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Largest collection of shoe horns

Martien Tuithof (Netherlands) has a collection of 1,594 shoehorns that he has amassed since 1977. Martien’s collection is housed in the Zijper museum, Schagerbrug, The Netherlands. Martien began collecting shoehorns when he realised that there were so many different types to collect. At the time he had just three, but his interest led him to finding books about these and soon found that they could be made from a number of different materials including wood, leather, ivory, plastic and different kinds of metal. Despite these Continue reading →

Largest collection of Spice Girls memorabilia

The largest collection of Spice Girls memorabilia belongs to Elizabeth West (UK), with 2,066 different items as of April 2011, which she has been collecting since 1998. Elizabeth’s vast collection of Spice Girls memorabilia began in 1998 when she purchased both versions of the single ‘Spice Up Your Life.’ Her collection includes costumes and outfits worn by the Spice Girls. The collection is currently on public display at Leeds City Museum (until 3 July 2011).

Largest collection of soaps

The largest collection of soaps belongs to Carol Vaughan (UK) who has collected 1,331 individual bars of soap since 1991. From The Telegraph: Miss Vaughn said she loves finding a new soap she hasn’t seen before and likes to find ones that might seem unusual. “I was given one by a friend that is shaped liked cheesecake, you don’t know whether to eat it or use it to have a wash,” she said.

Largest collection of snails

A.G.Straver (Netherlands) has a collection of 457 items relating to snails that he has amassed since 1995. His collection began because he lives in a small village where many people have the same name, therefore each famly is given a nickname – his wife’s family name was ‘the snail’. In 1993 he bought his wife a ceramic snail as a birthday gift and it was from there that he decided to start his own collection.