What are other ways to collect physical pieces of history?

Hey all.

I just got back into the swing of posting on here and I thought I'd start a discussion. Hopefully others have mutual interest! As somebody who got a degree in the field of history, I'll try to make this as high quality of a post as I can.

What are some pieces of history that anybody can own? The key word being anybody. I wouldn't prefer this becoming a post where people suggest one-of-a-kind prop or a exclusively rare relic only somebody in the right place or with excess wealth could afford. Let's talk about some more affordable options that anybody could own. I also know the nature of this question can be broad (i.e. what type of history), so hopefully keeping it affordable can help narrow this down.

Let's get started with some examples I have found, own, or am aware of. I'll try to use examples that are closest to being authentic and I am not specifically endorsing these.

1. The Mini-Museum This is one I have always wanted to own but it is expensive (~$300). The Mini-Museum is a collection of artifacts encased in a display that can feature small pieces of relics such as: pieces of Steve Job's sweater, bone from pre-historic creatures, Stonehenge, an SR-71 among other things. I have assumed these are authentic since they've been pretty popular but if it isn't, for sure let me know. This is probably one of my favorite's I'd like to have.
   
2. RMS Titanic Coal I pulled an example of one form of it being sold but there seem to be different ways of finding it presented. For the 100th anniversary, this collectible seemed to become pretty prevalent. Not totally sure if coal can survive underwater for that long but I think it's a neat collectible.
   
3. Pieces of documents owned by politicians/famous figures The Bar: Pieces of the Past is a cool series of trading cards where they insert pieces of documents that were owned or written on by famous figures, predominately American founding fathers and other activists and politicians. I find buying the individual cards on a third-party store like eBay a better value. I own one that is a piece of document that was owned by Martin Luther King, Jr.
   

Those are three pretty interesting pieces of history that anybody can own. Here's an abbreviated list of some others although I can't speak to the authenticity of some of specific sellers' sources:

• autographs obtained in-person via conventions or book signings
  
• insects in amber
  
• fossil fragments from dinosaurs, shark teeth, or sea creatures or petrified wood
  
• fordite
  
• Arrowheads
  
• Pre-war steel, as its the only non-radioactive steel on Earth
  
• spent minie balls and cartridges from the United States Civil War
  
• movie props, but these might be a bit more expensive and cheaper ones may be hard to authenticate
  
• film cells from specific movies
  
• pieces of the Berlin Wall, I would watch-out for fakes
  

If you made it this far, thanks for reading my post! I hope this was interesting to you. As a fan of history I love having a piece of history and being able to converse about them.

Civil War minie balls and arrowheads are pretty common here in the US if anybody is interested in swapping!

Coins are an obvious choice. What are some other pieces of history you might suggest for anybody to own?

I own a WW2 tank shell, most likely winter war. These don't cost much. I also own a few books, about 200-100 years old, and a Soviet army cap. Also very old keys.

Keys don't usually cost so much. Usually it is possible to get a key from ~ the 2th century for about 15€. Sometimes cheaper.
Many people also talk about megalodon teeth, but I do not know about those items a lot.

Post cards with both messages and cityscapes. They're usually reasonably inexpensive and it's interesting to see how a city has changed over the years and also what was going on in the day to day life of the people sending them.

Metal detector finds and scuba diving finds. If you could do both you could assemble quite a collection of artifacts that tell the story of our history. I myself have found coins, bottles, and numerous other relics.

Welcome back! Always great to see another history lover about.

For me I usually dislike collecting non-coin/banknote items, that don't have standardised appearances, because of how easily they can be faked and how difficult it is for non-specialists to authenticate them (it's a whole other field to identify reproductions of say, helmets).

When we were in South Korea, my dad bought a "certified" piece of rusted barbed wire from the DMZ (De-militarised Zone) as a souvenir, although come to think of it it's far too easy to clip off a piece of rusty barbed wire and claim it was from the DMZ, and far too hard to prove otherwise, same as your point about the Berlin Wall fragments. I've since lost it, but oh well.

Otherwise if you're interested in military history I suggest collecting military medals; what better way to have a connection to part of history? Usually ones from the World Wars are quite inexpensive, but the further back you go the scarcer and more expensive they get (especially for short 19th century colonial wars where only a few thousand or hundred specimens were ever awarded). Other military memorabilia, such as belt buckles of the Waffen SS can also be found for reasonable prices, but I restricted my collection to medals.

Finally there's also the locks of hair of famous people as well as their autographs, but I'm not sure how expensive those can get.

To list just a few: stamps, furniture, books, maps, scuplture

These are very interesting:
http://www.elementsales.com/ecoins.htm
I do not own any, but they seem very interesting. They also sell these http://www.elementsales.com/productlist.htm

Quote: "Monninen1"​These are very interesting:
​http://www.elementsales.com/ecoins.htm
​I do not own any, but they seem very interesting. They also sell these http://www.elementsales.com/productlist.htm

​That's certainly interesting, but not very historical.

I can't wait for their pure uranium and plutonium coins to come out.

Quote: "Monninen1"I own a WW2 tank shell, most likely winter war. These don't cost much. I also own a few books, about 200-100 years old, and a Soviet army cap. Also very old keys.

Keys don't usually cost so much. Usually it is possible to get a key from ~ the 2th century for about 15€. Sometimes cheaper.

A WW2 tank shell will be cool. My town hosts one of the biggest WWII renactments events in the country and it's this weekend. People buy/sell/trade original pieces so I might drop by there today and see if they have anything cool.
​

Quote: "neilithicman"Post cards with both messages and cityscapes. They're usually reasonably inexpensive and it's interesting to see how a city has changed over the years and also what was going on in the day to day life of the people sending them.

I've seen some cool ones from where I'm from. I might buy one or two that stand out to me. Thanks for the advice!

Quote: "Holindaze"​Metal detector finds and scuba diving finds. If you could do both you could assemble quite a collection of artifacts that tell the story of our history. I myself have found coins, bottles, and numerous other relics.

That sounds like a fun hobby for those who invest to the diving equipment. Thanks for the suggestion!

Quote: "CassTaylor"Otherwise if you're interested in military history I suggest collecting military medals; what better way to have a connection to part of history? Usually ones from the World Wars are quite inexpensive, but the further back you go the scarcer and more expensive they get (especially for short 19th century colonial wars where only a few thousand or hundred specimens were ever awarded). Other military memorabilia, such as belt buckles of the Waffen SS can also be found for reasonable prices, but I restricted my collection to medals.​

Thanks for the post! WWII medals sound really cool. I've seen a few 3rd Reich ones locally and they're really cool. When I find one that's right for me I might buy one. I did buy some new old original Vietnam bandages, WWII shoe impregantion, and some fossils while I was out the other day.

Quote: "Houseofham"​To list just a few: stamps, furniture, books, maps, scuplture

There's some cool German Stamps with Hitler I might pick up. They're pretty inexpensive as well. Books will be cool, I'd love to own a earlier copy of the Great Gatsby and other recognizable books.

Edited: Accidental re-post.

buttons.
I have many, mostly military, railway and airline uniform jacket buttons, but i have some other less martial ones as well.
I just brought out a couple

a silver colored, wrought brass "Paris back" , and a cuff button
The first one dates from the 2nd Empire, the smaller one from the 1880s-90s

Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​buttons.
​I have many, mostly military, railway and airline uniform jacket buttons, but i have some other less martial ones as well.
​I just brought out a couple
​
​a silver colored, wrought brass "Paris back" , and a cuff button
​The first one dates from the 2nd Empire, the smaller one from the 1880s-90s
​
​

​I didn't know collecting buttons was a thing. I mean, if it exists there's probably someone somewhere that collects it, but buttons were not something I had in mind! (Then again Colnect has a whole section for collectors of coffee creamer lids....)

I personally never liked buttons, of any sort; when I was younger I had mild koumpounophobia (fear of buttons); and long story short that's how I got into trouble wearing my PE kit for a whole term instead of my school uniform. I still prefer wearing clothes without buttons even now.

Quote: "CassTaylor"​​I didn't know collecting buttons was a thing. I mean, if it exists there's probably someone somewhere that collects it, but buttons were not something I had in mind! (Then again Colnect has a whole section for collectors of coffee creamer lids....)
​

Yes button collecting is a thing, over here, and over there.

Quote: "CassTaylor"​I personally never liked buttons, of any sort; when I was younger I had mild koumpounophobia (fear of buttons); and long story short that's how I got into trouble wearing my PE kit for a whole term instead of my school uniform. I still prefer wearing clothes without buttons even now.

​Now that is something I never knew was a thing.

Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​

Quote: "CassTaylor"​​I personally never liked buttons, of any sort; when I was younger I had mild koumpounophobia (fear of buttons); and long story short that's how I got into trouble wearing my PE kit for a whole term instead of my school uniform. I still prefer wearing clothes without buttons even now.
​
​

​​Now that is something I never knew was a thing.

​I didn't know the term for it either until I looked it up just before posting; apparently it's "surprisingly common".

Fear of buttons.. whaaaat !?

Anyway. Something I’ve recently discovered. Trench art. Usually symbolic of a time or a place. I’ve seen some great pieces with placenames such as Somme and Passchendaele etc. That’s the best way to feel a connection with how the lads were feeling out there in the face of the enemy. A piece I’ve just bought is an officers had made out of a shell and they’ve brazed their regimental logo to it. I presume it was a button or a badge they had to do it with. Waiting for it to arrive :)

Quote: "Mark240590"​Fear of buttons.. whaaaat !?
​
​Anyway. Something I’ve recently discovered. Trench art. Usually symbolic of a time or a place. I’ve seen some great pieces with placenames such as Somme and Passchendaele etc. That’s the best way to feel a connection with how the lads were feeling out there in the face of the enemy. A piece I’ve just bought is an officers had made out of a shell and they’ve brazed their regimental logo to it. I presume it was a button or a badge they had to do it with. Waiting for it to arrive :)

​Trench Art seems to be pretty cool from what I've seen. Is it difficult to determine what's authentic?

Quote: "Mr. Midnight"buttons.
I have many, mostly military, railway and airline uniform jacket buttons, but i have some other less martial ones as well.
I just brought out a couple

a silver colored, wrought brass "Paris back" , and a cuff button
The first one dates from the 2nd Empire, the smaller one from the 1880s-90s

Some buttons seem pretty cool from the Civil War/WWII era as well as 3rd Reich. They're relatively inexpensive so I might pick some up!

I thought I'd revive this thread by talking about collecting old newspapers; what better way for a historian to own physical pieces of history?

This is one from January 1938 that I saw and photographed in an antique bookstore in Rome:

It's a French language newspaper in Italy, and features a bunch of contemporary political events; the top left article talks about collective security by the League of Nations (Société des Nations, SDN) in Geneva, after Italy's withdrawal from the League the previous year.

There's also another one talking about Soviet diplomatic activity, and another one about pacifism down below.

Original WW1 Silk Postcards -
Made by French women circa 1914 to 1918, to sell to soldiers to send home to family and loved ones
Fairly common in Britain some of these i own are from family that where in the trenches ww1
On par with coins they can sell for £5 to £10 each or up to £100 if they are rare!
1000's of different designs where produced





these cards often have poignant messages on reverse relating to life in the Trenches

Made from Card and silk cottons to make design



Some of these cards have a little opening for smaller insert cards to write messages