footnotes*

People have always collected things--rocks, stamps, coins, antiques, whatever. But today it seems as if almost any bit of the flotsam and jetsam of our mass-consumption society can qualify as a collectible. Bottle caps, beer cans, cereal boxes--you name it and someone somewhere has a collection. Some people collect because they love the items; others love the big bucks they hope to collect sometime in the future.

* The Internet has become a major accomplice in this enterprise. Online auction sites, such as eBay.com or boxlot.com, offer up items of automobilia, Disneyana, breweriana, militaria, petroliana, Hawaiiana, tobacciana and other categories of collectibles to the highest bidder. Other sites sell items for a set price, such as a limited-edition John Denver memorial computer mouse pad for $25. Still other sites deal exclusively with one type of collectible, such as happytoy.com for people who collect McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.

* Since 1993, Ty Inc. has manufactured more than 200 types of Beanie Babies. The toys sell for about $6 new, but once the type is “retired,” collectors sometimes spend thousands for them.

* Many people still do their collecting at swap meets, thrift shops and garage sales. The Times’ classifieds run ads for garage and yard sales every day in Section 1489, but the most ads appear on Thursdays. The classifieds also have a separate section, 1160, for collectibles.

* Colorful labels were used on crates of California oranges, grapefruit, lemons and other fruit from the 1880s to the 1950s. Many of the labels used images, themes and place names from the region where the fruit was grown. The Citrus Label Society, an organization for people who collect citrus crate labels, will meet Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Sunkist Growers headquarters, 14130 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks.

*

Years ago, people who saved everything were called pack rats and the stuff they amassed was called junk. Today, they’re called collectors. *