Are you a collector?

Why do we collect things?

We baby boomers and beyond love to have collections. Maybe we think it’s going to be worth a whole lot of money today. Or we really enjoy looking at magazine covers that span 50 years.

Or maybe it’s just fun. That’s a good enough reason for me.

Freud probably has another theory. But let’s not go there. And I’m not talking about hoarding, when the inability to throw something away begins to destroy lives.

I’m just talking collecting. Just about all of us do it, and in many cases, we began as children.

Did you have a big stack of comic books? Were you waiting at the store when the next Hot Wheels car came out? Do you have every concert poster from the Grateful Dead tours?

Do you secretly tape every episode of Antiques Roadshow to see if that missing piece of memorabilia you’ve been hunting forever shows up?

I think some of the things we collect take us back in time, bringing up pleasant memories of people and events we want to keep alive. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to remember how good it felt to hear your favorite band live the first time. Or be drawn to war memorabilia that still feels familiar after many years. Or maybe it’s a pattern of china that takes you back to when Mom set the table for special occasions.

It’s interesting to walk into one home and see several collections of figurines, model cars, or rare books…and then go next door and see no collections of any kind. Maybe the people who live in the Spartan home just do a better job of hiding their collections. Or maybe buying more than one of something sparks too much guilt in them and they can’t do it.

Animals collect too. Rats. Magpies. Even dogs know where their favorite chew bones are located. Cats…well, I think cats collect people. But that’s another story

Humans still win the prize for collecting the weirdest things, and no, I’m not going to list some of them. You are online; you can indulge your need to know the creepy.

The American Philatelic Society says that shortly after adhesive postage stamps were introduced by Great Britain in 1840, people began to collect them. I did this as a child. It was a great way to spend the time, and an easy way to learn the countries of the world as well as their leaders, often shown on the stamps. I still find it interesting that for so many years, stamps from even the tiniest nations were adorned in bright colors, with flowers, animals, and people on them. While American stamps were plain, unexciting and predictable.

That all changed eventually, but for many years, the U.S. won the award for boring.

As for the rich and/or famous, rumor has it Tom Hanks collects typewriters. Jan Leno of course collects cars and motorcycles. John Quincy Adams collected coins. Musician Rod Stewart is said to be crazy about model trains.

Today, I like finding original Russell Wright plates, bowls, and cups. I have a hiking hat with pins for every state in which I’ve hiked. I still pick up LPs now and then. I confess I don’t have a major serious collection of anything, though I’m related to someone who does, and all her collections give her great joy.

Great collectors love to see each other’s collections. You can go to museums, galleries, and libraries. Or you can go online to sites like The Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things to see what you’ve been missing.

In his wonderful poem Hector The Collector, Shel Silverstein captures the allure of collecting:

Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string,
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring. Bent-up nails and ice-cream sticks,
Twists of wires, worn-out tires,
Paper bags and broken bricks.
Old chipped vases, half shoelaces,
Gatlin’ guns that wouldn’t shoot,
Leaky boasts that wouldn’t float
And stopped-up horns that wouldn’t toot. Butter knives that had no handles,
Copper keys that fit no locks
Rings that were too small for fingers,
Dried-up leaves and patched-up socks.
Worn-out belts that had no buckles,
‘Lectric trains that had no tracks,
Airplane models, broken bottles,
Three-legged chairs and cups with cracks.
Hector the Collector
Loved these things with all his soul–
Loved them more then shining diamonds,
Loved them more then glistenin’ gold.
Hector called to all the people,
‘Come and share my treasure trunk!’
And all the silly sightless people
Came and looked … and called it junk.

As in anything, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder…if it brings you joy, it’s your treasure.

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart.  Pursue those.”

       Unknown