Everyone’s collected something at some point in their life. Sometimes finding your passion is as easy as looking around and saving the item that has always fascinated you. But, have you ever wondered what some of weirdest and largest collections people have created? We’ve compiled a list of the wackiest and largest collections from around the world that are all record breakers. How do your collections measure up?
1. Navel Fluff – Australian, Graham Barker has been collecting his own belly button lint since 1984, categorizing it by years in 4 jars. It all started when he wanted to find out how much fluff a person produces and how much it would take to fill a cushion. Barker plans to continue growing his collection, the largest in the world, until he’s no longer physically able to collect his own fluff.
2. Beer Steins – In Germany, farmer, Heinrich Kath, has the world’s largest collection of beer steins. Even though he doesn’t drink beer, Kath has over 20,000 steins since he started collecting in 1997.
3. Rubber Ducks – Valli Hammer has a collection of over 2,400 rubber ducks and no two look alike. She started collecting when she stumbled upon a few rubber ducks that belonged to her son, and from there her collection grew quickly.
4. Joker Playing Cards – The world’s largest collection of Joker playing cards belongs to Italian, Donato De Santis. After inheriting 2,000 cards from magician Fernando Riccardi, his collection has grown to over 8,500 jokers.
5. Airplane Sick Bags – Strange as it may seem, unique airsickness bags printed by different airlines have become highly sought-after collectors’ items in the age of the Internet and eBay. Holland’s Niek Vermeulen holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection, consisting of 5,468 different ones representing over a thousand different airlines. He uses photograph albums for storage.
6. Toothpaste – Dentist, Val Kolpakov, toothpaste is not something to be overlooked lightly. The American first learned about another toothpaste collector online in 2002 and was intrigued. Kalpakov started asking friends abroad to send him tubes of toothpaste from their respective countries and then scoured eBay. To date, Kolpakov has around 1,800 tubes of toothpaste and toothpowder, some donated by visitors to his website. He achieved his ultimate goal in 2010, being named Guinness Book of World Records holder for the largest toothpaste collection.
7. Celebrity Hair – If celebrity signatures and pictures aren’t good enough for you, what are you to do? John Reznikoff decided to start collecting celebrity hair instead. His collection includes celebrities who’ve been dead for many years already with Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe, as well as Edgar Allan Poe, and Abraham Lincoln. His collection is a part of Guinness Book World Records for being the largest and also the most valuable hair collection to date.
8. Banana Labels – To some banana labels are nothing but garbage, but to America Becky Martz, they’re special. Her collection of banana labels boasts over 10,000 labels She first became interested in banana stickers when she noticed an amusing one that read, “The Perfect Stocking Stuffer,” on a Chiquita banana. Since that incident around 1991, Martz has avidly been collecting banana labels from brands around the world.
Collecting doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby; in many cases it can even be free. Whether your collections resemble memories of a trip, your childhood, or a hobby that spans across the years, Big Yellow Self Storage can help you store your collectables from only £7 a week, clearing up space around your home for you to enjoy!
