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View Master Reels.
View Masters are blasts from the past that display pictures whenever circular reels are inserted into them. Mary Ann Sell of Cincinnati has over 40,000 reels in her personal collection.
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Cell Phones.
Carsten Tews from Germany has a collection of 1,563 mobile phones. If only he had some friends to call.
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Barbie Dolls.
Bettina Dorfman’s Barbie doll collection is reportedly worth over $150,000. At the time of writing, she owns 6,025 Barbies.
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Airline Barf Bags.
Here’s some figures that just might make you vomit: Dutch collector Niek Vermeulen has 6,290 airsick bags from 1,191 different airlines and almost 200 countries.
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Happy Meal Toys
11-year-old Luke Underwood boasted a collection of over 7,000 promotional Happy Meal toys. He was approached by other hardcore collectors and auctioned the set off for $11,000. He now collects sports cars.
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Jarred Foetuses.
Jarred foetuses – or ‘pickled punks’, to use their slang term – were aborted human foetuses crammed into Mason jars for display at sideshows.
Obviously it’s illegal to own these. Go straight to prison, do not pass Go! In fact, possessing any human remains requires a valid mortician’s licence.
These legal complications led to the creation of rubber replicas, called ‘bouncers’, which typically sell for around $200. Collect them all!
24
Movie Cameras.
Dimitris Pistiolas of Athens believes life should be more like the movies. Check out his record-breaking collection of 930 vintage movie cameras and projectors.
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Personalised Autographs.
Paul Schmelzer collects autographs from famous artists, politicians, writers, and movie stars. Interestingly, he doesn’t ask for their autographs; he gets them to write his name in their handwriting. Kinda narcissistic.
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Miniature Chairs.
Barbara Hartsfield owns an enormous collection of teeny tiny miniature chairs – three thousand, in fact. She’s only been collecting for ten years, but chairs are definitely her future. She opened Georgia’s very first miniature chair museum in 2008 after setting the world record. I hear they have adequate seating.
21
Beer Mugs.
German Heinrich Kath has a collector of over 20,000 beer mugs. The funny thing is he doesn’t even drink beer.