Now here’s an esoteric hobby. Scripophily is the collecting of old bonds and stock certificates. Until today, I didn’t know it was an actual hobby, and my first reaction was that it all seemed quite silly, but if you think about it, it really isn’t any dumber than stamp collecting. On www.scripophily.net, for example, there are some rather interesting bits of history for sale. One of the featured items is a stock certificate from The Buckeye Steel Castings Company of Columbus, Ohio dating back to 1921. It’s actually hand signed, by the company’s president, Samuel Prescott Bush, great-grandfather to President Dubya. Considering the skyrocketing prices in many hobbies, given the popularity of antiques and collecting these days, scripophily is probably a relatively affordable hobby – you can nab Buckeye Steel stock for a mere $119.95.