Sunday, May 10, 2009

Figurines, Figurines, and More Figurines

I have too many figurines. Or maybe I don't have enough. It's hard to say.

How Big is My Collection?

I haven't counted them since I was about 14, and that was nearly 50 years ago. My best guess - it's just a rough guess - is that I have over 10,000 figurines. About 2,000 of them are on display in my house, and the rest are in my storage unit. About 50% of them cycle through the house in any given year, and the other 50% are permanent fixtures in my sitting room, hallway, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom.

What Kind of Figurines?

I have a very wide range of tastes. When I started as a girl I collected glass horses. At some point (I think it was in college at Kansas State) I added PEZ dispensers to that, and then crystal dolphins and birds. Sometime in my 20's I got interested in plastic action figures and dolls, so I have a fairly good-sized collection of boy- and girl-oriented action figures: Barbie (of course), G.I. Joe, Jonny Quest, Transformers, GoBots. I explored bigger dolls at one point, but quickly realized that the price and size would make collecting very difficult. So I've stuck with small-to-medium sized wood, glass, crystal, ceramic, metal, and plastic figures for the last 20 years. I still collect the usual stuff - angels, horses, dolphins, birds, and other cute figures - plus lately I've started collecting anime figures. There is some amazing work coming out of Japan.

How Much Have I Spent?

Oh, God. I have no idea. Needless to say, my collection has cost me a pretty penny over the years. I've never really tried to figure it out - and I really don't want to know. It'd probably depress me. Not too long ago I realized that I needed to cut back a bit, but I'm resisting it. I looked into buying wholesale quantities and selling what I didn't need, but frankly that's just a huge hassle. I have a successful career, and don't have time to manage a side business. I finally settled on becoming an Amazon Affiliate, so I've created several websites that subsidize my habit, and they also give me a slight discount (about 6%) on figurines when I buy them. (Don't tell Amazon, ok?)

You can visit my websites here:

Please feel free to buy things! :)

I'll post a few pictures of my collection shortly.

Love, Maggie

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