Be it brass, fiber or aluminum, if it's a dog license tag from Michigan, there's a good chance it's in Tim Buda's collection.

The Gaines Township man owns about 1,000 dog licenses from about 350 municipalities in the state, including tags that date back to the 1800s.

"It's almost endless," said Buda, 67. "There are so many different ones and different varieties."

Buda took up collecting the licenses in 1985 after hearing about them while attending a coin show.

Fed up with the high cost and stress of collecting something where any imperfection can drop the item's value, Buda ditched coins and took up dog licenses.

"In dog licenses, there is not great extreme in grading difference," Buda said. "Just because there's a little line or a mark, it doesn't damage its value, where with coins, it got so ridiculous I sold everything I had."

He counts among his collection an 1895 tag from Cadillac, an 1889 tag from Mackinac Island and a 1904 tag from Flint.

The size and shape of the tags vary, including tags shaped like dog houses, circles and canines.

Michigan licenses especially are sought after because there is such a variety.

From 1873 to 1917, each town and township issued its own tags. In 1919, state law changed to put the responsibility for the tags mostly into county hands, Buda said.

Buda isn't alone in his pursuit.

He meets up with other collectors each year at the International Society of Animal License Collectors meeting.

The group has about 111 members from across the U.S., as well as countries such as Portugal and the Czech Republic, said William Bone, the secretary-treasurer of the group and editor of the society's newsletter.

"It used to be people would say, 'You collect what?'" Bone said. "I don't get that much anymore."

To read the complete article, see:GAINES TOWNSHIP MAN BOASTS DOG LICENSE TAG COLLECTION OF OVER 1,000 PIECES(sfluxe.com/2011/12/26/gaines-township-man-boasts-dog-license
-tag-collection-of-over-1000-pieces-mlive-com/)