Dumb collector shows.

I hate most collector shows on TV. All they ever do is go to people with some lame collection like salt and pepper shakers, and ask what is their most valuable pair. I know people collect those things. I want to see the really ODDBALL stuff people collect. I think the best I ever saw on a show was a guy who collected the plastic bags carrots came in. Now THAT’S entertainment!
And these shows are all about how much the stuff is worth. Yeah, OK. I guess I want to know if they cost $5, or $500, but I am far more interested in how they started, what’s the coolest items they have, what terrible stories of collector’s despair have they gone through, clever ways of displaying them, insider knowledge like how there is a secret North Korean factory churning out replicas of all the salt and pepper shakers from the 1920’s.

Collecting should not be about money. If that is the reason a person is in the game, then they are not a collector, but a deal who just has not started selling things yet.

This gives me a thought, if North Korea can counterfeit US bills (as some people claim) they should just counterfeit some rare stamps or something and use a worldwide network to suddenly dump them all and devastate all the rich westerners that put their money in such things. As I once said, “you can never go wrong by collecting handguns and ammunition. Even if society falls apart they will still have a value!”

I honestly cannot tell you the weirdest thing I have seen anyone collect. Carrot bags are right up there- and do not get me wrong, I am not laughing at the guy, I applaud his efforts to do something really cool. The problem is that if you find something tres cool to collect, like 1960’s Japanese robots, everyone else will want to collect them as well. Prices go up, and as soon as it is slightly cheaper to make a new fake one than but an original – the reproductions come out and the hobby is in shambles.