How do you feel about people touching your collection?

[Fembrogon]

Having grown up loving dinosaurs and playing with dinosaur toys, I not only am happy to show off my collection to guests, I practically encourage the kids to play with them - so long as they're gentle, of course (fortunately, most of the families I know raise their kids very well). I do have a big bin of cheap toys too, but the nice ones are in plain sight, so they tend to get played with first; and on the occasional outing with kids, I'll grab my Safaris/Battats/etc rather than the chinasaurs. I value my figures as toys as well as display pieces; so while my figures might risk a few chips and scuffs occasionally, I can accept that if it means the figures are being loved.
I'd rather get friends & family get used to the quality and accuracy the nicer brands can offer, anyway. No tripod rexes for this generation! 

[tanystropheus]

I make sure to touch my collection before anyone else does.

[sauroid]

i have both a cat and a dog and fortunately, both are "trained" to not enter my room where i keep all my collectible things. they would stare at me from the doorway (when it's open) as if asking "why wont you let me in, boss?".

re people handling my collection: i cant stand people holding/touching my figures. i am so OC that i wash my hands before handling them, and i cringe so bad to the point that when im purchasing figures in the stores, i tell the person on the counter wrapping them to handle them carefully (with an attitude).

[Reptilia]

I keep my cats out of my room too. The door has to be closed 24/7 though, otherwise they would definitely come in. It's much to protect records and books rather than figures, the cats have the bad habit to pull out comics from my sister book shelves in her room.

[laticauda]

I have two kids and I will let them play with toys from my collection (carefully) only if they ask permission.  As for other people, as long as they ask I don't have a problem with it, unless it is a kid who I know to be rough or disrespectful of other peoples things.  My cat doesn't even go near my collection so its not an issue. 

[Faelrin]

The only people that would even have interest in touching my figures (aside from myself of course) would be my toddler twin nieces, and they rarely come over (or rather are brought over). Right now all I have is my JW figures and my little Yowie Anomalocaris. I just let them play with the JW things for now. Of course I have other things they can play with when they do come over aside from the JW dinosaurs. They are pretty careful/gentle with them as well. One of them absolutely loves the chomping T. rex I have because it's "big". A while back I even gave them the Dilophosaurus and Dimorphodon figures I had for them to keep at their house. I'll probably let them play with my BotM raptors as well when I get them, maybe.

[ITdactyl]

A few days ago I would've said I didn't really mind people "playing" with my collection.
Then my Mom invited friends over to her house (where most of my collection "stays") and they brought kids - who strangely went straight for the shapeways figures.

So today I'm digesting the sight of missing tail tips, beaks, thagomizers, fingers and toes.  I... can't... even...

[BlueKrono]

A few days ago I would've said I didn't really mind people "playing" with my collection.
Then my Mom invited friends over to her house (where most of my collection "stays") and they brought kids - who strangely went straight for the shapeways figures.

So today I'm digesting the sight of missing tail tips, beaks, thagomizers, fingers and toes.  I... can't... even...

Ooooouuucchh... Shapeways aren't cheap either.

[Derek.McManus]

Oh dear...for those with damaged collections I feel your pain! I have a bag of semi decent figures for playing purposes when the young children arrive!

[ceratopsian]

Perhaps the mothers of the children in question might be gently persuaded by your mother to make a contribution towards the damage caused by their offspring.

[Flaffy]

That is one of the reasons why I keep my collection out of reach for small children or shut behind a glass cabinet.

[Tylosaurus]

Good topic this one, odd I didn't see it yet, and well since I have assisted living no children can enter here, kind of like that as Blade said earlier he is  territorial I am that too also due to my controlled way of living my autism won't allow me for certain changes every dino is displayed in the same way position, also make photographs of them so I can correct their stance by the millimeter.

That resulted to no touching my collection goes for my Dino's, Dragons, Aircraft,  Crystals,  StarWars Starfigthers, Orchids 2CPU Server/workstations, Graphics Cards and everything else.
Multiple collections equals multiple worries, thus multiple ways of getting stressed when having visitors over and really begging them not to touch a single thing ...
So yeah I can get the numerous frustrations some of you collectors can get.

[Doug Watson]

Haha this thread suggests I actually know other people.

I just found this thread and that post made me laugh!

I enjoy sharing my collection with others in an orderly way. That is I hand the adult or child the toy, explain the history of it and then wait with hand at the ready to retrieve it when they are done or I feel they have had enough time with it. No play time allowed unless it is one of the Chinasaurs I keep for those occasions.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I don't have much of a problem with other people getting near my collections. Even my elementary-aged cousins never showed much interest, which is good for me but makes me worry a bit for them since kids should want to play with that kind of stuff.

Ideally I'd keep everything I wouldn't want touched behind glass if I had the space and money, though I don't have much of a need for that except to keep the dust off.

[alexeratops]

A few days ago I would've said I didn't really mind people "playing" with my collection.
Then my Mom invited friends over to her house (where most of my collection "stays") and they brought kids - who strangely went straight for the shapeways figures.

So today I'm digesting the sight of missing tail tips, beaks, thagomizers, fingers and toes.  I... can't... even...

Not even lying, I shuddered when I read this. Shapeways are such a piece of art, I can't even imagine... I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you talked to your mom or her friends. I keep my Shapeways on my desk right in front of me, so they are almost always under careful watch.

Plus, the rest of my collection is in the same room as my desk, so for the most part they stay safe. I also have many large but fragile lego sets positioned below my prehistoric animal shelves (not glass cases) so there is the risk of those breaking. A while back my sister knocked down two whole shelves full of lego sets and dinosaurs, and I spent a good three days fixing the lego sets alone. This was the breaking point when I decided to move everything into my room.

Anyways, I've gone off topic. Not many people have a reason to enter my room. My friends and I usually hang out in the 'bonus room' because thats where my gaming consoles are, but when we do venture into the depths of my room they know that I am unusually specific about my 'toys'  and stay back.

[AcroSauroTaurus]

The only people that are ever allowed to touch my collection are me, and a few of my close friends.(who also collect figures) But thats it. Not even my own family is allowed to touch them.

[DragonRider02]

I don't like when somebody touch my things.

But luckily, my parents almost never invite anybody over to our house (they are too busy and I have no single friend) and even if somebody eventually shows up they don't go to my room so I don't have to worry about my collection being touched.
But If some pesky kid eventually sneaked to my room the shelves/places where I keep my Dinosaurs, Dragons or Transformers are high enough to keep them safe from smaller children. A very determinated one could crawl over and stand on top of my bed to reach for my Transformers but then I would beat the heck out of them with a baseball bat or something. My giant alien robots are SACRED! Nobody touches them but Me! And even then I am sometimes scared that while de-dusting my beloved precious Masterpiece Starscream might fall off his standing post and shatter...

As for my cat, she is not interested in anything which doesn't Smell like food or isn't my bed, so I have no problem with Her!

[IrritatorRaji]

It drives me insane. Especially when my mother visits and tries to hold some of the figures. I love my mum to bits, but she somehow manages to always knock over an entire row of figures whenever she touches anything. I felt my life flash before my eyes when she picked up my Kenner Bull Rex and my entire Kenner collection, including older and more fragile figures such as the Red Rex and Animatronic Spinosaurus, tumbled to the ground. Thankfully nothing broke.

[Digibasherx]

For me, it depends. I had shared my vintage toys with my friend's kid (with supervision) and it was fine.  I wouldn't just let anyone play with my collections.  With that said, I have a newborn who is already eyeing most of the stuff on the shelves, so let's see how that goes .

[Megalosaurus]

I have to say this to my nephews: