Collecting the papers of the chewing gum

Polish (Polish translation)

WWelcome to the website of a chewing gum wrapper collector. If you came here by accident, do not close this page immediately. Perhaps my hobby will interest you; namely collecting "chewing gum wrappers".
Chewing gum as a product has its own individual packaging, from small pieces of paper to vending machines. I am a collector of the topic: "Chewing gum". In general, several types of collecting the topic "chewing gum" are known:
-paper (without gum) #1
- inserts (pictures inside the paper) #2
-packages (unopened, together with chewing gum) #3
- things related to chewing gum (vending machines, commercial equipment, advertising materials, etc.) #4

Over time and as the collection grows, knowledge about it increases, and it is time to classify items by country, manufacturer, form, and year of publication. It is advisable to focus on any separate topic. I was most captivated by the topic: "Chewing gum wrappers and packaging" (no. 1), but what I'm really most interested in are the "classic rectangular wrappers, the so-called tiles" (no. 5). I keep a detailed catalog on this topic only and give each package a number. As of today (July 5, 2014), the collection includes 43,347 chewing gum wrappers in the form of tiles. In total, my collection currently contains over 88,000 pieces of gum wrappers and packaging from 126 countries around the world. I discovered this passion in my childhood, in the early 1970s, right, along with other types of collecting (stamps, match labels, coins, etc.). Later it became my main hobby for many years. Our collecting is not very widespread in the world, but thanks to the Internet we have gained the opportunity to meet and contact colleagues from various corners of the world. I established friendly contacts with colleagues from the Czech Republic, the USA, Chile, Japan and Korea. There are very few collectors in Russia and the former republics of the USSR, although collecting chewing gum packaging and inserts was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. A few years ago, the situation began to change and the activity of our collectors, both older and younger like me, increased, which makes me very happy. I would like to highlight the Czech Republic separately. Surprisingly, collecting is very widespread in this country, there is even a separate section in the Prague Collectors Club, of which I am also a member. I know numerous Czech collectors from the time of correspondence. I was able to contact them "live" in 2011, when I made a week-long trip to various Czech cities where my colleagues live (№07-12). In fact, the largest collections are located in the Czech Republic.
Excited about this Czech trip, in 2013 I made another dream come true. Well, I visited Japan, met with collectors, my old friends from the time of correspondence, and also participated in the TV program "TV Asachi" dedicated to Chewing Gum Day, which is celebrated in Japan on June 1 (№13-19). The Japanese thread is very noticeable in my collection. Actually, it all started with Japanese chewing gum packaging. Now Japanese packaging in the form of tiles is far ahead in terms of quantity. In general, Far Eastern countries, apart from Japan and South Korea, and recently China, are very exciting in our hobby, because they usually produce rubber in the form of tiles, and they are a variety of colorful topics devoted to film production, video games and comics. Here's where the space for the collector comes in... I've already visited South Korea, but I haven't been to China yet. I hope to fix it in the near future, but as experience shows, buying something interesting while sightseeing is not always possible. Too big a country. Sometimes you can buy Chinese chewing gum in interesting packaging in other countries that is not available in China itself. There is such a case in my experience. I bought interesting Chinese chewing gums in Cambodia, and then I could buy the same ones in Mongolia. This is like a country where chewing gum has never been produced. At least I haven't seen it from any collectors. To our joy, Ethiopia and Nepal have recently left the "blacklist" (№20-21). But there are still numerous "white spots" on the list of chewing gum producing countries.
In general, chewing gum is a relatively old product, patented in the mid-19th century in the USA. Personally, I have a chewing gum box dated February 14, 1871 (№ 6). This is the oldest piece in my collection. I also have other paper packaging, produced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (№22-23). However, the vast majority of the collection consists of gum packaging produced in the last 40 years. But there are collectors who collect only pre-war items, up to 1940. My collection is supplemented mainly by exchanging with colleagues, but sometimes I manage to find and buy small old collections from advertisements, but in recent years this has been a great rarity. There were cases of free acquisition, i.e. some people simply donated their children's collections. To have greater opportunities to exchange for my favorite packaging, I also collect coins, stamps, telephone cards, matchboxes, chocolate packaging and others. Such parallel collecting leads to the birth of a new passion and infatuation. True, this is a quick enrichment of the collection, rather than collecting. If I need to part with my core collection, I will without a doubt. So far I have collected a sufficiently complete collection of Samara transport tokens (No. 24). I even created a small website: "Samara transport tokens". I've had success with telephone cards and chocolate packaging, but due to the small number of copies, I don't think it will be published online. There is not enough time to create your entire catalog of chewing gum packaging on the Internet. What can we say about other types of collecting? My collection is replenished as a result of purchases of fresh chewing gums during foreign trips, as well as in our stores, but new products are rare, although in recent years I have been pleased with new Russian chewing gum producers. These purchases are particularly useful for replenishing the barter stock necessary for the exchange. I will actively use the Internet - auctions for new items.
A few words about myself: I live in Samara, I am married, I have a daughter and a granddaughter. In your free time from your hobby, you should work to pursue your passion. Maybe one of you is a collector? Is your collecting theme different? Maybe someone would like to exchange on terms that are convenient for both parties? Or maybe you have an old collection of chewing gum packaging? I am ready for any cooperation. Please contact me by any means, I will definitely respond.