How do you feel about people touching your collection?

[Flaffy]

It's usually the guest's job to keep their own child in line... (+ a stern scolding back home about politeness)
Thats certainly an interesting story Sauroid 

I usually never let anyone touch my figures. In the rare occasion where I socialise with someone and a kid somehow tags along, I have a box or two of old chinasaurs which I give them to play with and bring a few back home.

[Minmiminime]

Ooh, a tricky one...depends on the mood I'm in, and whether whoever wants to touch them is exuding snot/dribble/has dirty, or potentially germy hands. I occasionally take a member of my collection into work to remind myself of the good things in life, and they mostly go unnoticed. If somebody does pick them up, I like to jump on their curiosity and provide a little education about the particular genus they have in their hand. A lot of people admire them from an artistic point of view; the Papo Dimetrodon, Rebor Acrocanthosaurus, Safari Velociraptor, CollectA Tsintaosaurus, and Rebor "'raptor" hatchlings have all proved particularly popular.

At home, everybody looks at them through the cabinet doors, but none has yet ever dared to open the doors

[Derek.McManus]

My collection is not of any value and I am happy for people to play with it as long as they are having fun!

[Neosodon]

My collection is not of any value and I am happy for people to play with it as long as they are having fun!

"My collection is not of any value." Well they are just objects so it's good not to get too attached but I still value my collection to some degree.

Being afraid to let others touch your dinosaurs or even touch them yourself seems kind of waste to me. Better to take the risk of getting a paint scuff than have your dinosaurs just sitting and collecting dust on a shelf forever.

[Archinto]

If its the lower value figures I could care less if someone touches them, but when they start touching my millers and orsenigos, and my other high dollar models, I usually warn of fragility. it makes me nervous LOL

[ZoPteryx]

So long as they're not too rough and put them back where they found them, it doesn't bother me. 

[BlueKrono]

My collection is not of any value and I am happy for people to play with it as long as they are having fun!

"My collection is not of any value." Well they are just objects so it's good not to get too attached but I still value my collection to some degree.

Being afraid to let others touch your dinosaurs or even touch them yourself seems kind of waste to me. Better to take the risk of getting a paint scuff than have your dinosaurs just sitting and collecting dust on a shelf forever.

Reminds me of the folks that insist on leaving everything MOC OMG MINT IN PACKAGE! That's another thing I like about 3-dimensional figures. They are meant to be enjoyed from any angle. Looking at a dinosaur trapped in a plastic bubble isn't much better than looking at a snapshot of it online.

[ceratopsian]

I'm quite comfortable with my beasties not being touched overmuch - I'm used to a museum environment and it feels quite homely to me.  But I must admit I don't leave my dinosaurs in their packaging.  That seems too much like captivity!  I don't throw the packaging away but store it carefully - just in case!

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

Sometimes I have friends over, and I show them my collection, and sometimes my parents have friends over that have kids and I let them see my collection. I always ask them to be careful, except for my friends and my girfriend. I have a baby sister, and sometimes my mom bring her into my room. I have to make sure she doesn't mess up my bottom shelf, which is the only one she can reach. Overall, while I'm not too protective of my collection, certain people I have to keep an eye on.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I don't mind if things are touched that are low value, replaceable or somewhat resistant to damage. The ultra rare, or touchy stuff I usually keep behind glass , in cabinets, and displays . I find it isn't so much people I am having to steer away from touching as my beloved cat Grimlock...who quite lives up to his name in destructive and sheer shelf clearing ability

[BlueKrono]

I don't mind if things are touched that are low value, replaceable or somewhat resistant to damage. The ultra rare, or touchy stuff I usually keep behind glass , in cabinets, and displays . I find it isn't so much people I am having to steer away from touching as my beloved cat Grimlock...who quite lives up to his name in destructive and sheer shelf clearing ability

And this is why I will never own a cat. Dogs can lay waste to anything up to a height of about five feet. Cats can destroy anything ANYWHERE.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I don't mind if things are touched that are low value, replaceable or somewhat resistant to damage. The ultra rare, or touchy stuff I usually keep behind glass , in cabinets, and displays . I find it isn't so much people I am having to steer away from touching as my beloved cat Grimlock...who quite lives up to his name in destructive and sheer shelf clearing ability

And this is why I will never own a cat. Dogs can lay waste to anything up to a height of about five feet. Cats can destroy anything ANYWHERE.

the saying goes...dogs have owners, cats have support staff....so much truth in that. It is odd though...I have two cats, one is a shelter recovered cat, the other was one I selected as a kitten. The shelter animal behaves, does not destroy things and is overall more concerned with resting, eating and attention...while the hand chosen kitten has grown into one of the most single destructive forces ever encountered by mykind

[Halichoeres]

I don't mind if things are touched that are low value, replaceable or somewhat resistant to damage. The ultra rare, or touchy stuff I usually keep behind glass , in cabinets, and displays . I find it isn't so much people I am having to steer away from touching as my beloved cat Grimlock...who quite lives up to his name in destructive and sheer shelf clearing ability

And this is why I will never own a cat. Dogs can lay waste to anything up to a height of about five feet. Cats can destroy anything ANYWHERE.

Personally I only like the kinds of pets that live behind glass.

[Georassic]

Cats rule. But my mom was/is a cat lover, so I was raised that way. The lowest shelf of my collection is in range of my cat's tail, and every so often she tips a figure or two.

Back to the question at hand, it took me a while to get used to people touching my collection. But I don't mind anymore. My boys have learned to ask, and I will retrieve the figure they want to hold, because they know to do so gently. Only one adult has ever handled figures without asking, but he works for a museum, packing traveling exhibits, so I had an oddly innate trust that he would do no harm.

[SBell]

I got used to having kids that handled some of my collection--they knew from a very early age which ones were very breakable, and which ones had easily-scuffed paint ('Bullys' is the short-hand for that, after the typically terrible paint of Bullyland models.)

Most of my collection is behind glass, in a separate room, so it really doesn't affect much. People can ask, or I will pull things out.

I also worked in a museum, but I became more relaxed when I remembered that they are generally toys--and that it is more worthwhile to give the tactile experience with something. If you can hand sample fossils to the general public, you can hand toys to your kids.

[Shonisaurus]

My personal experience is as follows. Some of my nephews, my cousin's children, got heavy on the subject of wanting to take some dinosaurs. I always gave them one whenever it was not discontinued or it was strange (ie Japanese, Chinese), in any case whenever I do that I buy another same in some of the physical stores or online.

On the other hand the dinosaurs are in very high shelves so there are no problems at the time that children, especially now nephews, can get them is the truth. I can comment that my shelves are so high that I need a ladder to climb and be able to take them, with that everything is said.

In my case the children in general have not caused me problems. They are not capricious children and they are more are quite good and quiet in general terms is say hundred percent, so I have never had any problem.

[Halichoeres]

Cats rule. But my mom was/is a cat lover, so I was raised that way. The lowest shelf of my collection is in range of my cat's tail, and every so often she tips a figure or two.

I actually like cats, although I was raised with dogs (I actively dislike dogs, I think they're gross). But I like having hair-free clothing and furniture even more, as well as being able to leave town without stressing out, or having to clean out an open-air toilet every day.

[BlueKrono]

My personal experience is as follows. Some of my nephews, my cousin's children, got heavy on the subject of wanting to take some dinosaurs. I always gave them one whenever it was not discontinued or it was strange (ie Japanese, Chinese), in any case whenever I do that I buy another same in some of the physical stores or online.

On the other hand the dinosaurs are in very high shelves so there are no problems at the time that children, especially now nephews, can get them is the truth. I can comment that my shelves are so high that I need a ladder to climb and be able to take them, with that everything is said.

In my case the children in general have not caused me problems. They are not capricious children and they are more are quite good and quiet in general terms is say hundred percent, so I have never had any problem.

Wow, you have some seriously high shelves!

[stargatedalek]

I don't normally care. Everything particularly fragile is either packed away or up on a shelf with books, decorative fishing lures, Idolmaster figures, and electronics so it's quite visibly not somewhere for kids to be grabbing things. I have very few adult friends and generally they just come over to play video games and don't bother with figures.

I have a few bins of Playmobil I can bring out if any kids old enough to use that sort of thing show up, any kids younger than that generally the parents keep them close.

[Megalosaurus]

I have a big ice keeper full with common dinosaur models, so any children can play with them.
But if they touch my personal collection I become Smeagol: