Thread: What is the weirdest thing that you collect?

I used to collect bottle caps. Beer bottle caps, but somebody stole my collection years ago (how weird is that!?!?) so I stopped.

Some would think me weird for collecting (very selectively) comic books, but that's not actually that weird.

I've thought about collecting the New Cambridge editions of Shakespeare's plays, but I think that would inspire a rivalry between my wife and I since she'd really keen on the Arden versions. I think that WOULD be weird.

But I settle on collecting Shakespearean lore:
This first pic is of a painting (undoubtedly one panel of a larger work) likely, completed for King James' ascension, depicting two writers at a game of chess, done in the style of the Dutch renaissance school of Van Mander and possibly even by that master himself. The figures are QUITE convincingly argued to be that of William Shakespeare (on the right) and his contemporary and friendly rival, Ben Johnson. The last time the painting was moved, the frame (which was moved seperately and assumed to have the painting intact with it) was stolen! As a result the painting is kept largely secret from society, in a hidden location and no attempt is made to set its provenance.

The pic on the right is a Sanders family heirloom now belonging to Lloyd Sullivan (passed down maternally) which has always been called the painting of Shakespeare among them. It has been proven to be of the exact period and of a man of Shakespeare's status, although without absolute certainty of being the man himself. Some argue it looks too young to be a man of 39. Since both pictures here would have been painted within a year of each other, that argument loses some credence with me. Both men bear a remarkable resemblance with each other and with the Droeshout engraving with which we are all familiar. This second I have seen myself twice and it is a wonderful piece. The face and tunic are quite clearly painted by two seperate people, which was not uncommon at the time, the student taking time to do the mundane deatils of buttons and such which the master painter didn't have time for.

The interesting thing is that these two paintings are the only ones conjectured to be composed of the man while he lived. ALL other images of Shakespeare that come down to us were made posthumously, even the Droeshout and the Stratford Bust which both show him with some more weight on, which he may have gained later in life. He was getting quite rich by the end of it all.

X