By Brian Boone
Probably on account of how we all say we’re going to take up a new hobby as part of our New Years’ resolutions, January is National Hobby Month. Uncle John’s hobby? Trivia! Here then are some interesting facts about the most popular hobbies and personal pastimes in the United States today — namely the rarest, most expensive, and most elusive in all those pursuits.
Hobby: Cooking
Treasure: It took Indian cuisine expert and Michelin Starred chef Vikas Khanna 12 years to research and write his 21st title and opus, Flavors First: An Indian Chef’s Journey and Bliss of Spices. Printed with ink made out of gold and running 1,400 pages, Flavors First had a cover price of 800,000 rupees, or $13,000, making it the most expensive cookbook ever published.
Hobby: Birdwatching
Treasure: In April 2024, a teacher named Michael Sanchez was taking pictures at the Hug Point State Park beach on the Oregon coast when he snapped a shot of a striking small bird with a blue back and a chestnut-colored front. Birding experts identified the find as a Blue Rock Thrush. It’s the first time that particular avian has ever been seen in the United States.
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Hobby: Camping
Treasure: If camping is about “roughing it” and “getting away from it all,” then the spot where one can really live up to those goals is the Thorofare region. Found in the southeastern-most corner of Yellowstone National Park, it’s the one spot in the contiguous U.S. that’s the farthest away from any population center, town, or roads. Thorofare is a 2,600 square mile region, where the Bridge-Teton and Shoshone National Forests meet, so find a nice area and pitch that tent.
Hobby: Board games
Treasure: Camp Grizzly is a board game adaptation and tribute to 1970s and 1980s slasher movies, and players take on the role of teenagers trying to escaping an axe murderer named Otis as he stalks the camp where they’re working as counselors. Produced in limited quantity by tiny publisher Ameritrash Games, it had trouble getting into stores, so even the most ardent board game enthusiasts probably never played it. And if they want to play it now, it’s going to cost them about $700 to find a Camp Grizzly set intact.
Hobby: Sports card collecting
Treasure: Of the top five biggest sums ever paid at auction for baseball cards, two were 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards. That year marked the first time Topps ever produced baseball cards, and it didn’t make very many of card no. 311, featuring the New York Yankees great early in his career. Topps actually dumped its overstock of its 1952 production in the ocean, making the Mantle card even rarer, and even more expensive. Surviving, high-quality examples of the ’52 Mantle fetched $5.2 million in 2021, and $12.6 million, in 2022.