One of the initial traces of collectibles can be said to be the use of people to promote goods. During the 80s, a lot of businesses often attempted to stimulate sales of their products by using famous personalities. Illustrator Palmer Cox's pixie - like Brownies characters, which he gave licence to manufacture, became one of the most famous collectibles during those times.

Within no time, a lot of people bought some of the products because the people who they looked up to or who they admired were endorsing the products, rather than the need for the product itself. This brought up the beginning of advertising character-collectibles, which forms a large part of the collecting hobby today.

A red - mark date came in the hobby during 1892, with the US Mint issuing their first ever commemorative coins. These coins celebrated the 400th year since Europeans came to America. These were some of the items made in those days specifically for collecting, rather than for using them. These commemorative coins have become quite a popular collectible nowadays.

During the 30s, radio shows became really popular, and advertisers decided to use 'premiums' (free gifts which they claimed as being valuable) so that they could increase interest in those radio shows and in their own products. The early form of premiums included items such as decoder rings, badges, cups and pins, and were massively popular on programs like 'The Lone Ranger' (1933 - 1955). One of the biggest sponsors that gave away these gifts was the chocolate drink maker 'Ovaltine'. Due to this, a lot of people who grew up listening to these radio shows became eager collectors of these premiums when they became adults.