Kristopher McCullough hovered over a table crowded with “Star Trek” figurines, model spaceships and DVDs.
Clad in a maroon and black Voyager uniform, the 35-year-old Subway employee recalled his 10th birthday, when he received his first Star Trek item: a model of the Starship Enterprise.
Since then, his passion for the series has only grown. On Saturday, McCullough shared his collection with thousands of people at the 34th Annual Collectors Day at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Tiffany Ireland, education assistant for the museum, said about 1,500 people attended Saturday’s event, where more than 60 hobbyists laid out their collections on tables.
From chess sets to bonsai plants to brass toasting forks, each presenter had his or her own reasons for collecting.
For John Puckett, collecting business cards is not only a hobby but a passion. The 65-year-old retired Lowe’s Home Improvement employee said he has been collecting cards since the mid-1960s.
Puckett’s extensive collection includes cards fashioned out of metal, wood, leather and plastic. He also has a blue-and-white Microsoft card from Bill Gates and a gold-embossed card from Donald Trump.
Puckett said he likes to see how people’s minds work and how creative they can get with their card designs.
“Everyone’s trying to come up with a card that people won’t throw away,” he said.
At one point, Puckett said, he had more than 1 million cards, which led him to downsize his collection to 400,000 cards. Puckett cautions aspiring collectors to be sure they are comfortable with the items they plan on collecting.
“It’s like getting a tattoo,” he said. “Make sure you really want to collect it because you’re going to be stuck with it.”
Some collections can start entirely on accident.
One day at work, Puckett’s wife, Cindy Puckett, 60, displayed a purple hippopotamus on her desk. Overzealous co-workers thought she collected hippos and began bringing her purple hippo pillows, bath toys, key chains and tape dispensers, John Puckett said.
“Now, it’s gone out of control,” he said. “You’ll think you have everything purple hippo, but then another one will show up.”
