I had a friend (still have the friend, though we don’t have regular access to each other anymore) who liked to “show off” how obscure some of his possessions were, possibly to achieve the “wanderlust effect” (i.e. the reaction of “how did you get these here”). Something about the anticipation that his inventory was alien to whoever he showed.
One day, he was asked to bring games and a console and he brought one of those extremely rare knock-off bootleg gaming consoles they sell in Asia, which we’re not even remotely near.
“What the heck is that” asked my other best friend?
“It’s the Mega Duck. I brought CFGP with me too.”
“Why can’t you be a normal Upstate New Yorker? We literally got Playstation.”
“What fun is that?”
It wasn’t some small quirk either. One day he took a long walk and came across a part of the area nobody had been to in decades and took pictures with my camera which he happened to have. Also having hyperthymesia, he came back and was all like “I took these photos of a place that seems like it was out of a fantasy painting and also recognized someone there who was on the missing persons list when I came back”. Like a boss.
In contrast, alas, ever since moving, my possessions have become overwhelmingly mundane enough you’d expect most of it to be in an 18th century post-colonial American home, the exception (if you could call her that), ironically, being my dog who is of a rare breed.
What’s the most wanderlusty thing you own, something that would be the absolute opposite of mundane if in your possession?
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Hmm. I have an original copy of the Space Child’s Mother Goose, and a gun cabinet my dad turned into a shelf cabinet, and a collar necklace from the 1940s from Tunisia. I think that’s about it. Unfortunately tossed the shirt I bought from Kurt Cobain when Nirvana came down here in I think 1990? 1989? From their little white van. I had no idea they would get famous!
I have a kaleidoscope for the blind.
One of only 150 or 250 made (I forget which). The artist (Reinhold Marxhausen) got Alzheimer’s in his final years, and is probably dead now. It looks like a metal blob, but the inside is hollow and it has are springs that vibrate and make tones to the slightest touch and heat change. Just shake it and hold it to your ear. It makes different and unique sounds depending on who is holding it, the weather, the air temperature, and so on.
I got it from a kaleidoscope collector, who sold it to me because the small handmade box it came in was damaged in shipping, and it wasn’t worth as much without the box. I keep it in a handmade suede bag.
Edit: I made an Imgur post about it: https://imgur.com/gallery/kaleidoscope-blind-Ab8Xz
I have some computer memory I’m still learning the the right terms to describe. It’s a criss-cross of wires with spinning ferro magnetic beads. I also know it’s not only volatile (the information gone on power down) but destructive (information gone on read). It’s about the foot print of an index card, with a ton of connections on every side, maybe 1.5-2cm thick.
Neat little bit of how it used to be.
Magnetic core memory?
Signed copy of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” by Ian Fleming. Not really worth much. Maybe $60? But as kinda a James Bond fan I think it’s cool.
I went to the Ghibli museum and watched a short while I was there. The ticket to the short was a film strip from one of the movies. I have it framed.
I’m currently building a Guzheng out of wood from the cherry tree I used to hang out in as a kid that got destroyed in a fire with only part of the trunk remaining. Maybe only 4/10 interesting but if this were a fantasy setting that’s at least a +2 magic instrument right there for the backstory its got.
I got no idea what exactly it is besides some sort of decorative mask thing that I got from my Grandpa’s house after his partner passed and their house had to be sold. No idea on backstory or anything.
Was your grandpa a member of the court of owls?
Don’t think so. Never heard of it or anything related if he was.
Edit:
I may be an idiot but are we talking a real thing or the DC Comics thing? Looked it up and that’s the first thing that came up.
A Lutheran book of Lithurgy written in Lithuanian and printed in Tilsit (Now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad) in 1914.
I have a container of spring water that was left to me by the shaman that collected it
I had a subscription to Raspberry Pi Magazine when the Pi Zero was released. They celebrated by including a Pi Zero with the magazine in a little plastic bag glued to the cover.
I think it’s so fun to have lived through the moment in history when a full computer became so commonplace they could give one out free with a magazine.
I’ve got a small volcanic rock from Mt Vesuvius, a Polaroid Land camera 95A from the late 40s or 50s, and I built a magic mirror (which isn’t that obscure, but lots of people find it fascinating).
I own a Curta Type II calculator.
I just watched a video on this like an hour ago. Awesome stuff.
I collect books and have a number signed by people who are no longer with us. :(
One of the Wheel of Time books signed by Robert Jordan.
Martian Chronicles signed by Ray Bradbury.
X-Men #1 signed by Stan Lee.
The early Rocketeer appearances signed by Dave Stevens.
A Contract With God limited edition #33/125 signed by Will Eisner.
Thieve’s World graphic novels signed by Tim Sale.
My buddy has a script from the original broadway production of Beauty and the Beast, signed by Alan Menkin (he wrote the music) and several cast members.
He found it in a Half Price Books for like $5, because nobody had noticed the signatures inside the front cover. Unfortunately, due to the fact that there’s no chain of custody, there’s no way to actually verify that it’s real. After all, anybody with a sharpie and some practice could have made the signatures. But it’s a great conversation piece.
I adore the wheel of time. First fantasy series I ever chewed through (and then waited about 5 or 10 years for publishing lol). Very happy for you, kudos!
Idk if it fits the criteria, but I have a fairly substantial arrowhead collection. Some dating back about 10,000 years. I found them all myself.
That’s very cool. Where do you find such things, are you like an archaeologist or just a very attentive and lucky person?
It’s amazing our ancestors just kept these things lying around for so long.
I have a bunch of weird stuff, but I rarely show it off.
Tooth from a dinosaur, not sure what kind, it was found by a herder in a remote area, but some sort of preditor as its pointy.
Two 19th century swords that were from both sides of the French colonial expeditions in West Africa. One has magic powers (or, so the guy that sold it to me said). A number of other supposed enchanted items and charms.
Jar of sand from the Sahara outside Timbuktu and the Playa at Burning Man. Stones from I guess around the middle of Mt Olympus, and bunch of giant quartz crystals from southern Africa. A pin given to basically every Soviet citizen that was alive during (and therefore coined as fighting in) WWII.
Ticket to one of the Obama election night parties.
