A Harry Potter superfan has managed to “Slytherin” to the record books after collecting thousands of pieces of memorabilia.
Victoria Maclean has 3,686 individual J.K. Rowling-related items. This earned her the Wizarding World Collection world record which includes the Fantastic Beasts series.
According to the BBC, she was presented with her world record certificate by Guinness World Records recently. YouTuber Mrs. Maclean, 38, said: “I screamed a lot – it was so incredible after all these months.”
The arduous task of counting her entire collection involved packing it all up from her home and taking it to the local rugby club where it could be laid out in full. But the three-day process of packing, unloading, counting, and re-packing had to be repeated after Mrs. Maclean grouped some items as one when they counted as individuals.
The Harry Potter superfan previously shared her preparation process for the world record attempt. Based on the Youtube video, Maclean is dedicated to her hobby.
This new record, incorporating collectibles from the wider J.K Rowling universe, means Mexico City’s Menahem Asher Silva Vargas, who has a 3,097-strong Harry Potter collection, keeps his world record.
Mrs. Maclean said: “Guinness said, ‘If you want, you could go for the Harry Potter record’, but my husband would divorce me if I did!”
It was while she was pregnant in 2001 that Mrs. Maclean’s magical love affair began. She was watching a segment on Blue Peter about Harry Potter and two weeks later, she had bought and read the first book. Since then, the mother-of-three has collected every book, DVD, toy, bag, items of clothing and piece of jewelry she can as well as a host of other collectibles.
Her YouTube channel means she often gets sent memorabilia to promote, which helps cut some of the cost, but her collection is worth an estimated £100,000. Her prized possession is a 24 carat gold-plated Golden Snitch puzzle piece from Japan one of only 5,000 made which took six years to track down and buy. Even with this record, there is still the Holy Grail that eludes her a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
