Why Do We Collect?

Why do we love Collectibles?

We do this for several reasons. It may remind us of our youth, the trips to the candy store to get the next set of baseball cards. The Barbie dolls that we collected over the years. Collections that we fell in love with and couldn't give up.

When our mothers told us that it was time to clean out our closets, and donate our old toys, generally around our birthdays or holidays, only to find out later that she too couldn't give it up, and wound up putting our favourite collections in the eaves of the garage.

I remember when I was growing up how my father could never throw anything out, we had a finished basement, and he left one of the steel beams exposed, and that is where all the discarded toys wound up. He saved everything, and my mother who was the rational one in the family, would yell at him to throw it out, it was junk. On that shelf, he had the original tin toy soldiers, and anyone who knows anything about collecting knows what they fetch. He had stored in the basement, the original Stromberg Carlson, push-button TV, yes I truly think he created the phrase, the one who dies with the most toys wins.

Well, when my father died, my mother had already passed, we could have retired on his junk.

There are a million and one reasons why we collect and they are different for all of us, but nevertheless, we do. We have been called packrats (by non-believers), hoarders of days gone by. However, I believe that when we forget our past, we could be going down a slippery slope, so it is always, good to have a little token of where we came from, and what is important, so we don't lose sight of where we are going.

Now I am not saying you should over-collect, and don't put it away never to be seen, display it whenever you can, they are a part of you.

If you haven't figured it out by now yes I love certain collectibles. I love porcelain figurines, especially, Hummell, and Norman Rockwell figurines, some toy, and some old pieces of furniture. I am sure that Charles Ingels, yes he wound up making furniture, for a living, never thought that his pieces would ever be worth a fortune, he was just a furniture maker that took pride in what he did and gave people what they paid for. Today it is almost impossible to find any of his pieces and if you did you couldn't afford them. So when you grandmother leaves you an old piece of furniture in her will, and if underneath it has the carvings CI, don't throw it out, get it appraised and then put it in a vault.

My grandson already has his eye on an antique clock that he loves, and he is only 11.

Collecting is something we fall into accidentally or we have a love for something unusual, or old, the reasons aren't really important if you enjoy it then do it. If you really need the money then sell it, and let other people get the same enjoyment that you have gotten out of it. Estate sales are great places to find treasures, flea markets, and the list goes on.

By Susan Guarino