There’s a saying we like to repeat at hobbyDB, on our mission to document every collectible ever, that states “over 100 billion collectibles…eventually.”
Becoming the center of the collectibles universe is a lofty goal and one we don’t undertake alone. In fact, it takes a collectibles village, so to speak.
Since its inception in 2014, hobbyDB has always been about covering every collectible ever while simultaneously uniting the collectibles communities.
With the likes of collectors magazines and price guide books going the way of the dinosaurs and dodo birds, hobbyDB can provide that same quality of data in real-time while engaging individual fanbases.
We began this journey like everyone else…as collectors.
During our extensive internet searches for elusive collectibles, we noticed that many individual collectors’ sites were falling by the wayside – with the attrition of time being a major culprit. We’re talking about 1,000s of great niche sites and all of their great data in danger of being lost forever.
So the Indiana Jones in us set out to preserve these jewels of internet history and give them new life on hobbyDB.
So how do we do it? Segments. Segments. Segments.
At the start we work with a data owner, an individual to import existing data – to save it and to improve it. Video game fans will find more than 55,000 video games in the database courtesy of the now-defunct Hugada (the HUge GAme DAtabase). And action figures fans can peruse more than 130,000 listings that the founder of Toy Collector App and some of that site’s volunteers added to hobbyDB.
Our approach to building and maintaining hobbyDB is threefold –
Diecast and model cars played a big role in the early days as we brought on massive databases from notable model websites such as Diecast Lovers, Gary’s Cars, ModelPackRat and South Texas Diecast.
From there, hobbyDB quickly expanded to incorporate bigger brands such as Hard Rock Café Pins, the Funko authority Pop Price Guide and around 10 other sites plus more than 60 Official Archives for brands, clubs, book authors, customizers, designers and others.
And it is working. We doubled the number of Funko Products in the database and added more than 40,000 new Hard Rock items already.
We allow the inclusion of prototypes, errors, customs, autographed items and vintage fakes. If somebody wants to have it in their Collection we want it in the database, regardless if made a million times or once (or even none, we add announced but never made collectibles as they are of interest).
We even like to add Artistic Photography that we celebrate on our blog and allow to add to Database Items.
The result is an emerging home for all things collectible. A place where collectors can find every item and can rest assured of its accuracy.
And we’re not done there. We’re currently in the process of adding databases from ancient coins, car brochures, cereals premiums, Royal Doulton porcelain, plus Starbucks City Mugs and Valiant Comics, to name a few.
Check out a list of the databases joining hobbyDB here! Meaning everybody benefits!
When a new database is joining us we first make sure that we can handle it exactly like collectors want to see the data. For that purpose, we created the hobbyDB Advisory Council with its 76 Members who own or curate 12 Museums, hold 2 Guinness Book Records, wrote 266 books on collectibles, are Editors of magazines and blogs, and have assembled some of the world’s best collections.
We then make any changes required, here are a few examples –
We then recruit new members to our Squad of expert volunteers that will manage the data. They also discuss and agree on how we document these new types of collectibles in our Knowledgebase. Collectibles are complex with each Segment having its own quirks and there is still some work done for us to document them all perfectly. We publish our Technology Roadmap here.
As of August 29, 2023, there are now 641,910 hobbyDB Members with many others coming to the site using it as a resource but not having signed up yet. Here are some other Stats –
All of the data has been added by our 2,192 Squad Members. And 1,432 of our Members own the company!
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