Everyone collects something in one way or another. Whether it's a massive arrangement of Star Wars figures behind a glass case or an extensive library of the collected works of The Smurfs, we all have something in great numbers. Eventually, you'll come across the holy grail of that thing you collect, sitting on a shelf or at a garage sale, and you have to get it. There's no ifs about it.
And, finally, you have the rarest Smurfs book of them all.
Reddit user, u/Kov01b0t, wanted a look behind the glass cases when they asked:
Collectors of reddit.Whats the rarest item you own?
BOOKS!
I collect rare books and I have:
- Dante's Divine Comedy, 1536
- Chronicon Saxonicum, 1692 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)
- Works of Virgil, 1697
- War of the Worlds, first edition
- Malleus Maleficarum, 1928 (numbered edition)
I also have a leaf from the Book of Hours (illuminated manuscript), made in Paris, c1370.
May The Force Be With Them
Some negatives from original cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy.
You Take Away...
The rarest CD I own in my CD collection is a copy of Staind's Tormented. I spent about 2 years searching before I found a copy at a local record shop!
I also have said cd. The one i have you had to order off of their website.
One of the reasons Tormented is so hard to find is because they only sold it at concerts or on their website. I don't think it's been in print for a very long time, and even if you try to find it on ebay, there are very few listings and the existing listings are quite pricey! I love Staind's early heavier stuff, it's the best!
It's The Brass That Sells It
Lee Young "Sea Captain" painting.
You can find them online for a couple hundred but mine has an original brass cornered frame and a detailed map background. I saw one online with my frame that sold for $800 but I've never seen one with the map background.
"It's also the loudest thing I own that isn't a firearm."
Fender Super Six Reverb. It's a huge amplifier.
It's essentially a 100W silverface Twin Reverb chassis in a hilariously impractical 6x10 cabinet. Think of a super reverb, but with two more speakers stacked on so that it stands almost chest high. Mine was made in '74, but I think they made them from '72-'76. They didn't sell many because they're f-cking heavy and do almost the same thing a twin does—but the cabinet does make them sound unique and it kills with a telecaster or steel guitar. It's also the loudest thing I own that isn't a firearm.
An Underrated Classic
My Nazi German Shepherd puppet from the TV show Danger 5.
I dropped $1,000 for it at an auction the producers of the show put on a couple of years ago and since there were only 2 puppets made, it's rare.
For those of you unfamiliar with the show it's a hilarious Australian comedy about a group of spies who are trying to kill Hitler, but the show (at least the first season) is shot like it's from the 1960s.
Here are some of the scenes featuring my puppet
A Survivor Of History
I care for a >400 year old family wakizashi sword from my father's side of the family. It survived many bearers, wars, and the bombing of Nagasaki.
I'm not really a collector though.
The King Had To Make Sure His Shirt Was Tucked In
A LeBron James signed high school honor code.
I went to high school with LeBron. In each class at the beginning of the semester you had to sign a generic "I won't cheat" honor code. In math class we were passed out scrap paper one day and the teacher had repurposed a bunch of students' honor codes from her other class to use as scrap paper for our class. I got Lebron's. I've kept it ever since. I have other LeBron memorabilia, but this is my favorite and most unique.
Do They Even Sleep?
Got a first edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that was a real find. I found it at a thrift store for a quarter. At that same thrift store I found a copy of Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns, signed by Ray Bradbury.
I See Through The Lies!
Probably my LEGO Star Wars Anakin Skywalker minifigure with a light up lightsaber
HOLY SH-T THOSE WERE REAL?!?!?
I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A FEVER DREAM!
That's Not A Knife. THIS Is A Knife.
Before I got robbed I used to collect knives. I had a Spyderco Spyderfly, a cold steel arc angel, but the rarest was probably my Benchmade model 43. They only made a few hundred.
Non-Functioning History
I have a Japanese Zero Kamikaze pilots watch from the Pacific theater of WW2. My great uncle gave it to me. it is non functional (hands are rusty) and the leather strap is half broken.
Did he pull it from the wreckage or something of a plane that crashed in the water?
It came from a captured POW as far as I know. He passed away at 90 something a couple years ago
Not All Who Wander...
A first edition silmarrillion by Tolkien and a few antiques. Also some weird 1800s books i found at a book sale
I've got a second edition set of LotR, not as rare as yours at all but I didn't expect to see a similar item in this thread.