Those are excellent finds. They look like specimens of the now-extinct seed ferns. Picture 1 and 3 look like Neuropteris sp.
Aside from coins....... I collect 19th century Arkansas postal history (entire postmarked envelopes), tax reciepts, deeds, cancelled checks, and other documents. Also mining company scrip and stock certificates relating to the Copper mines of Michigan. But mostly I collect tools... specifically... equipment, and tooling related to presswork and coinmaking. My workshop is 30' x 60' with 12' ceilings... and it's packed to the gills with stuff... eight presses at last count... six currently working... at least one of which clears the ceiling beams by a scant six inches. I'm especially enamored of very old manual screw presses, original coining dies, and all the various ancillary bits of press tooling and die-sinking gear that are usually forgotten in the books about the coining process. I've travelled all over the country to provide a new home to a classy old press and save it from the junkyard. These are true antiques... some well over a hundred years old... but people who'd pay plenty for a small antique tool just won't pay a thing for a big one... just because of a little thing like... it weighs 3000 lbs! Shucks... that's a little one! Of course... I've had to become adept with engine hoists, pallet jacks, floor rollers, chain hoists, and block-and-tackle sets as well as the various means and strategems of rigging, loading, unloading, and positioning such beasties. I also collect (or more properly... "accumulate") commodity base metals, such as copper, steel, iron, brass etc. in various forms and as funds and market forces permit.
Im a collector: War letters and diaries (WWI; WWII; Korea; Vietnam); Vietnam slides; Pocket Watches; Glass negatives; large size antique framed/matted photos; Coin collecting is #3 in my priority of collecting. The letters and diaries are #1; The watches are #2. The watches are similar to coins: condition sensitive, although no formal grading standards exist. Merely poor, fine, and near mint. Ive seen some average to less than watches sell in shops for ridiculous money. Coin dealers sell a few pocket watches at shows, often overpriced. On ebay the price you pay for a common but near-mint, antique pocket watch, is the same price you pay in a retail dealer's shop for a flawed, average or less than average piece. ...letters and diaries: I love the old handwritten stuff. But I like historical content that tells a story; Im not looking for autographs of famous people. And antique store ledgers from the local general store: I dont want it. I have no use for accounting ledgers. People think the old store ledgers are collectible. NO way. Value on those is limited, unless it has historical relevance to a particular person place or event. ...glass negatives: some great old glass negatives out there, if you have an eye for a great photo. The glass negatives you can scan and make prints of some great vintage scenes
