Sunday
Sep192010
On What We Collect
September 19, 2010 * * * * * Posted by: Ginnie 
Not to be confused with pack-ratting...but have you ever noticed what people collect? Like vintage fountain pens, maple-tree sap spiles, golf balls, thimbles, spoons, teacup sets, porcelain plates, Lladró figurines, long-play records, etc.
In my past life, our house was full of collectibles. Two of us lived in enough space for an army (compared to where I live very cozily now) and had almost every nook and cranny filled with something. For instance, my ex-partner loved Boyd's resins and, once started, couldn't stop collecting them. Most of them were 1st editions (a whole substratum of collecting) and filled glass cabinets and shelves on all 3 levels of our house. She also collected baseball caps everywhere we went around the world, hanging them at the ceiling all around our basement. Together we collected the 50 State Quarter spoons issued over 10 years. And on and on it went....for a rainy day, for my grandson, for whatever.
My daughter once exclaimed, if ever you have to move, please do NOT ask me to help you! HA! So I didn't. It was exactly a year ago when I was almost totally finished with packing or selling all our collections as we broke house and I prepared for my move to The Netherlands. I never expected that day to come and therefore never took seriously the implications of all we were collecting. However, in the end, it all had its place...and good fortune....
Since I was the retired one, I was the one who packed things up for my Ex...close to 1,000 Boyds that had to be repacked into their original boxes (the "more value!" substratum), baseball caps carefully cupped into each other for transport, etc. When I started the entire project, I perished the thought. But in the actual process of doing it, I saw satisfying progress every day.
It was another story for me because most of what was mine I was not going to take with me. Simple. Not enough room. But this is where the good fortune comes in: eBay and Amazon became my best friends, helping me get rid of everything, often at a good price. I had a personal collection of uncanceled sheets of every USA stamp since the 1940s...hundreds of them in albums. One by one I scanned and listed them on eBay and one by one they sold, sometimes at $25/sheet. Old books, DVDs, Quarter spoons, spiles, concert T-shirts, you name it...to the tune of over $15K by the time all was said and done.
My treasure became someone else's treasure. And no, it did not bother me one whit. If anything, it seemed planned before the foundation of the world for such a day, since I needed the money for my move.
Now, do I still collect today, you ask? You can bet your bottom dollar, yes. BUT I've learned my lesson: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). Or maybe that's keep it SMALL. I brought all my pinched/elongated pennies with me and all my official coin medals from around the world. Simple and small. Easily transported from here to there.
Which brings me to the above weathervane in Wageningen, Netherlands (in case you were wondering!). What I collect now is here on my laptop or external hard drive where I have categories: windmills, water towers, clock towers, weathervanes, spires. I can't NOT collect them. They've become part of what I look for and find soulful...each with its own name or character. Each without a pricetag, free for the taking. And small.
And you? What do you collect? Surely you knew I'd ask!
Reader Comments (14)
Haha!! I can so relate to this! I am a collector myself! Have had to get rid of numerous collectibles when moving to Ireland. Now I still have my enamel houseware collection, my musicals, and my antique fountain pens and glasses. Never thought of Ebay though, I just threw it all away :{
Strangely..and now that you ask - I'm thinking that I'm not much of a 'collector'. Like you - yes - I collect and store images on my computer...but otherwise - I have no real 'collections' to show for. I'm one of those who is forever cleaning up and cleaning out...liking things 'simple'.
And - I love the image. The simple silhouetted against the background gold is absolutely stunning!
Was it only a year ago that we were Skyping every day and I saw your sparkling eyes when you had sold something on e-Bay? Time flies, indeed our space is limited, we have 45 m² (484 square feet, 53.8 square yards) floorspace in our cozy apartment, big enough for the two of us.
We do have a large DVD collection, some good music Cd's, a few books and for the rest a hard-drive full of pictures we took for our memories.
You and promised to collect memories and that is why we take our Granny Towanda for a drive as much as possible from A to B to C and go back to A........we both keep it simple and we both feel good about it.
My mom was a big collector so I said to my brother after she died, we pick out what we want and the rest goes to the Thrift-shop, it was HER collection, it was HER life, my brother and I only took some 'memories'.
I took that lesson in mind for my son, there will be a memory for him too when I am gone, many years from today (I hope)
I love our life together far too much, there is still too much to do......
I try not to collect, not always easy. I am terrible at getting rid of stuff once I have it, so I try not to have it in the first place. My pitfalls are books and of course all the digital space I use up. ;-)
Hey Ginnie, that photo is so beautiful and moody! As far as collecting, as you found out, packing and moving and living in a small space is the best remedy. Being a couple of gypsy souls, we just change location alot. I'm in the middle of packing again right now after just a year.
So things have to be very important or special to make the move...mostly what we "collect" we find in nature to use in art. We did make it out here to the desert with boxes of sea shells!
haha, forced savings. unfortunately this is not my post so i am unable to tell you what i collect in such a small little comment space and we have already downsized. old habits die hard.
yes, your photo is so beautiful. my collections have changed over the years, but i still have a collection of fire-king jadeite that i use regularly so it earns its keep, mercury glass, and glass witches balls hang everywhere in my house.
my house is quite small so I am pretty much maxed out, at this point one thing in means another thing out. that has helped me be more discerning.
And of course we all collect our memories, and I keep those close to my heart, they don't take up too much space!
Our list of similarities keeps getting longer...check out this "old" post on my blog http://suehenryphotography.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/serving-up-memories/
:)
I was going to say that I don't collect anything except for my photos, of course, but then I read Petra's comment and realized that I, too, collect books - not first editions or anything like that, just a big pile of books that I haven't read yet. I already have a hard enough time getting rid of stuff, so I wouldn't want to start a for real collection. I do love cleaning out the clutter, which I'm due to do again. :)
i am so with you you here ginny :) and having only just moved myself, still living mostly out of trunks, i can tell you exactly what i collect: everything, and what i gave away this time around: nothing!!! actually, that's not entirely true. this time i was ruthless, i got rid of any and all clothes that i had not worn once over the last year. i gave them all away to the staff, they were delighted and it's so funny to see them all being worn, and finally, well used. books i never throw away, unless they are really trashy, i have hundreds. nick-nacks, i have thousands...junk store finds and lots of 'treasures' - a brass diving helmet i picked up in zanzibar, lots of swatches of antique sari fabric, you name it, there is a place for it somewhere. james yearns for minimalist i always think. hah...our new house is already boho/african/asian/junk store chic, i like to think. hmmmmm, he says...chaos!!! will write more, just wanted to say hi - we're settled in, all is well :) hope all good with you.
I collect pinched pennies too. And postcards still.
Digitally I collect windows, doors, and have started with houses too.
How funny that this is your topic, and that I should only be reading it today. Just carefull broached the subject over lunch of 'what do we do with all the stuff when we move?', because we will eventually move, and it will definitely be to a much smaller place.
My difficulty is two-fold. I am not a collector, and my preference is quite the other way - to live in an uncluttered space with lovely, practical things that all have a use beyond just to be looked at. Secondly, I have moved enough times that I don't ever want to deal with both major un-loading of things and physically moving house at the same time. Surely a slow process of divesting ourselves of un-needed things is better than last-minute stress! But oh, not everyone feels this way. MFB doesn't see why I would think about preparing for this. Well, of course not, because he never gets rid of things! Sigh.
Has it only been one year? You two sure know how to pack a lot of adventure in a short time.
I do like collecting a few things. I like to buy miniature masks from places I've traveled and have a couple of places in our home where they are displayed. I think that's my only bona fide physical collection.
Then there is the virtual collection. I don't collect water towers but I always find myself taking lots of photos of weather vanes and even posted a few on a weather vane Flickr group. I like lamp posts and spires too. Hmm, I wonder what Dr. Freud would have to say about this :-)
Your tiny living space forces a discipline that I could only admire from afar. It's good to learn what we truly need as opposed to what we want.
I collect books I haven't read yet :-) I also collect favorite macro images..... I think you knew that Ginnie :-) Beautiful image with excellent processing as usual.