You can buy what we call, "earthquake glue" or museum putty at Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens N Things.

Over more than 30 years of foreign travel, mostly to various parts of Europe, I've been picking up bar coasters everywhere I have a beer or a drink. They are free, and the waiter will normally give you a few fresh unused ones if you ask. It's amazing what a colorful collection this can make, and basically at no cost.

Lots of folks I know collect match books and place them in big jars for display. Just another free item that's lots of fun.

And of course the fancy packaged soaps and lotions--great.

L84SKY

Thanks for the book tip; I'm looking it up now. Beverly D'Onfrio's Looking for Mary is an interesting book, with a decent story. Well written if you are at all interested in the subject of a woman's search for some spiritual meaning. Nicely irreverent and yet serious.

Judging from the responses, the title of the thread should be "What DON'T you collect?"

Like Faina, I can't leave a 'do not disturb sign' behind. Antique silver serving pieces, good Limoge pieces (not tourist shop stuff), small antique glasses, Baccarat. salt cellars, antique salt spoons, matches, minatures - as used in doll houses, soaps, and I buy at _least_ one pair of earrings from every place I visit - they don't have anything to do with the cities/towns, ie: Eiffel Towers, etc.. just memories of where I was when I bought them.
Magnets, tea towels, wrist watches, books from museums, chateaux, etc. small vases, especially from Provence, table linens and on and on.

I guess that most of my collections have to do with food or drink ... hmmmmm that tells you something

Nina

Whooops ... Limoges. I wouldn't want you to think that I collect something that I can't spell.

I don't know if this is classified as a collection , but how about an obsessive need to buy scarves in every store and from every street vendor? As my mother used to say, 'how many can you wear at one time?"

Nina

Thanks tucsonlifedit, "spiritual meaning. Nicely irreverent and yet serious." That sounds like book for me.
The collections of flags and bells made me think of the Unity Church in Tucson. They have a huge collection of flags from all around the world inside.
On the outside rimming the building is a nice collection of Paulo Solari bells. It's so peaceful when there's a bit of a breeze.

Fun topic kwren!

I collect a deck of cards from each country visited. My rule is that they must be produced in that country and I try to find decorative figures for the face cards.

Callalilli, My photo theme is a parked bicycle against a building from each trip. Love the crossing signs idea!

tickets...plane ticket stubs, metro, tourist sites, etc. they all go into a box.

Thanks SusanEva - the more posts I read the more I realize I collect too...I have 3 large clear glass vases of matchbooks and a refrig covered with magnets too.

Elephants

2 of my kids collect pennies which are stretched out and have different pictures of the place imprinted. We actually saw one of these "penny" machines at Hallstatt, although you put in a .05 euro piece (and 1€ to pay for it)

My mom collect Welsh Corgis, and she and I both have a santon collection.

I collect glue wine cups from the Chriskindle markt's in Germany.

When I visited my first foreign country, shortly after joining the Navy, I started collecting paper money and coins of every country I visited. I would always look for the cleanest, newest bills I could find. Only about five or ten U.S. dollars worth.

So far my collection contains bills and coins from: Canada, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.

If I fly into and right out of an airport of a country, I don't count that as a "conquest".

I'm sort of sad that Europe now uses the Euro, because I can't collect any from those countries. Our next trip is to Italy, a graduation present for my daughter who is finishing law school.

I used my franc coins to decorate a frame for my dog's photo and made two others as gifts. My shells: I decorated terra cotta flower pots.

I collect nothing, as I hate geegaws. The very few knick-knacks I have were given to me.

I do have a weakness for hotel soaps, and I have a drawerful of them.

SusanEva -- yeay for photo souveniers! Your the first other i've 'met'! I love your bycycle against the building theme! i'm sure i will now think of you if/when i see one. \/

Coffee cups....picked up souviner cups on our travels and use them daily at home. Finally had to stop as we got too many, but it is a useful item and not one you put on a shelf.

thx for the info, re eiffel tower collectibles. and, i used to collect turtles for my sister. im not sure how it started, but at one point, she said "thanks so much, but enough already"! lol

I have also a very small collection (4) of enamelled coins that have been made into jewellry---a three pence from the 1940's, an Irish punt from the 40's, a 1970's era pound coin, and another pound enamelled in a different color. They are fun to wear and people always ask about them.

walkinaround, you just gave me a simple and great idea...I also tend to bring home all kinds of ticket stubs and other small paper memorabilia and I always think this stuff is going to go into some yet un-created scrapbook, but all I really want to do is just sift through them and enjoy the memories.

Duh, put 'em in a box!

Not to get anal or anything, but just your average shoebox or???

Also guilty of those 'do not disturb' signs.