We know you think that cornball collection of Hummel figurines in your grandparents’ or great aunt’s breakfront is odd. And you’re probably grossed out by that jar of toenail clippings your college roommate collected. But there are far more offbeat collectibles, ranging from the macabre to the ridiculous.
Take the anonymous man who runs the Instagram account @artisanal_prison_shanks. He collects the handcrafted contraband blades and clearly enjoys their aesthetic attributes.
“[I don’t] see them as weapons but as sculptural pieces,” the knife procurer told Vice, adding that he keeps this passion off his Tinder profile. His favorite shanks, he added, are ones formed from toothbrushes. “I love the craft behind them,” he tells Vice. “Seeing how they were made using only the materials [convicts] can find in their cells or around the prison. The resourcefulness is amazing.”
Phil Miller started collecting sugar packets after graduating from college in 1978 and is still going strong. Becky Martz maintains a slew of banana labels that currently number in excess of 17,000. Laurie Slater focuses his collecting chops on antique medical devices; his great finds include an opiate syringe set and a porcelain eye bath from the 19th century.
When it comes to unusual collections, however, few can out-odd John Reznikoff and his Guinness-worthy accumulation of celebrity hair. He has locks from the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein. His rationale? “We always want to be close to somebody we admire,” Reznikoff told NPR. “We’re trophy collectors.”
Famous folks are not exempt from the collectibles club. Rod Stewart collects model trains, and his former bandmate Ron Wood has a stamp collection. (Stamps might not seem an odd pursuit for most people, but how about for a rock star who, as documented in Keith Richards’ autobiography, “Life,” once rapidly consumed 4 grams of pure Merck cocaine?)
Quentin Tarantino collects board games based on TV shows. Tom Hanks, typewriters, and Claudia Schiffer is fixated on bugs — especially spiders.
Then there’s Johnny Depp. He’s wonderfully weird for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is his penchant for acquiring limited-edition Barbie dolls and ephemera that once belonged to his Beat-lit hero Jack Kerouac. Included in his collection, according to the book “What Celebrities Collect,” are two jackets, a raincoat, framed letters, a suitcase and a book filled with Kerouac’s scribbles.
Don’t expect the last of these to turn up on the open market anytime soon.
“It’s a piece of history,” Depp once told Rolling Stone. “I look at it every day.”