That is such an imaginative way to store and display interesting keepsakes.
We’ve inherited my in-laws collections. Fostoria glass, Swarovski figurines, pewter jewelry boxes, hand sewn felted Christmas ornaments. We joke about gifting the bigger fostoria pieces for wedding gifts. Who wouldn’t want a swoopy three legged chip bowl and platter. And the jewelry boxes would make great gift boxes with a little something inside. The figurines some have been parceled out to grand neeces and meeces ,
The felted ornaments are super cute and creative. But too many for my small tree. Oh yeah, and mini spoons from the world over, actually have those on display in a spare room.
So I’m a keeper of collections but not a collector.
… Okay, I’m assuming many of those collections would be uninspired (but I hope for your sake they weren’t).
Anecdote: I collected comics until a year ago, when I sold 'em all (cheap, to a good home).
I did it to prove to myself that I’m not “a collector that’s a fine line from a hoarder”.
And I told my wife: “Hey, I’m getting paid to declutter!”
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Years ago, I heard that you spend the first half of your life accumulating stuff, and the second half trying to get rid of it.
I must be in the third fifth of the second half of my life…
I think it’s skipping generations in my family. I’m pretty sure one set of grandparents kept a lot of stuff, and our grand uncle was definitely a hoarder. Parents didn’t collect anything at all other than the stack of old National Geographics and cook books that every home seemed to have. Myself and one sibling have collected a lot of things, but another sibling doesn’t seem to have picked up the bug.
Most of the things I collect have some sort of use; media that can be enjoyed, like books or comics or records. We have a lot of old toys but they’re displayed and they’ve all seen their share of play, none are “mint in box.” I could probably stand to get rid of a lot of books and old magazines, and the comics always need some pruning.
As a grownup, I have never collected anything. My wife and I have accumulated a lot of books and records, but not to collect, just to read and listen to. But as a kid there was something I did collect and you could probably spend a year guessing and not come up with it. I will give one clue, then skip some space and then describe it. The clue is that I grew up in Philly and my family did own a car until 1953 when I was nearly 17.
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My collection was of trolley and bus transfers. This makes sense mainly in terms of the Byzantine fare system the Philadelphia Transportation Co. had. First off, buses were more expensive than trolleys (and els, which were fared like trolleys). Until around 1950, it cost a 7.5 cent token to use a trolley, but 10 cents for a bus. For your trolley fare, you could ask for a “transfer” to any connecting trolley. Or you could pay a 10 c. fare on a trolley and the motorman would give you an “exchange” that was also valid for any connecting bus. But that was not all, oh no. If you used an exchange, even on a connecting trolley, you could request a “special exchange” that would allow a further transfer to some (but usually not all) of the connecting lines. And most of the special exchanges would entitle you to ask for another special exchanges. And not all the special exchanges were equivalent. Some allowed more transfers than others and which one you got depended on what it was in exchange of. And most of this information was in printed form on the backs of the transfers and (special) exchanges. Some bus drivers had a tray of 4 or 5 special exchanges he could give out.
So I collected any transfer or (special) exchange I could. I picked them off the street, however I could find. I had nothing like a complete collection. But I once worked out a complete round trip that, in principle, I could have ridden forever on one fare (the system ran 24 hours). IIRC, I started with a G bus a block from my house, to the end of the line at City Line Ave., changed to the E bus, then the A bus in Manyunk, then the Z bus (so changed from A to Z) and then the 13 trolley on Chester Ave. and then to the G bus and I got off by my home. But I could have stayed on it to the E bus and repeat. The trip took about 2 hours. Madness.
But I am a systematizer and this fits right in. It was the system, not the actual pieces of paper that appealed to me.
I have never had anything like a collection. I mean at one point I owned a decent amount of CDs and records, but that was because I liked listening to music, I never owned them for the sake of it.
I think my mother threw it out when I left home. My son is a traffic engineer who has worked for a couple of urban transit agencies, would have loved it. The exchanges told a story that could be decoded if you had all of them—which I didn’t, not nearly.
Not to be negative but I’ve always considered collecting mostly a waste of time. And by that I mean it gives people something to do when they have extra time. As far as amassing particular items it holds no interest me personally as I think life is about experiences, not ‘things’. In fact I believe that a large part of society’s ills comes from people wanting and amassing ‘stuff’ and all that that entails.
One other thing that’s always kept me from collecting is seeing what happens to many peoples’ collections when they pass. The items either end up with disinterested offspring that quickly eBay the entire collection, or some other person that does the same thing. So basically all that time, effort, emotion, and likely money that went into the collection is just evaporated and forgotten in a few fast buck transactions. So to me I feel like, why bother?
I can respect that. But the good thing about people wanting things is that means other people get to make things, which can be a great job that makes them a good living.
Also, anthropologically, humans have always collected shiny things for no other purpose but to have. It’s part of our make up.
