Peanuts In My Pocket

Collecting odd things started when I was a young boy. At first, it was old books, wheat-backed pennies, and chess pieces, but over time it evolved in many different ways. With the advent of digital collecting, I broadened my collection to include music and photos, and most recently, live music performances.

Wheat-backed pennies are where I can see my obsession the most. I have thousands in my collection, with multiple copies of every year and every mint. For me, the hunt is the challenge. I rarely buy a penny at a coin show; instead, I hunt for them. It’s common for me to receive $20 worth of rolled pennies as a gift and spend a few hours searching through them. There are other ways I find pennies. I recently found a nice 1910-S in the change return at my local Coinstar. It was in great condition and worth about $15. Not that I would ever sell it. I collect; I don’t sell.

Chess pieces were a passing phase. From the age of six until I left home at 18, I built a collection of about 100 pieces, most of them knights. I’m not even sure why now, but it may have been something about the form or texture, or both. I loved touching my collection of pieces. I kept many in a shoebox near my bed. I’m sure my parents chucked them when I left home. I never saw them again.

With digital cameras came my urge to collect photos of graffiti and bumper stickers. I would never indulge this interest while analog film cameras were a thing, but once I picked up a digital camera, my collecting started in earnest. Now I have tens of thousands of images in my library. I pull up Lightroom occasionally just to review my collection. I’m not sure why, but it helps me relax.

Hunting for graffiti and other things I collect via a digital camera is an incidental pursuit these days. If I’m out and have a camera handy, I’ll shoot anything that interests me. A lot of things interest me. Birds, buildings, bugs… I could go on and on. I recently started collecting fonts used in signage. I had to stop myself. I really don’t need a collection of the letter P.

My latest obsession is collecting live performances of Bob Marley and the Wailers. This one started after watching One Love a few weeks ago. I was bothered by Kingsley Ben-Adir’s depiction of Bob Marley while performing. It did not feel right. I watched a few videos, and then a few more. Now I have a list with links for the 20 or so I’ve collected. I was right, Kingsley Ben-Adir’s performance was a stiffer, more robotic version of an authentic Marley performance. It was close enough. I loved the movie.

As retirement hobbies go, collecting images is perfect. It’s free if you have a camera and mostly harmless. The only problem is that there is not a person alive who will sit with me to view my collection. I understand. It’s really just for me. Wait… perhaps I could put them on Pinterest?

Do you collect anything? I’d love to hear about it.