Posted on by jtl46

The joy of purging and organizing the collection (and discovering the forgotten)…

As I mentioned in a previous post, the flu hit my house this week, and most of it was spent in bed.  Towards the end of the week, however, I had enough energy to get up and work on something I have meant to do for while.

Clean.

I don’t like clutter.  It makes me nervous, and it bothers me if something doesn’t have a place.  I definitely got the OCD side of the collecting gene instead of the hoarding side.  Plus, I don’t like getting overwhelmed by the collection.  My rule?  If the collection can’t fit in my office closet, then it needs to be cut down.

That’s the first part.

The second?  The Tomica Limited Vintage takeover continues.  I still love the Mattel brands, and will continue to collect many of the castings, but I would be more than happy to just collect TLV.  You can tell by my displays.

Here is what they were when I first got them:

Two cases of Hot Wheels/Matchbox, one case of TLV/Kyosho.

Here is what they are now:

That’s 2 cases of only TLV, and the third has even more TLV, plus Kyosho, Greenlight, Aoshima, and a few Matchbox/Hot Wheels.

And as more TLV comes in, which is now every month from Japan Booster, they will go in the displays.  I actually need to start thinking about a fourth display.

All this means things are changing.  There is the Lamley collection and there is the “Lamley Blog” collection.  The Lamley collection are my personal favorites, and those are most of the models displayed.  The “Lamley Group” collection are those models that I do like, and also interest many of you, and they are good to have on hand for future features on the blog.

But ultimately, I can’t keep everything, and all has to fit in the closet:

So, during my flu week, I purged:

That means going through everything, extracting the extras I don’t need, removing models I am no longer interested in, or have already done their job on the blog, and using those to make a very cool pile of diecast.

The collection is now down to the size I want, with room for future models coming in.  Peace and tranquility, brother.

So what will I do with these extras?  Donate some for sure, but I also know many of you would be interested in a good number of what I no longer need.  Any ideas of what to do?  eBay is the easiest method, and that is probably what I will do, but any other suggestions are welcome.

Another enjoyable aspect of the purge?  Discovering models I essentially forgot about, and that give me great ideas for future posts.  (That is what prompted the Matchbox SLR McLaren post on Thursday.)  I took some pics as I went along.  Some we have featured, others we haven’t.  And there is a ton of Matchbox from a few years ago that will definitely interest a lot of you.

Let me know if you would like to see some of these on the blog sometime down the line:

Fun huh?  I love the flu.

No I don’t.

32 Replies to “The joy of purging and organizing the collection (and discovering the forgotten)…”

  1. You're killing me with that picture of 15 (!) Vista Cruisers…

    I imagine if you posted a list of what you have available, there are plenty of people (myself included) who would be happy to make you an offer on a number of items, which would help cut down the pile before listing everything individually on eBay.

    Reply

  5. I'd want the Sahara Survivor to get its own post, complete with some discussion of the Pink Panther Land Rovers they're based on. Also that Majorette (I think) Toyota FJ Cruiser…I still think Matchbox needs to make one of those, or Majorette needs to come back to the U.S.

    The National Parks livery collections makes me want to encourage posts about other themed liveries–there are a few recurring themes in the construction segment (INC, Ranec, and probably others).

    On a related note, I want Matchbox to release the VW T2 bus more frequently. Customizers do so much with the Kool Kombi, but it starts out chopped and shortened. I think there would be a more interesting variety if they started out with a stock bus like Matchbox's T2 camper, T1 panel bus, or T1 21-window.

    Reply

  6. I would love to get my hands on that Black Jag KX120SE and the Metallic Blue and Copper Ghias if possible. I can Paypal so no fees through ebay. LMK if ya want to get rid of them as I would gladly add to my collection.

    Reply

  12. Yes please post a blog about storage options. I dont consider myself a hordder but i also need to thin the content. I know there are National Forest Service castings that I need but haven't had time to go through and see.
    Also i used to love getting the MB & HW cases with the removable sections for loose cars but they are long gone and I just keep adding to my loose collection. We all probably need storage information. I will be moving in the next couple of months and will have a room just for my collection. I was obsessed for a time so i know i have doubles,triples and even quads of some castings. Packaged and unpackaged stuff I know I dont remember.
    So yes a article on storage and storage containers I'm sure would be a big help to many of us.

    Reply

  14. I am hoping that you do a post about your Speed Machine McLaren F1 GTRs. As far as I know, you don't have any post dedicating them here on Lamley, yet they are great model. I'm sure a lot of us here will appreciate it.

    Reply

  15. The cases in the closet look like the ones that were formerly sold as “Jammers,” but can now be found by searching for “double-sided thread organizer.” I believe they are manufactured by Plano.

    Racegrooves did a nice video on loose car storage a few years ago in which these cases were discussed. Video here. That's where I found out about them.

    I also found a few sites selling the organizer, in a six-pack at JustPlasticBoxes.com and individually at Wawak.com . Walmart used to sell them, and even after they stopped carrying them in stores it was possible to order them online and ship them to the store for free, but I haven't been able to find them there recently.

    I hope that helps.

    Reply

  16. You have a very exquisite collection….some very cool extras, if you sell some of those on ebay, I will be vey interested, let know how can I find you on ebay.

    Reply

  27. Mavanerick this was great info. I used to get the Jammers and just thought they stopped making them thanks again. Also thanks lamley this info came to me thanks to this post…

    Reply

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