Pin Collecting at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

Hello Collectors!
Time sure flies when you are having fun.
Some of you are currently making plans to attend the 2010 winter Games. In preparation for that, some of you have been scouring the world for pins to trade while there. Well now a days scouring the world is easier than it used to be with the help of some of the sites out there. My two favorites for buying are ecrater.com and ebay.com. You can find good deals on all types of pins from all over the world. You just have to be patient and look for the bargains.
I have been to two Olympics, but the summer games is my thing. I can't see standing for several hours in the cold to see something pass by for three seconds in front of you since they are going 100 miles an hour.
One of the things that I learned pin trading in the previous Olympics is that people always like collecting more of the stuff they already have. For instance, someone that collects coke, will usually trade you any pin for just about any coke pin which they don't already have. The same thing with sponsors or organizations. If they are in to a specific sport, then they might want different pins from that sport. I did really well trading USA Federations pins from the different sports for other pins that I wanted. I also had individual sports pins from other venues such as Commonwealth Games, Goodwill Games, and Pan America Games. It is always easier and more fun to trade pins that were easy (and cheaper) to come by, that way you can be more flexible in your trading. Remember, the person you are trying to trade with probably has pins that were easy for them to get, too. So keep the trading light and low preasure. Enjoy the experience. Make some new friends.
Until next time, happy hunting!

New Stitch items for Holiday 2009 at Disney Stores

Disney Stores tend to neglect our friend Stitch, so it is always exciting when a new item pops up in store not near the Disney Theme Parks (especially if you don't get to go, or go very often in these times).

Disney Store North America has some cute new Stitch items this season, most notably, the Elvis Stitch ornament.

Other things include:

Christmas Stocking with Stitch's Head.
Winter Stitch plush with hoodie
Turkey Stitch beanie

Sorry we don't have prices for you, except the Elvis Stitch ornament for $9.50. These ornaments tend to go on sale, but the quality of your selection goes out the window the longer you wait. A lot of the ornaments have blemishes. So if you are a Stitch fan, and like to do some quality control, hurry in to your local Disney Store and check it out.

Thank you, Ecclectic Collector for inviting us to contribute. Aloha!

Hint: How to fine tune your collection

Hello Collectors!
I am going to give you other tips on how to hone your collections. The most important thing is to decide which things you love and which one you just like. As I have said before, if you love it, you will enjoy it!
I used to collect coca-cola items but as you well know there is a plethora of cola collectibles. Since I needed to start somewhere, I cut back collecting coke. That does not mean I stopped. Today I only collect coca-cola when it is in conjunction with some of my other strong interests like Disney or Olympics. This has cut my collection by more than half but I am still content as it still leaves me plenty to collect and I can narrow my focus. Not only am I not chasing as many items, and not being overrun with coke items, but I got rid of some of the items I no longer collect making room and money for those t I really love.
Another way I narrowed my focus with collecting Olympic pins was deciding that I only needed one pin from each and every n\National Olympic Committee that has ever participated in any Olympic game, instead of collecting every NOC pin I find. It does not matter if it is a generic committee pin, or one from a particular year. You would think this would not give me much to collect but here is the thing, countries cone and some go. For instance the USSR no longer exists. Now there are new countries ones to seek out like Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Estonia. Lithuania, and Latvia. Countries have changed names like Persia is now Iran. Some countries had not participated or were banned for many years such as South Africa due to apartheid. Other countries did not participate because of political or economic reasons. Such was the case with Vanuatu. They were not able to afford sending a participant until the 1996 Summer Games (Atlanta). Even now they can only afford to send one delegate.
So you see, a collection is what you make of it. I still have plenty of chasing to do for some of the older nations that are no longer with us, and as the world changes, the new ones emerge.
I hope this gives you some ideas on how to consolidate or refine your collection(s) so you can enjoy it and you don't have to end up going in to the antique business to sell your overruns. If you need suggestions specifically to your collection or have any ideas to help others, please let us know.
Until next time, happy hunting!

Tame the collecting beast

Hi fellow collectors,
We are going to talk about how easily a collection can get out of hand and some ideas on how to tame the beast.
When I first started collecting Olympic pins, I had only a manageable handful. I then went to an Olympic game and my collection exploded. The same thing happened with Disney, Coca-Cola, and others.
I decided that I needed to be more focused on what I collected while still collecting all the themes I loved. In order to tame the beast, I had to make some tough decisions, but in the end, i think it was the right decision. There is no way I could keep up with every pin that was put out by Disney, much less the Olympic committees, sponsors, teams, etc..
I decided to make some of my decisions based on what I could live with and made some sub-themes that I could specialize on instead of going all over the place. For instance, on Disney i decided to concentrate on Lady and the Tramp as well as Lilo and Stitch, those being my favorite movies. That does not mean that I won't get some of my other favorites, but I specialize on those two movies. So, if it really cute, unusual, or extremely limited edition of some of my lesser characters Chip & Dale, Jessica Rabbit, or Ariel) I might get them but when I only have enough cash for one, my primary collections wins out.
I will have some other suggestions and examples on how to cut back next time.
Until next time, happy hunting!

News: Disney buys Marvel!

Hi there fellow collectors;
I never thought we we would have such huge news! In case you have not heard....Disney has agreed to purchase Marvel Comics!
This is huge and there is lots of speculation on what changes will be made to Marvel, if any. One thing that is notable is that currently Marvel Characters are featured at Universal Studios which as you know is the Disney Park rival. So does Disney continue to let them have licensing to feature Marvel Characters, or do they pull the licensing when the current expires and create Marvel-land? Either way, Stan Lee is a very happy man.
Some Marvel die-hards are concerned that Disney will make changes that will destroy the collectible value of Marvel. But why would they change a cash cow that is working?
On the other hand, collectors should be excited as never toys might have new branding making the older toys more collectible and valuable. What do you think? Let us know.
We will keep you posted as we hear more.
Until next time, happy hunting!

What makes a collection?

Hi there fellow collectors!
Today we are going to talk about what makes a collection. What captures the interest of some people to collect some of the strange and not so strange things that people collect.
Some of us get started on collecting at an early age. For instance. the doll aunt Rica gave you as a child. Maybe it was porcelain and your mother did not let you play with it so it would not get broken, or maybe it was dressed really nice and you did not want it to get dirty, so you put her on a shelf. Some of us are content with having one doll. Some of us feel that the doll needs a companion as it looks lonely sitting on that shelf by herself, so we get a friend to sit with her.This starts a collection!
It's your birthday and aunt Rica sees how well you have taken care of the doll she gave you. You must really love it since you even got her a friend. So... she buys you another doll for your birthday. The collection grows!
Other people get started collecting for lots of different reasons. Some collect things reflecting a favorite food or beverage, and sometimes it could be influenced by regional favorites. A good example is Coca-Cola in the south, although now a days it is an international collectors' favorite, but here in Texas, Dr. Pepper rules.
Others collect for nostalgic reasons such as a game you played as a kid, like Monopoly. It was one of my favorite board games growing up. Since it is good for several ages, I got to play it with my mom as well as my older brother at the same time (even though he cheated). I collect Monopoly games, although I have gone way beyond the original and classic versions. In a way, there is a certain comfort in seeing those Monopoly boxes all lined up. It brings back fond memories of a simpler time and a happy childhood.
Many of you collect as an investment for your retirement. While I don't have anything against that, there is one great piece of advice I got from a fellow collector. Collect what you really like, not just for the possible appreciated value of the item. Simply put, if it makes you happy, then collect it. Don't expect it to be your retirement. If the house burns down, or it never goes up in value, at least you enjoyed having it, looking at it, or even playing with it.
Until next time, happy hunting!

Welcome to Ecclectic Collector

Hello everyone. Welcome to our blog. i wanted to introduce our collector's blog, the "Ecclectic Collector".

First of all, let's address our name...yes we know it is spelled differently. The correct spelling was taken in one of the forums which we will be accessing and we wanted to be consistent, besides :Why be normal? Most of us collectors are not normal, or at the least, misunderstood. Secondly, we liked the name as it really describes some of our collections (and it is fun to say). There you have it.

Now let's get down to the fun stuff by getting a few things straight. Collections do not neccessarily mean hording stuff. Most collections seem to get started innocently enough. My brother's key chain collection started when he brought back a couple of keychains froma vacation trip and he hung them on push pins on his cubicle wall at work. Pretty soon, everyone came back from their vacation and brought him back a souvenir key chain. Before you could say "Bon Voyage" he had over 100 key chains hanging on his cubicle. Needless to say, not much room for memos. It was time to stop the madness. He kept his favorites and gave the rest to my mother. She in turn took them to a restaurant/bar in Spain that had a collection of over a thousand and bestowed them to the owner. They all hang in a museum setting now.

Not all of us collectors are so lucky. Some of us can't part with things so easily or have someone to pass on our collections to. The only one of my collectionsI was ever able to actually give away was my insect collection which I imparted to my nerdy little cousin Louie, much to his mother's delight...NOT. I mean what was not to love about this collection of grasshoppers, dragonflies, roaches, moths, butterflies, bees, hornets, wasps, beetles, flies and spiders all captured humanely put to sleep so they could be beautifully displayed on their very own shiny stick pin?

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that if you don't have such avenues for trimming your collections, you become an antique dealer.

We are going to try to bring you interesting, if not just humorous, articles about collections, collectibles, and even about some collectors. We hope you enjoy our blog and invite you to ask questions, offer some suggestions, or even if you have input you would like to provide on other subjects, please feel free to contact us.

We will try to bring you weekly articles but sometimes if there is breaking news, we will send you some quick updates.

Until next time, happy hunting!