I didn't want to hijack the thread about Christmas ornaments so I thought I'd start a new thread...

Have any of you started collections of things from your travels?

I have an Eiffel Tower collection, up 15 now that I'm home from this trip. (I don't buy the goofy ones, and my new favorite is the one covered with Swarovsky crystals, just like it is sparkling on the hour)

I collect the Gault/Carlton miniature Parisian buildings, although I also have a few from Provence.

My latest collection started this trip is miniature items for a shadowbox of tiny compartments. I now buy the tiniest things I can find from anywhere we travel and am loving it! I just put this new collection in place and am trying to figure out how to secure them in place so they don't all fall out if someone bumps into them (any suggestions please? I hate the thought of glue, but I do need something)

Not that I'm looking for another collection, but what other new ideas do you have?

Georgian silver & Spode china pieces.

I collect antique purses made out of german silver, beads or metal.

I try to check out antique stores in the city I am visiting. A couple of years ago I was able to purchase two purses in Germany.

I am now running out of wall space to hang them so unless the purse is truly unique, I do not buy it.

Gail

David Winter Cottages. 74 so far.

cigales! My favorite is an old inkwell/penholder I found in Lourmarin.

Yellow Provençal pottery.

kwren,

i have eiffel towers, too, i just love it so much. latest being a nifty sketch from an artiste in the place des vosges.

there is a product you can use for your miniatures, but i don't know the name. maybe something like "tacky tape." my mother lived in LA and used it to secure things like expensive vases in case of an earthquake. it comes off like a clear gel, but holds. it may be at a hardware store.

I collect camels figurines.
57 so far.
They are hard to find.
I found a little one in Venice in 2003. Only cost 9euros.

Georgian silver and Old Sheffield Plate..the DH collects WWI memorabilia

I have an outstanding collection of memories, which I intend to continue to expand on...

ah yes the memories...and photos! I love them all.

I love paperweights and have quite a few from around the globe.

I collect stationary, but only to write on it and send it along. I have friends, though, that collect my letters.

Music is my big thing now. I love to go into the Arabic quarter of Barcelona and ask people for CDs. I usually download the music right there onto my laptop, then continue on my way. It is a great way to sample beats from around the world and shopowners and bartenders are really into sharing the collections, particularly when I present them with a mix of my own.

kwren- I can't imagine how you can classify a Swarovsky crystal encrusted Eiffel Tower as not goofy. I have Swarovsky encrusted headphones and they are definitely insanely dorky in a very pretentious way.

Don't even get me started on all the things my husband and I collect, but in a travel-related collection, my son collects crosses (not crucifixes) for the wall of his room. He likes them and they are a good thing to look for while his sisters are out scouting for in stereotypical key chains and snow globes.

Santons from Provence.

I have to admit my kleptomania. I never steal anything else, even when I get the wrong change in stores, or somebody drops bills or coins I tell them, but there is one thing when I can't help myself.

I collect the "do not disturb" signs. I have them in many shapes, languages, colors. There are "displayed" in my apartment hanging on the door knobs.

Yes, I do buy souvenirs, and no, I don't take home neither hangers nor towels. It's just the paper signs I can't leave behind. Sigh...

I guess what's goofy to some isn't to others. My silver Eiffel Tower has tiny crystals on it, and is just over 3 inches tall. It doesn't even stand out from the others (except to me! )

When I said goofy, I meant the brightly colored, striped, polka dotted, twisted towers with faces. I only meant it in a nice way though, as they are cute, just not for my collection. (Actually the whole collection is goofy, but I don't care.) I hope I didn't offend.

My son collects gargoyles and he just got the biggest one to be found near Notre Dame - 88€ if that gives you an idea. The store owner said the only way to get a bigger one is to take one off Notre Dame! Half of it fit in his backpack, with the top half sticking out. Of course he had to unwrap it in Chicago - I'm sure they couldn't believe anyone would have a huge gargoyle in all that bubble wrap.

He also collects glass animals whenever he goes somewhere. I guess he inherited the collecting thing from me!

Restaurant business cards.

The bonus is that they are free and most of them are very colorful (some however are a little boring, they get overlaid with the good ones) they very easy to display, we have 2 16x20 clip frames and are about to start on our third.

I collect prints relative to the place I am visiting - just the cheap ones the street vendors sell.

The last one I purchased is of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. It's at the framers now - I can't wait to hang it.

I hope to travel so much and have so many prints that I run out of wall-space!

I have collected globes for quite a while. The latest addition, though it hasn't even arrived home yet, is one of Waterford Crystal purchased at the factory. One of my favorites is pretty cheesey, a plastic cube with a frosted globe inside with an Eiffel Tour inside of it.

Diane

A few months back someone on this site mentioned that they collected cow bells on their trips. When we were in Greece last month I saw some cool, giant cow bells at one of the Meteora monasteries. I bargained with one of the little old ladies running the stand and got it for 15 Euro (I assume I got a good deal because the other lady spit on the ground when we walked away).

After that we spent the rest of our vacation looking for bells in Italy, Turkey, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. Since most of those places didn't feature much in the way of cow bells we kind of adjusted our coellection to the accumulation of any lind of unique bells in general.

Prior to this bit of idiocy I was also collecting (when I remembered I was collecting them) little European mailboxes. A few years back the Danish postal service was selling little red banks resembling the mail collection boxes found throughout the country. I bought one of them. When we started this year's trip I wasn't even thinking about starting a mailbox collection. When we visited Italy, Greece and Turkey I never chanced upon any mailboxes in all the souvenir shops we frequented.

It wasn't until we reached Ireland that I happened upon a little roundish green bank that looked like the mailboxes found in most Irish towns. Almost every tacky English souvenir shop offered a miniature British mailbox sold right next to the miniature English telephone booths. Thus my collection is now up to three European mailboxes.

Oh yeah, a few years back I was going to collect tiny little beer trucks from the breweries we toured in Europe. There's two beer trucks in that collection sitting in my desk drawer.

This might sound tacky, but we collect magnets. They're small (makes it easy to transport) and affordable. And we always have a place to put them (on the refrigerator).