How do you describe your collection?
I have the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Harry Potter memorabilia.
It’s unique and vintage. I prefer the pre-movie collectibles, which were mostly candies and sweets at that time. A chocolate frog was one of the first items I bought. I still have it — it’s dated 2003. A holographic card came in the package — I thought that was pretty cool because not many sweets came with collector cards.
The collection has expanded to include books, wands, knives, book ends, clothing, timepieces and jewellery, masks, PEZ, toothbrushes, videogames, figures, and toys and games. I have LEGO sets and minifigures, Funko Pops, chess and Scrabble games, costumes, plush, and other items. The collection has over 7,000 items now. I established the record in 2021 with 5,434.
When and why did you start your collection?
My husband at the time bought and paid for the pre-release of the book before he passed away. It was like a gift from him. That drew me to collect more Harry Potter.
How do you display and store your collection?
It is all out on display. I have three separate rooms that are full of Harry Potter. When I say they are full, it’s floor to ceiling and then runs along the top of the ceiling.
We are boxing things up at the moment because we’re recounting everything for Guinness. I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use but I also handwrite everything down as well. The first time we counted everything for the record, we did it in the house. But, because the collection is all over the house now, we’re boxing it up into categories. Then, we will take a photo of every item and record everything as we go along. We’re not having a Guinness representative on site because that costs a lot of money. So, what you do is have two people who know the subject matter do the count while every single step is recorded. We will set up five cameras to capture everything — it ends up being six to eight hours of video. That all then goes over to Guinness World Records to verify.
A lot of work goes into a Guinness World Record for collectors.
What do you consider to be the Holy Grail of your collection?
What I consider the prized item in my collection changes all the time. At the moment, I would say my Ruitertassen satchel bags — they were made for shop displays before the films came out. I’m one of the only people to have the full set of bags.
One item has eluded me — that’s a golden egg. I have three of the four eggs that were released as promotional items. The eggs fit in the palm of the hand and open to reveal a little pewter Welch, Hungarian, Chinese, or Norwegian dragon. I’m missing the Norwegian one. They are highly collectible. Collectors will sometimes get in touch with me to try to sell me theirs but the price they ask is horrendous, massively overpriced.
What advice would you give to someone interested in starting a Harry Potter collection?
Collect what you like.
Don’t collect because everybody else is collecting. There are some things in my collection that I got just because they were in the shop at the time. Now I wonder why I bought them. Don’t waste your money on things you don’t like. And, don’t go over your budget.
See more of Tracey’s Harry Potter collection on the Guinness World Record YouTube channel.
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