A family of hobbies
Collecting
Collecting is the oldest of the six families, and the one this platform was built for. It begins the moment a second object is set beside a first and someone notices they belong together.
What separates a collection from a pile is a rule — a country, a period, a theme, a single printer's error repeated across a hundred sheets. The rule is the collector's own, and choosing it is most of the pleasure.
Hobbies in this family
8 of 8 written so far
Stamps
Philately — the postage stamp and everything that travelled with it, from the Mughal dak to the 1854 inverted head.
Coins & Notes
Numismatics and notaphily — struck metal and printed paper, and what each records about who was in charge.
Trading Cards
Cardboard with statistics on the back — cricket first, then football, fantasy and the games played with them.
Comics
Issues, annuals and graphic novels, from Indrajal and Amar Chitra Katha to the direct market.
Vintage Toys
Tin, die-cast, wood and plastic — the playthings that survived being played with.
Memorabilia
Signed, worn, used on the day: the objects that were there when it happened.
Antiques
Objects kept for their age, their craft, or the household they outlived.
Gadgets
The recently obsolete: cameras, calculators, consoles, and the decades they date.
Not sure which family you belong to? Start with what a hobby is.