Commonplace Fun Facts

When Collecting Stamps Just Doesn’t Do it For You

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Graham Barker shows off 26 years’ worth of belly button lint.

People who collect coins are called numismatists, and stamp collectors are known as philatelists, but what do you call a person who collects belly button lint? At present, the best term for such a person is “Graham Barker,” who holds the record for the world’s largest collection of navel fluff.

Barker, a resident of Perth, Australia, first harvested and saved the contents of his belly button on January 17, 1984, and has been making a daily practice of it ever since.

As of October 2010, he had collected 22.1 grams, filling 3.25 jars. Barker, who is a librarian by trade, once considered using the collection to stuff a pillow. Instead, he sold three of the jars to a museum for an undisclosed amount of money.

Bloom County, by Berkeley Breathed

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