/A] things, just for fun. Butterflies. Buttons. Beer bottles. String wrapped into balls.
Umbrellas, matchbooks, model airplanes. You name it, somebody probably collects it. It's not just an American thing, but we go a little nuts with it.
Surely the first prize for fanatical [A]collecting[/A] goes to a fellow in New York City who calls himself "Inspector Collector." On an Internet [A]website[/A] by that name, he shows photos and tells little [A]stories[/A] about the many, many things he hangs onto.
Menus from Chinese restaurants, for instance. Rubber bands, [A]pencils[/A], scissors and bottle caps. And there's more! He also collects spoons, paper clips, maps, drinking straws, shopping bags, postcards, hockey sticks, transit tokens, marbles, dice, security badges, airline tags, citrus peelers, and [A]toothpicks[/A].
Speaking of toothpicks, there are entire [A]organizations [/A]of collectors, including the Toothpick Holder Collectors Society, 700 members strong.
These groups exist, in part, because collectors have a [A]problem[/A]: their love of toothpaste tubes or bubble-gum machines is quite often not shared by their spouses or children. So when they pass on to that great knickknack [A]cabinet[/A] in the sky, their precious assortment of [A]teacups[/A] could end up in the garbage, a street sale, or at an auction site on the Internet.
Collectors' club members keep in touch, even [A]checking[/A] on each other's health. If the unfortunate happens, a member passes away, and the family has no interest in his or her ivory needles or miniature buses or [A]vacuum[/A] cleaners, the clubs ensure that someone will eagerly step forward to save the [A]collection[/A] from the trash heap.
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