How did you pick your collection?

Aristocats. I remember (dating myself) seeing it at the Drive-In Movie when I was a kid. That and
Robin Hood too for the same reason. I am so old.

My biggest and favorite collection chose me.

When I started collecting and trading 14 years ago, Tinker Bell, classic Mickey, patriotic, and any pin that caught my eye were must-haves. I really collected and traded for almost anything I thought was a great looking pin -- which was mostly everything. :lol:

But when Lilo & Stitch came out in August 2002, I was so hooked! Bad! We saw the movie 4 times in the first two weeks. Hubby and I were married in Hawaii and lived there for a bit, and once back on the mainland, I got into social work and spent 20+ years in that field before retiring. Gotta love Cobra Bubbles, too! Now, if I could just get the rest of the Stitch pins I need . . . .

Patriotic-themed pins are still a huge part of my collection, too. Hubby was in the Marines for 16 years (once a Marine, always a Marine), but at least I am not a completest for that collection.

Bobbie

I generally started with pins I liked of subjects I like. A few years in, that eventually led me to buying my first Ariel pin. Some of my favorite Disney films are "princess movies" and as such have next to nothing marketed to adult males. I actually bought a Sebastian to complement it for fear people would ask, "what's with the princess pin". No one cared, and it opened it up for more. My main collections are now Aurora and Ariel because I love both films and characters so much. Though I'll still buy whatever catches my eye.

So basically, I buy what I love. Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Alice, Frozen, The Haunted Mansion, Walt pins, etc.

I just go after the ones I really love but try to keep my collection to BatB, TLM, Sleeping Beauty, Frozen (although I might abandon this one), Tangled (another one I might abandon), Wreck it Ralph, Tinker Bell, Gaston and Haunted Mansion. When Im at the parks Ill pick up park related ones for MK, Epcot, WDW, World Showcase countries etc.

I dont collect the ones just because they are super hard to find, or LE, or rare, or whatever. I really dont care about that. If I like it, and love the way it looks, then I want it.

I started by collecting pins to remember certain events, like my son hugging the Queen of Hearts on our first first trip to Disneyworld........ Chip and Dale danceing my son and daughter out of the Park when we were leaving............the special events we attended ex, Flower and Garden, Food and Wine............ I could go on for pages. Then I collected the Disney Hotels we stayed in. The first pin i bought for myself was Phinias and Ferb. My son collects the Classic Mickey pins mystery boxes, I started collecting his duplicates, my daughter collects the Disney Rides (brown boxes) mystery pins, I collect her dupps . I collect the Mian Stret Pins that are only available on line. It really doesn't stop.

Well, for Dodger, I have loved the movie Oliver & Company ever since the second grade! I just have always loved dogs so that movie really appealed to me, and Dodger was just so cool and carefree that I was glued to him! Oh, and also, NYC is just about my favorite place in the whole world, so it's obvious why I collect Dodger pins!

As for Bolt, ever since I saw the movie I have loved him! He's so heroic and brave and as I said, I love dogs! I also have a non-pin collection of him including plushies, a bobblehead, and much more! He's such a cutie!

And I collect mickey food pins because ... well, I LOVE food and Disney food is the best!

I picked Brave because of my mother, Stitch because he's cute (though I am selling off my Stitch because its just too much ), Oliver for my cats who passed, Gaston because he's a hunk and it is silly and fun, Mulan and Fa Zhou because of my father, Tarzan and Jane because they are the best couple (very very small), Princess and the Frog because Tiana kicks butt, Pocahontas because she is one of my favorite princesses, and finally Frozen, because it means the world to me.

I'm don't actively collect a lot of these, though. Right now my most active collection is Frozen, mainly because I'm trying to catch up as best as I can, while I still can. I still get new Brave pins that I like, but I am not a completist of it. Gaston is very lazy for me, if I can trade for one I will, but there aren't many I'm missing that I want. Pocahontas is kind of the same thing. PaTF is another slow-goer for me. I have a difficult time focusing my energy on multiple things at once! Lol. But many of my collections I consider "complete" and am not adding more to them (Oliver, Mulan and Fa Zhou, sort of Tarzan and Jane unless the BT is awesome).

Frozen is the first thing I have spent crazy money on. I normally am very reserved with pin prices but I just can't stop myself. I have gone bananas for this feature.

While I do collect pins from various Disney movies (Tron, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Marvel movies, etc.) the majority of my collection are Disneyland specific pins. My pin collecting is connected to the memories of me as a kid, taking trips to Disneyland every year for my birthday. The pins remind me of all the great memories I have of being in the park with my family; facing my fears and riding the Haunted Mansion, taking multiple boat rides on Pirates because my little sister loves it, and just walking through the park and noticing all the details. One of my favorite collections are attraction posters. Walking into Disneyland, you pass under the train station, and on each side of you are posters for the various rides in the park. My family would point to each poster whose ride we wanted to go on. Each of the trips was special to me because even during tough times, my family and I would save up money so that we could make our family trip happen. I'd save change all year so that I could buy myself a little something at Disneyland. So I guess I'd say I chose Disneyland pins as a major part of my collection because they allow me to relive all the good times I had with my family when I was young. I still love going to the park with them, though now it is less frequent. But when we go, we have a great time, and I feel like a little kid again.

I started a collection about a year and a half ago with my daughter. We decided to collect one pin of every different character we could find. They had to be just the character without any background or added on features (unusual costumes, fantasia hats, sundaes etc.) It's been a challenge so far but we are up to 167 different. I do have a couple of small side collections too such as Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, PODMs, and PTN pins.

When I first started trading about a year ago, I read that the proper way to go about collecting was to focus on a specific character. I started out focusing on Figment, Aladdin, & vintage Mickey but my collection has since grown to include much more (Stitch, NBC, etc) since there's quite a bit about Disney that I like. My wife ended up getting into the hobby after being somewhat reluctant to try it on our anniversary trip last year (when I also started collecting) but now she loves it. We each have our own boards and books with the pins of characters we want to collect, as well as a giant board with pins we collect together (Stitch, shows we've seen, events we've been to).

I'm a completist, which makes things difficult sometimes.

My Dad used to call me "Boo," so that's how that collection got started.

We were at Disneyland a few times when it was Magic Music Days, and we bought pins from the kids for $1. This was in the early 90s, when pins were cheaper. I also got hooked on Minni's Moonlit Madness about that time.

We've been to Club 33 a few times, which started that collection. The pins I don't have, I doubt I'll be able to get cause the prices are just too high. I've noticed on eBay that Club 33 pin prices. Are rising, except for the regularly available logo pins.

I have a lot of Mickey and Minnie in love or kissing, etc. Not really going further on that. And a few Jessica, cause Husband likes her.

I picked Snow White- she's been my absolute favorite for as long as I can remember... went as her for Halloween several years in a row and the same is true of birthday party themes. It helps too that my favorite color is yellow!! hehe. I've just always loved her as a character, and her style (bows are the best accessory) and I almost instantly fell in love with just about any pin design that they come up with for her. I'd say about 75% of all of my pins are Snow, with a small collection of the other princesses thrown in there and a few of the classic characters too, of course.

I love reading about everyone's collections and how they came to focus on them! I've only been collecting seriously for about a year now and have been through quite a few collections now that I think about it...when I first started, I enjoyed trading with CMs at the parks and mainly collected HM sets...once I became educated about scrappers and counterfeits, those collections fell by the wayside. My next collection was Brave-focused and I was almost a completist very quickly (at the time was only missing Pixar Studio's Merida and Elinor as bear and the nearly unobtainable Queen Elinor's Pendant). My husband and I missed WiR in the theatres but once we watched it on Blu-Ray we were both hooked and began a joint collection; along with a joint collection of Monsters University pins...unfortunately life happened, my father became ill in July 2013 and shortly thereafter passed away from complications of Burkitt lymphoma at just 57 years young. Collecting little pieces of metal seemed trivial and silly at the time as I was consumed with grief and felt focusing on pins took away from what is truly important in life; making memories with friends and family. I sold off the Brave, WiR, MU, and Stitch collection I had amassed (save a few special pins that represented a fond memory or funny story). It has been almost 6 months since my dad passed and I'm beginning to adjust to life without him, am realizing life goes on, and there are always good things in the world to look forward to and have begun to get back into collecting and trading (I also collect baseball cards; I'm a huge MLB fan). I've also vowed to no longer spend money on pins via popular auction sites (not sure if I can name names here); if I cannot obtain a want via trade or purchase through these forums, it is not meant to be not to mention I enjoy the interaction with other traders that you just don't get from clicking "Buy It Now". I made a trade last night with a young lady and am getting two History of Art pins and two 100 Years of Dreams pins...after doing more research on the History of Art pins, I fell in love with the series as I have seen (and love) almost all of the features and/or shorts showcased in the series so I think I've finally found that one series I can focus on for the long haul! Not to mention it is an older series so the chances of encountering scrappers/counterfeits are slim to none. Ok, enough of my rambling; let's hear more stories! Happy trading!
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