Most of us may have had the habit of collecting certain items as kids, but more often than not we all just left it midway and reminisce over them now. Nevertheless, meet someone who never let go of that habit and has been accumulating his collection of toys from restaurant chains for the last 50 years!
From the age of 5, Filipino graphic artist Percival Lugue has had a passion for collecting toys from fast-food restaurant chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and home-country favorite Jollibee.
Now, nearly five decades later, the 50-year-old has about 20,000 toys packed from floor to ceiling in his home and holds a Guinness World Record from 2014, when his collection reached more than 10,000 items.
He holds a Guinness World Record from 2014, when his collection reached more than 10,000 items.
“The toy is like a storyteller in itself,” said Mr.Lugue, explaining his hobby while sitting among a seemingly never ending mix of toys in his three-storey home. “For example, it gives me a glimpse of that particular period when I got it, the story of what’s going on, what are the incidents that are attached in the acquisition,” he said.
Mr. Lugue, who lives in Apalit in the Philippines, built his home especially to house his collection. He says that the excitement of getting new toys is similar to what he enjoys on a Christmas morning. He has always played with the toys, but even as a child took good care of them and put them on display “unlike the other kids, who would tear up their toys into pieces.”
While most of his toys were obtained through personal purchases, some were donated by friends and family. “I would invite my friends to have lunch at McDonald’s and in one sitting I would be able to complete the whole set,” he said.
Mr. Lugue says that one of his most treasured pieces is a “Hetty Spaghetti” figurine, a mascot from the Jollibee chain that his mother gave him in 1988. His dream now is to eventually put his collection on display for the public or even open a museum to “give others a chance to revisit their own childhood memories.”
