Element collecting

[1] In recent years, the hobby has gained popularity with media attention brought by element collectors like Theodore Gray.

Some commercial retailers now cater to the element collecting community, even selling large quantities in sets,[4] since purchasing elements from large chemical companies is frequently prohibited or uneconomical for individuals.

Others are rare in commerce, and thus hard to buy or expensive: scandium, lutetium, and thulium.

It is possible to source other radioactive elements, such as radium (usually in the form of radium sulfate as part of luminescent paint on antique watch hands,[15] americium (in the form of radioactive buttons containing 0.29 micrograms of americium extracted from older smoke detectors), promethium (often in the form of luminous paint),[15] polonium from devices meant to eliminate static electricity,[16] and technetium with a half-life of six hours plated on foil.

[17] In What If?, Randall Munroe humorously explored the practicalities of building a periodic table consisting of bricks of each of the elements.