Dear Lee,

Celebrities influence fads. Fads influence prices. Vintage team jerseys are the newest fashion rage for celebrities like Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Spike Lee, and Will Smith. They have been buying and wearing expensive old jerseys. Reproduction jerseys are appearing in music videos. Wanted are jerseys at least five years out of use. Best are jerseys actually worn by sports stars like Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird. Combs owns more than 50 vintage jerseys.

Non-celebrity collectors started another new fad, collecting nodders or bobbleheads. The 6-inch dolls with the wobbly heads are being made to look like baseball stars, Smokey Bear, Colin Powell, Betty Boop, George Bush, and many others. The first baseball bobbleheads were made in 1960. Want more strange sports collectibles? In 1990, Ty Cobb’s dentures auctioned for $7,475. We recently heard of a collector who saves and displays used tires from car races. He hangs them with the track name, race name, date, and driver of the car. Bet the room smells like old rubber.

We are never surprised at what people collect, but we were pleased to see there is another collector in the White House. President Jimmy Carter collects bottles, we were told, and Hillary Clinton likes frogs. The current first lady, Laura Bush, mentioned during a speech that she collects Mexican tourist pottery.