Paper clips

Paperclips are a small metal item used to hold papers together. Bert is a proud collector of paperclips.

Value
According to Bert at the beginning of "Let's Sing a Song That Everybody Knows", paperclips are very valuble, and are not somethign to play with on a moving bus. In Bert and the Broken Teapot", Bert considers selling his paperclips in order to pay for David's broken teapot. In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'', Bert goes as far as trading his paperclips for a present to buy Ernie. However, he eventually got them back, and keeps in a cigar box that Ernie got Bert for christmas.

Other's Opinions
Ernie doesn't care much for Bert's paperclips. According to Ernie, paperclips are the only thing more boring than Bert's bottlecap collection. However, Ernie once had a paperclip collection of his own; In an early skecth (first seen in Episode 0010), Ernie cleans out his toybox, and coems across a paperclip collection, which he referred to as his paperclip collection.

Other Uses
Ernie's flowerbox for the Twiddlebugs includes a fench made from paperclips (whether this is from Bert's collection, Ernie's collection, or if it's even a collection is unknown). In one Twiddlebugs sketch, the Twiddlebugs find a paperclip, and think up many different uses for it.

Bert once showed Ernie a way to pick up paperclips without using his fingers; by using a magnet.

Outside of Sesame Street, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew once invented edible paperclips. Beaker enjoyed eating them, but they have a side effect: They caused Beaker's nose to fall off.