Brilliant Tor. I donated a sweet wooden jigsaw puzzle of some rabbits in dresses bought for me by my aunt to the school jumble sale, and bought at the same sale a Fraggle Rock jigsaw which I brought home triumphant (I loved fraggle rock) to show my mum. Mum said “so you just swapped a really nice jigsaw for a really horrible one?”. My heart sank and every night I would go to bed and revisit this regretful episode. It was at that point the biggest regret of my life and took me many years to get over, no doubt replacing the memory with something much more regretful. I wonder what you collect now?
Oh Ruby! I really understand this. There's something so fragile about our tastes when we're children, and so crushing when those tastes are criticised. I always admire my sister for sticking to the things she liked, which were so outside our general family style (she liked horror and rock motifs, skulls and the like) - I think it takes courage to listen to our inner voices telling us what we *actually* like rather than what we're supposed to like! I suppose now I collect books and sewing equipment, but those aren't collections in the way of coins and shells, that acquisitive fire is gone!! xx
You're so right Tor, and hats off to your sister for ploughing her own furrow. I think collections can be a bit stifling so maybe it's no bad thing that you sold your coins. I made a radio series about people who collected things and invariably there was a sense of "oh my god what am I doing with all this stuff?". Useful collections must be the way forward! X
That's interesting about them being a bit stifling, I can see that too. Also I know friends who expressed some mild interest in something once or twice when they were young so everyone started buying them more of that thing and then it became their collection, unintentionally. Which isn't ideal.
A radio series Ruby! Can I listen to it somewhere? x
Of course you loved Fraggle Rock too, another cultural passion we share! And oh my god, I never made that connection with the puzzles. You're absolutely right. X
Haha!! Halcyon days!! I love appearing in your comics, I feel like a celeb!
I think mum still has my coin collection - it’s in a long leather box, and my favourite were always the Victorian pennies! I’m also remembering I used to collect stamps. They were super exciting because of the paintings on them. I seem to remember Australian ones being extra exciting because of the beautiful bird paintings! X
Haha you'll always be in my comics!! Oooo Els ask your mum! And I remember your stamp collection, do you know what happened to it? And do you remember Daniel being a big coin nerd too? xx
I certainly DO remember him being a big coin and stamps nerd! I’ll have to ask him if he still has them! I’ll ask mum about the coins… @Elona Bennett do you remember? X
I used to collect Paul Frank t-shirts, I had loads of them but for some reason I abandoned ALL of them when I left London. I don't know what I was thinking!!!! I'm so angry at past me !!!
THAT'S MADDENING!! Past me also makes such reprehensible decisions, that current me is always picking up the tab for!!! Are you tempted to rebuy any?
That's one of the things I like about Antiques Roadshow, seeing people's collections and what they've held onto in the face of partner/freind/societal disapproval 😂
Not a collection, but I gave away our copy of Red Truck when I was sick to death of reading it, and now miss it so much but can't bring myself to buy a new copy because my kids are way too big for board books about trucks. Ooh and my husband refused to let me bring my skull collection (animal skulls that I found in the moors, not a murder confession!) when we moved in together, and I kind of miss those. I had some teeny tiny mouse skulls that were so fascinating, but the collection really was pretty creepy 😅
Amazing - I definitely think you should re-buy Red Truck - perhaps you could put it in some kind of 3-D frame? And that's hilarious about the skull collection. I sympathise with your husband, but also, I bet you do miss them! You could have had some weird ossuary in the garden for your special skulls??
Omg, this made me tearful! My 12yr old son started collecting coins a year ago, he loves it. As a birthday treat we went to the British Museum yesterday to see the money rooms and then to the only banknote shop in London- off Charing Cross Road! We spent an hour there and came away with some notes and coins that my son was THRILLED about. So if any consolation, I’m sure your collection made some people very happy!
This is so touching Sinead! What a lovely birthday treat, and how funny that the banknote shop should be there!! Charing Cross Road does hang on to some vestiges of old London doesn't it. I can't think of anything nicer than that my coin collection or parts of it should've been bought by a child, thank you!
I regret all the collections I/my mum gave away. My Polly Pockets, the Dandy and Beano comics and annuals, the Littlest Pet Shop sets, my Saved By The Bell sticker album...*silently sobs into morning coffee*
I'm making up for it now though and starting them again haha!
When I was about the same age I developed a habit of collecting foreign stamps. I tried to get at least one from each country in the world.
I think what killed my interest was the almost impossible feat of getting stamps from countries like Andorra, the old Belgian Congo (I was eight before it became independent), China and French Guiana. I usually saved my allowance to buy an unsorted pile of stamps from a discount house found in the back pages of a comic book.
Yes! My collection of erasers. I had about 100 and they were all different novelty ones - like ice creams or tiny animals. How I loved that collection.
I have a memory of one that was shaped like an ice cream cone. It haunts me in my dreams. Where did it go? What landfill site is it in now?! Does it miss me like I miss it 😂😂😂😂
A year ago I slung out an ANTIQUE (from the 1970s!) super8 projector I bought 25 years ago.
Ashamed to say I took it to the tip too. Its gone. landfill. Nobody wanted it on ebay. Sigh.
It was so cool... looked like a TV, had a little swing mirror door that converted it from regular projector into a little portable screen. Had kind of Kubricky 2001 vibes. "Eumig R 2000" if you wanna google it. RIP little chum.
I just did google that, it looks insanely cool. I'm now sad for you - and you made this regrettable choice only a year ago, so we can't even blame a different-era Luke!! But also, I do remember my dad saying once that unless you want to lug everything with you through life you have to make tough decisions... RIP lil Eumie R!
I used to collect pen-pal writing sets. You know, matching paper and envelope with different illustrations and sometimes a light perfume! I don't exactly miss it but I'd love to see it again, it would take me straight back to that age! Especially if they still smell!
Yes I absolutely remember those and I had some too!! I didn't have loads, but couldn't bring myself to use the ones I did have - too precious to post! I didn't have smelly ones though, that is next level excellent ❤️
Hi Bells Mum here ( Elona Bennett) yes I do have some coins.. but I thought they were Arthur’s?? Anyway they came from Grandpa who worked in a bank… not that many tho’ … do not remember a leather bag?? These are in a box… maybe you gave them to Arfur Mo???❤️
I absolutely love your comment c Tor, such a big fan of yours👏👏😘😘😘😘
I had a pretty good collection that I kept with my dad. I know we had some valuable coins, but a lot of it was just cool, and even more than that it was one of the few things that brought us together. I was proud of our stuffed shoebox, but I guess he didn’t feel the same because he sold it without telling me a few years ago. I definitely miss the collection.
I'm sorry Darin, that's painful. These things can be so freighted with emotion can't they, for good and for sad. I didn't realise I missed the coins until I made this comic, but I've felt nostalgic with that mix of sadness since doing so - not about the coins I guess, but as you say, it's usually about more than that.
Another great story - thank you! I inherited my older brother's stamp collection when I was around 10 (he was bored with it) and tended it carefully for about 4 years. My mum told me years later she'd given it away to some neighbours' children that "might be interested" and I lamented the loss of it (and the first day covers I'd added) for a few hours! At least she'd kept hold of my Charles and Di ladybird books!
Thanks Nicola! I love the notion of tending a collection, that's exactly right, and explains the pain when it's gone! And the children only "might" have been interested!!! I hope they were! Thank goodness about the ladybird books - do you still have them?
Brilliant Tor. I donated a sweet wooden jigsaw puzzle of some rabbits in dresses bought for me by my aunt to the school jumble sale, and bought at the same sale a Fraggle Rock jigsaw which I brought home triumphant (I loved fraggle rock) to show my mum. Mum said “so you just swapped a really nice jigsaw for a really horrible one?”. My heart sank and every night I would go to bed and revisit this regretful episode. It was at that point the biggest regret of my life and took me many years to get over, no doubt replacing the memory with something much more regretful. I wonder what you collect now?
Oh Ruby! I really understand this. There's something so fragile about our tastes when we're children, and so crushing when those tastes are criticised. I always admire my sister for sticking to the things she liked, which were so outside our general family style (she liked horror and rock motifs, skulls and the like) - I think it takes courage to listen to our inner voices telling us what we *actually* like rather than what we're supposed to like! I suppose now I collect books and sewing equipment, but those aren't collections in the way of coins and shells, that acquisitive fire is gone!! xx
You're so right Tor, and hats off to your sister for ploughing her own furrow. I think collections can be a bit stifling so maybe it's no bad thing that you sold your coins. I made a radio series about people who collected things and invariably there was a sense of "oh my god what am I doing with all this stuff?". Useful collections must be the way forward! X
That's interesting about them being a bit stifling, I can see that too. Also I know friends who expressed some mild interest in something once or twice when they were young so everyone started buying them more of that thing and then it became their collection, unintentionally. Which isn't ideal.
A radio series Ruby! Can I listen to it somewhere? x
💔
Poor Ruby!! Do you still have the Fraggle Rock one?
No I think I got rid of it because it made me feel too sad!
Oh no!! I loved Fraggle Rock too!! You’ve made up for it with your brill wooden jigsaw collection anyway! X
Of course you loved Fraggle Rock too, another cultural passion we share! And oh my god, I never made that connection with the puzzles. You're absolutely right. X
Haha!! Halcyon days!! I love appearing in your comics, I feel like a celeb!
I think mum still has my coin collection - it’s in a long leather box, and my favourite were always the Victorian pennies! I’m also remembering I used to collect stamps. They were super exciting because of the paintings on them. I seem to remember Australian ones being extra exciting because of the beautiful bird paintings! X
Haha you'll always be in my comics!! Oooo Els ask your mum! And I remember your stamp collection, do you know what happened to it? And do you remember Daniel being a big coin nerd too? xx
I certainly DO remember him being a big coin and stamps nerd! I’ll have to ask him if he still has them! I’ll ask mum about the coins… @Elona Bennett do you remember? X
I used to collect Paul Frank t-shirts, I had loads of them but for some reason I abandoned ALL of them when I left London. I don't know what I was thinking!!!! I'm so angry at past me !!!
THAT'S MADDENING!! Past me also makes such reprehensible decisions, that current me is always picking up the tab for!!! Are you tempted to rebuy any?
That's one of the things I like about Antiques Roadshow, seeing people's collections and what they've held onto in the face of partner/freind/societal disapproval 😂
Not a collection, but I gave away our copy of Red Truck when I was sick to death of reading it, and now miss it so much but can't bring myself to buy a new copy because my kids are way too big for board books about trucks. Ooh and my husband refused to let me bring my skull collection (animal skulls that I found in the moors, not a murder confession!) when we moved in together, and I kind of miss those. I had some teeny tiny mouse skulls that were so fascinating, but the collection really was pretty creepy 😅
Amazing - I definitely think you should re-buy Red Truck - perhaps you could put it in some kind of 3-D frame? And that's hilarious about the skull collection. I sympathise with your husband, but also, I bet you do miss them! You could have had some weird ossuary in the garden for your special skulls??
Omg, this made me tearful! My 12yr old son started collecting coins a year ago, he loves it. As a birthday treat we went to the British Museum yesterday to see the money rooms and then to the only banknote shop in London- off Charing Cross Road! We spent an hour there and came away with some notes and coins that my son was THRILLED about. So if any consolation, I’m sure your collection made some people very happy!
This is so touching Sinead! What a lovely birthday treat, and how funny that the banknote shop should be there!! Charing Cross Road does hang on to some vestiges of old London doesn't it. I can't think of anything nicer than that my coin collection or parts of it should've been bought by a child, thank you!
If I had kept collecting from the same source, probably not. There tended to be so many duplicates.
But if I had found other sources (pen pals, for example) I might have had a complete collection.
Oh the coins Tor, noooo!!
I regret all the collections I/my mum gave away. My Polly Pockets, the Dandy and Beano comics and annuals, the Littlest Pet Shop sets, my Saved By The Bell sticker album...*silently sobs into morning coffee*
I'm making up for it now though and starting them again haha!
START IT AGAIN - ESPECIALLY Saved by the Bell sticker album!!!
When I was about the same age I developed a habit of collecting foreign stamps. I tried to get at least one from each country in the world.
I think what killed my interest was the almost impossible feat of getting stamps from countries like Andorra, the old Belgian Congo (I was eight before it became independent), China and French Guiana. I usually saved my allowance to buy an unsorted pile of stamps from a discount house found in the back pages of a comic book.
This sounds an excellent collection!! Do you think if you'd hung in there you could one day have got them all?
Yes! My collection of erasers. I had about 100 and they were all different novelty ones - like ice creams or tiny animals. How I loved that collection.
Those sound amazing - love a special eraser, even though their cuteness always seems to be in inverse proportion to how well they rub out!!
I have a memory of one that was shaped like an ice cream cone. It haunts me in my dreams. Where did it go? What landfill site is it in now?! Does it miss me like I miss it 😂😂😂😂
A year ago I slung out an ANTIQUE (from the 1970s!) super8 projector I bought 25 years ago.
Ashamed to say I took it to the tip too. Its gone. landfill. Nobody wanted it on ebay. Sigh.
It was so cool... looked like a TV, had a little swing mirror door that converted it from regular projector into a little portable screen. Had kind of Kubricky 2001 vibes. "Eumig R 2000" if you wanna google it. RIP little chum.
I just did google that, it looks insanely cool. I'm now sad for you - and you made this regrettable choice only a year ago, so we can't even blame a different-era Luke!! But also, I do remember my dad saying once that unless you want to lug everything with you through life you have to make tough decisions... RIP lil Eumie R!
I used to collect pen-pal writing sets. You know, matching paper and envelope with different illustrations and sometimes a light perfume! I don't exactly miss it but I'd love to see it again, it would take me straight back to that age! Especially if they still smell!
Yes I absolutely remember those and I had some too!! I didn't have loads, but couldn't bring myself to use the ones I did have - too precious to post! I didn't have smelly ones though, that is next level excellent ❤️
Love this story! I also just love your drawing so much.
Thanks Fionn! The feeling is very mutual!
Comic!!!
Hi Bells Mum here ( Elona Bennett) yes I do have some coins.. but I thought they were Arthur’s?? Anyway they came from Grandpa who worked in a bank… not that many tho’ … do not remember a leather bag?? These are in a box… maybe you gave them to Arfur Mo???❤️
I absolutely love your comment c Tor, such a big fan of yours👏👏😘😘😘😘
Thanks dear E! Hmmm I wonder who the coins belong to then - yes maybe Els gave them to Arthur? xxx
I had a pretty good collection that I kept with my dad. I know we had some valuable coins, but a lot of it was just cool, and even more than that it was one of the few things that brought us together. I was proud of our stuffed shoebox, but I guess he didn’t feel the same because he sold it without telling me a few years ago. I definitely miss the collection.
I'm sorry Darin, that's painful. These things can be so freighted with emotion can't they, for good and for sad. I didn't realise I missed the coins until I made this comic, but I've felt nostalgic with that mix of sadness since doing so - not about the coins I guess, but as you say, it's usually about more than that.
Another great story - thank you! I inherited my older brother's stamp collection when I was around 10 (he was bored with it) and tended it carefully for about 4 years. My mum told me years later she'd given it away to some neighbours' children that "might be interested" and I lamented the loss of it (and the first day covers I'd added) for a few hours! At least she'd kept hold of my Charles and Di ladybird books!
Thanks Nicola! I love the notion of tending a collection, that's exactly right, and explains the pain when it's gone! And the children only "might" have been interested!!! I hope they were! Thank goodness about the ladybird books - do you still have them?
Yes, I’m still the proud owner of the ladybird books!