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Fellowship: Question #9 - Oddest thing you've got

16 Nov, 2018
2018-11-16 11:25:25 PM UTC

An easy question, but hopefully entertaining to everyone:

What is the oddest thing you have in your collection (that you are willing to admit)?

I'm not referring to things that are just unique like proofs or publisher dummies, I'm specifically looking for those things that others (and maybe even you!) would never have thought to collect. For example, there was a book dealer in Oxford who sold one of Tolkien's gowns from his time as a professor (see his book with an essay about it: Rick Gekoski: Tolkien's Gown on Amazon).
16 Nov, 2018
2018-11-16 11:29:07 PM UTC
I just scanned my list of things I have, and it was hard to pick something. I've never bought an article of clothing from Tolkien, sadly.

I'm going to go with the "Hobbit Tea's of the Shire" boxes that came out a decade or so ago. See here for more info (they still have a site, but it hasn't updated since 2012 and you can't buy these any more). https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... ewtopic.php?topic_id=3072








16 Nov, 2018
2018-11-16 11:44:11 PM UTC
I've got this odd steel plaque thing that you (I assume) nail/screw on to your narrowboat when out on the old canal. It says something about the Robert Aickman lock; which is a canal lock near Harvington Mill on the Avon. Anyway, if you didn't know, Robert Aickman is a very highly regarded writer of "strange" stories; an author I enjoy reading & collecting. I'm being vague here as I genuinely can't even recall why/how I bought it.

That Stanley Unwin commemorative (mentioned in another Q) would come a close second. I don't collect toys, games, or other non-book things normally.
17 Nov, 2018
2018-11-17 7:19:00 AM UTC
I'd have to go with the Pauline Bayne's tea towel.

https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/w ... ndex.php?page=Tea%20Towel


17 Nov, 2018 (edited)
2018-11-17 6:03:13 PM UTC
This is the closet thing I have to a signature. There is no signature of course but the greeting part is there...

This was cut from a book signed by Tolkien, separated from the signature, and then the signature was reattached to a more desirable text, which I don't own. This is a practice some on the TCG frown upon, but I didn't do it.

This oddity also came with four books from Tolkien's library that had had the signatures removed.

I have stellar provenance for it all, but it all amounts to a rather odd lot.

I also have a copy of Tolkien's will, which is rather odd.

251_5bf057d715139.jpg 3264X2448 px
18 Nov, 2018
2018-11-18 9:04:20 PM UTC
How about Silmarillion-themed doilies, or possibly patches?!!

3_5bf1d3d406922.jpg 1251X938 px
18 Nov, 2018
2018-11-18 9:55:31 PM UTC
Trotter beat me to it, going to go for the Pauline Baynes T towel . At one stage i had 2 ! Thats collecting for you ?
18 Nov, 2018
2018-11-18 10:40:02 PM UTC
Don't have too much in the way of oddities. Have pretty much stuck to printed material (with a few exceptions).

In terms of printed material i have a copy of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (many volumes) printed in Braille.
19 Nov, 2018
2018-11-19 12:02:40 AM UTC
No oddities that I can think of, actually. I've never really collected anything Tolkien-wise other than books (and at one point, the Calendars).

I do have some thermal protection tiles from a Soviet Buran Space Shuttle, and a lump of coal raised from the Titanic, so I am not immune from owning useless crap (particularly the coal).
19 Nov, 2018
2018-11-19 5:07:10 PM UTC
Well, I have to say I am enjoying the non-Tolkien related answers here as well!

I have a piece of the Berlin wall I removed myself, as well as a bigger piece found in the rubble from the weekend it came down. That was a wonderful occasion to be living close enough to experience!
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