A recent post by The Other Matthew mentions the crazy actions of a neighborhood family that get incensed over some misplaced Harry Potter trading cards as if they're something that matter. It sounds like a sitcom episode. We get stupid about our stuff, you know?

Anyway, i started wondering what the most collectible thing is. Of course, archaeology is a massive field devoted largely to collecting aged and ancient objects with the purpose of understanding our past.

Honus Wagner wasn't the greatest professional baseball player ever, but because he didn't like tobacco, he had the companies quit printed his card. 100+ years later, either 1 of the 2 known cards in existence is worth at least twice as much as the house i live in.

A couple questions:

1) Can you think of a collecting fad more lasting than baseball cards (though i guess any sports or movie cards could be stuck into that same grouping, when compared with, say, postage stamps)?

2) What's your most valued collection?

For me, it presently seems to be musical instruments (though i do have a drawer of old baseball cards and a stack of comic books, as well as nearly 300 CDs and countless shelves of books).

Mi *one Alvarez MD80 guitar, one toy guitar from a Monterrey market shop (it was a gift), one djembe, one C harmonica, one C Irish tin whistle, and one plastic soprano recorder (from my college music education class)* ke

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~