The End of the Collector Mindset

tonyb · May 16, 2018

^^^^^^
I've known people who had lots of nice stuff they couldn't really enjoy because it was buried under piles of other stuff. I like stuff myself, but I'm at the point where if anything of any real size comes in, something else has to leave.

scotrace · May 16, 2018

The move is in less than two weeks. Selling off, tossing, giving away, donating. Still TOO MUCH STUFF.

What the HECK am I supposed to do with these idiotic Hallmark "collectable" pedal cars I thought I had to have in the 90s???? $80 each, not worth $5 now. IDIOT.

Eleven boxes of books and we'll surely fill ten more. SIX of them are cookbooks. And two boxes have already gone to the library fundraiser bookstore.

Things I've held onto since childhood. Do I really need this plastic penny bank bust of Lincoln with the missing stopper?

Years of Old House Journal and This Old House, away with you. I designated a single box to hold all magazines to keep. Anything that doesn't fit in there has to go. Though the prewar magazines are auto-saves. Life, American Home, Motor, Esquire, etc.
All the Playboy issues have already gone to the dump. HOW MUCH DID I SPEND ON THESE? Ugh.

LizzieMaine · May 16, 2018

If there's anything that'll kill the "collector mentality" it's the profusion of objects specifically sold over the last forty years as "collectibles." The things that are truly collectible are the things that nobody ever cared or thought to save decades ago, the things that were used for their intended purpose, and wore out thru normal use, were lost, destroyed, or thrown away.

The only exception to that might be silver and gold commemorative coins, but even among these there are few that have much "collector" value beyond the intrinsic metal value. The modern "collectible" base-metal coins -- state quarters, presidential dollars, etc. -- will end up being worth less than the dinosaur coins they used to give away at the gas station.

Fading Fast · May 16, 2018

LizzieMaine said:
If there's anything that'll kill the "collector mentality" it's the profusion of objects specifically sold over the last forty years as "collectibles." The things that are truly collectible are the things that nobody ever cared or thought to save decades ago, the things that were used for their intended purpose, and wore out thru normal use, were lost, destroyed, or thrown away.

The only exception to that might be silver and gold commemorative coins, but even among these there are few that have much "collector" value beyond the intrinsic metal value. The modern "collectible" base-metal coins -- state quarters, presidential dollars, etc. -- will end up being worth less than the dinosaur coins they used to give away at the gas station.

Did you say they used to give away dinosaur coins at gas stations? Just asking, would that be of our friend the Sinclair mascot?

LizzieMaine · May 16, 2018

Ah, sorry to disappoint -- I'm afraid I was thinking of the President coins Shell put out, although you could certainly argue that certain presidents were in fact dinosaurs. James Buchanan comes to mind. Dinosaur coins would have been a natural for Sinclair, given al the other dinosaur stuff they gave out, but apparently they never thought of it.

But there are, apparently, actual legal-tender dinosaur coins out there -- Canada, especially, seems to go in big for them.

Albertosaurus? Wasn't he a character in "Pogo?" Where's his cigar?

ChrisB · May 16, 2018

Todays junk is tomorrows collectible.

tonyb · May 16, 2018

LizzieMaine said:
If there's anything that'll kill the "collector mentality" it's the profusion of objects specifically sold over the last forty years as "collectibles." The things that are truly collectible are the things that nobody ever cared or thought to save decades ago, the things that were used for their intended purpose, and wore out thru normal use, were lost, destroyed, or thrown away.

The only exception to that might be silver and gold commemorative coins, but even among these there are few that have much "collector" value beyond the intrinsic metal value. The modern "collectible" base-metal coins -- state quarters, presidential dollars, etc. -- will end up being worth less than the dinosaur coins they used to give away at the gas station.

I have several modest collections -- old hats, clothing, motel postcards and key fobs, matchbooks, brass instruments, trunks and luggage, paper ephemera of various sorts, camera equipment, etc. None of it has any tremendous value, and with the exception of the hats I can claim no real expertise in the fields.

But to your point: none of my swag was made to be collectible. It wasn't made to be put under glass or hidden away in a secure location. Its appeal to me is in its aesthetics, its history, its power to transport me to places I visit in my mind. And that it has survived when the overwhelming majority of items of its type have not.

I like to think that the stuff doesn't own me, at least not to an unhealthy degree. I've seen that happen. I've seen people who so identify with their possessions that without that stuff they don't know who they are. I wonder if that isn't what's at the heart of some cases of hoarding.

tonyb · May 16, 2018

scotrace said:
...

Eleven boxes of books and we'll surely fill ten more. SIX of them are cookbooks. And two boxes have already gone to the library fundraiser bookstore.

...

Years of Old House Journal and This Old House, away with you. I designated a single box to hold all magazines to keep. Anything that doesn't fit in there has to go. Though the prewar magazines are auto-saves. Life, American Home, Motor, Esquire, etc.
All the Playboy issues have already gone to the dump. HOW MUCH DID I SPEND ON THESE? Ugh.

Books and magazines are a real pain in the rump to move, but I don't toss 'em.

Our household is two adults, two smallish dogs and a cat living in a three-bedroom house with a separate one-bedroom apartment downstairs, so we have plenty of room for a library. One of those bedrooms is pretty well lined with books. It's been a pain to move them, but I hope to never move again, and I can think of no better use for that room.

HudsonHawk · May 16, 2018

scotrace said:
The move is in less than two weeks. Selling off, tossing, giving away, donating. Still TOO MUCH STUFF.

What the HECK am I supposed to do with these idiotic Hallmark "collectable" pedal cars I thought I had to have in the 90s???? $80 each, not worth $5 now. IDIOT.

Eleven boxes of books and we'll surely fill ten more. SIX of them are cookbooks. And two boxes have already gone to the library fundraiser bookstore.

Things I've held onto since childhood. Do I really need this plastic penny bank bust of Lincoln with the missing stopper?

Years of Old House Journal and This Old House, away with you. I designated a single box to hold all magazines to keep. Anything that doesn't fit in there has to go. Though the prewar magazines are auto-saves. Life, American Home, Motor, Esquire, etc.
All the Playboy issues have already gone to the dump. HOW MUCH DID I SPEND ON THESE? Ugh.

If you haven't used it, worn it, or eaten it in the last year, out it should go! That's my motto. I wish I could get Mrs. Hawk to agree. She has clothes from high school (more than 35 years ago) that she simply cannot let go of. I remind her..."Honey, 1) you haven't been able to wear them in 30 years, 2) even if you could magically fit into them, they are 30 years out of style, and 3) even if they came back in style, a woman your age should not be wearing them. Two out three of those earn me a trip to the doghouse. But I'm right!

tonyb · May 16, 2018

^^^^
That's precious.

We got lots of stuff but not much clutter, thanks mostly to having just the two of us and our fur-bearing children living in a space made for half a dozen or more. A two-car garage and a pair of sheds also help.

I got lotsa old clothes I haven't worn in ages myself, but you wouldn't know it unless you visited the 200-square-foot laundry/utility room in the basement. Lotsa shelves and many running feet of clothing rods made from steel pipe.

TimeWarpWife · May 16, 2018

One book that helped me cut way down on the clutter was Elaine St. James' Simplify Your Life. I follow the rules if it hasn't been used or worn in the last year it needs to go and if something new comes in, something old has to leave. I know Marie Kondo's book was a best seller, but the whole talking to your socks, handbags, etc. and thanking them for serving you was a bit too strange for me.

LizzieMaine · May 16, 2018

One of the kids loaned me the Marie Kondo book and I'm ashamed to tell her I can't find it.

V.C. Brunswick · May 17, 2018

LizzieMaine said:
If there's anything that'll kill the "collector mentality" it's the profusion of objects specifically sold over the last forty years as "collectibles." The things that are truly collectible are the things that nobody ever cared or thought to save decades ago, the things that were used for their intended purpose, and wore out thru normal use, were lost, destroyed, or thrown away.

The only exception to that might be silver and gold commemorative coins, but even among these there are few that have much "collector" value beyond the intrinsic metal value. The modern "collectible" base-metal coins -- state quarters, presidential dollars, etc. -- will end up being worth less than the dinosaur coins they used to give away at the gas station.

In other words if you have to point out that something is "collectible" then it isn't.

TimeWarpWife · May 17, 2018

LizzieMaine said:
One of the kids loaned me the Marie Kondo book and I'm ashamed to tell her I can't find it.

Just a hunch, but I'm guessing you didn't read the book.

Actually, I've seen photos of Ms. Kondo's home online and it's a bit too austere for my tastes - lots of white and open spaces reminding me of an operating room. Quite frankly, I think she'd be better off in one of those tiny houses because of how little stuff she owns.

LizzieMaine · May 17, 2018

I actually did, but it was a bit too extreme for my tastes. My weaknesses are books and recordings in variopus formats, and they're things I use regularly in my writing work. Most are not the sort of thing you could find in any library -- many have been thrown away by libraries, and most are not online in any format. So they're basically untochable until I die, or have to give up writing -- in which case they'll no doubt realize next to nothing on eBay, because the market for 1930s treatises on radio acting and casting directories of performers who have all been dead for decades doesn't tend to bring top dollar.

I couldn't stand to live in one of those clinical-white ultra-minimalist environments. I like a house that looks and feels lived in by actual human beings. Decor magazines make my skin crawl.

V.C. Brunswick · May 17, 2018

To me there is nothing more inviting than the home of a collector because he or she, unlike many people today, sees his or her home as more than just a pit stop -- merely a place to eat, shower and grab a few hours sleep.

3fingers · May 17, 2018

V.C. Brunswick said:
In other words if you have to point out that something is "collectible" then it isn't.

I used to collect die cast farm toys. I had quite a few that I accumulated over 25 years or so, mostly from the dealerships I worked in plus a few older ones picked up here and there. The more valuable ones had value because the majority got played with by children and trashed.
I didn't get into it to make money, but the major manufacturer of the toys started re-releasing "collector's versions" of the toys that they made in the 1960's and '70's thereby killing the value of the existing original models.
I sold them all a couple of years ago because I was tired of them sitting in boxes in the basement. I should have sold them a few years earlier and avoided the bath I took.
May all at Ertl toy company involved in the decision to skin their long time customers spend eternity in the boiler room in hell.

tonyb · May 18, 2018

Charles and Ray Eames, who are as responsible as anyone for the ongoing popularity of modernist furniture (you can't watch cable news for more than 10 minutes before seeing a chair that sprang from their workshop a half century or more ago) resided in a box-like steel-frame structure of Charles's design built in the late 1940s and which was filled with an eclectic assortment of literally thousands of pieces collected here, there and everywhere. It was anything but sterile or austere or minimalist.

So it's not just stuff or relative lack thereof that renders an interior cluttered, on the one hand, or austere, on the other. It's the nature of the stuff, or lack thereof, and how it relates to the other stuff. Or doesn't.

Fading Fast · May 18, 2018

3fingers said:
I used to collect die cast farm toys. I had quite a few that I accumulated over 25 years or so, mostly from the dealerships I worked in plus a few older ones picked up here and there. The more valuable ones had value because the majority got played with by children and trashed.
I didn't get into it to make money, but the major manufacturer of the toys started re-releasing "collector's versions" of the toys that they made in the 1960's and '70's thereby killing the value of the existing original models.
I sold them all a couple of years ago because I was tired of them sitting in boxes in the basement. I should have sold them a few years earlier and avoided the bath I took.
May all at Ertl toy company involved in the decision to skin their long time customers spend eternity in the boiler room in hell.

I'm surprised by this. Let me admit upfront, I don't know anything about die cast farm toys - and don't doubt for a second what you are saying - but we have a few original tin toys and their value hasn't seemed to have been effected by all the reproductions that Schylling and other companies have made over the past almost thirty years now.

We aren't collectors of these tin toys, we just own some that we like (most were gifts from my girlfriend's parents), but on Ebay and few other sites, I've noticed that the originals still go for (in good shape and depending on this, that and the other thing - as always in quirky collectables) high hundred to, for some, thousands; whereas the repros (with an odd one off here or there) go for less than $100.

scottyrocks · May 18, 2018

ChrisB said:
Todays junk is tomorrows collectible.

And the other way around, as well.

The End of the Collector Mindset

tonyb

scotrace

Head Bartender

LizzieMaine

Fading Fast

LizzieMaine

ChrisB

A-List Customer

tonyb

tonyb

HudsonHawk

I'll Lock Up

tonyb

TimeWarpWife

One of the Regulars

LizzieMaine

V.C. Brunswick

TimeWarpWife

One of the Regulars

LizzieMaine

V.C. Brunswick

3fingers

One Too Many

tonyb

Fading Fast

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up

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