musterion
Well-known member
My apologies for the long post. Read only if you have absolutely nothing better to do.
For as long as I can recall, my family has been amateur collectors of various items -- the true "for fun and profit" kind of flea market and yard sale scroungers. Nothing really big ticket, usually (though my dad is still sitting on a pristine full set of H.G. Wells' 1st American edition hardbacks, signed in pen by the old heathen himself [Wells, not my dad]). We're able to spot various classes of "collectibles" and resell them for profit (and this pastime predated ebay). I'm sure some of you do the same.
There's very little we actually collected; that is, kept for ourselves. I used to collect a few things but no longer do. However, I do keep my eye open for certain types of items I know or suspect could have profit value...for example, about five years ago I found a sealed bottle of a certain brand of kids chewable vitamins, still in its original box from 1972, in a neglected corner of the basement of a huge antique mall. I think I gave $3 for it and sold it for almost $400. That was fun!
I don't do much of that these days but I do keep an occasional eye on websites where others focus on my former areas of interest.
My two primary areas of interest, as with all areas of collecting, include people who are in it for fun, people who are in it for profit, and people who are in it for both. And then there are true fanatics: guys (and sometimes gals) who MUST hunt down and possess every single widget or variant of this or that product from as far back as the 1910s (I'm being deliberately vague, in case you've not noticed), memorizing details of long forgotten product runs and sometimes building huge, lit display cases in their own little - and sometimes startlingly large - in-home museums. Shrines is what they usually resemble, but I digress.
Today I read a few anecdotes about such people...people who, if asked, are not at all ashamed to tell you of their LOVE (their word) of collecting this or that. Now, some folks can say that just as a figure of speech...they don't really mean it. But these folks are dead serious. They DO love whatever it is. Genuinely.
These are people who -- I've heard variations of this many times -- held on to their "treasure" when all else around them was collapsing...loss of job, bills piling up, divorce, you name it. Some let themselves be reduced to bumming gas money to keep the beater running or living in a friend's basement but steadfastly REFUSED to sell a collection worth, to the right buyer, tens of thousands of dollars. Sometimes much more. To call these people hoarders is incorrect; they're very specific about what they are after and if they can afford it, money is no object. Some would say idol worshipers might be a possible descriptor as well; I wouldn't go that far but greed and covetousness definitely apply.
Well, a nasty fight has broken out at one of these boards over a few guys (a minority) who say such extreme behavior as I've just described is a sign of poor mental hygiene if not mental illness, while others - while admitting it's a bit extreme - say "Hey, it's their money, it's their lives, not your problem so shut up." A few naturally piped up to say "More power to 'em! They can have my ______ when they throw dirt in my face, I'd NEVER sell it!"
None of these people, by the way, profess to be Christians nor take any particularly moral stance either way, as far as I can detect.
Question: what would you do if, say, a family member displayed behavior such as described above? Would you try to convince them to sell off the junk that they're not taking to the grave with them anyway? Would you intervene at all, knowing that if you did they might never speak to you again? No, I have no personal reason for asking nor am I asking "for a friend." Just curious how people here would react.
For as long as I can recall, my family has been amateur collectors of various items -- the true "for fun and profit" kind of flea market and yard sale scroungers. Nothing really big ticket, usually (though my dad is still sitting on a pristine full set of H.G. Wells' 1st American edition hardbacks, signed in pen by the old heathen himself [Wells, not my dad]). We're able to spot various classes of "collectibles" and resell them for profit (and this pastime predated ebay). I'm sure some of you do the same.
There's very little we actually collected; that is, kept for ourselves. I used to collect a few things but no longer do. However, I do keep my eye open for certain types of items I know or suspect could have profit value...for example, about five years ago I found a sealed bottle of a certain brand of kids chewable vitamins, still in its original box from 1972, in a neglected corner of the basement of a huge antique mall. I think I gave $3 for it and sold it for almost $400. That was fun!
I don't do much of that these days but I do keep an occasional eye on websites where others focus on my former areas of interest.
My two primary areas of interest, as with all areas of collecting, include people who are in it for fun, people who are in it for profit, and people who are in it for both. And then there are true fanatics: guys (and sometimes gals) who MUST hunt down and possess every single widget or variant of this or that product from as far back as the 1910s (I'm being deliberately vague, in case you've not noticed), memorizing details of long forgotten product runs and sometimes building huge, lit display cases in their own little - and sometimes startlingly large - in-home museums. Shrines is what they usually resemble, but I digress.
Today I read a few anecdotes about such people...people who, if asked, are not at all ashamed to tell you of their LOVE (their word) of collecting this or that. Now, some folks can say that just as a figure of speech...they don't really mean it. But these folks are dead serious. They DO love whatever it is. Genuinely.
These are people who -- I've heard variations of this many times -- held on to their "treasure" when all else around them was collapsing...loss of job, bills piling up, divorce, you name it. Some let themselves be reduced to bumming gas money to keep the beater running or living in a friend's basement but steadfastly REFUSED to sell a collection worth, to the right buyer, tens of thousands of dollars. Sometimes much more. To call these people hoarders is incorrect; they're very specific about what they are after and if they can afford it, money is no object. Some would say idol worshipers might be a possible descriptor as well; I wouldn't go that far but greed and covetousness definitely apply.
Well, a nasty fight has broken out at one of these boards over a few guys (a minority) who say such extreme behavior as I've just described is a sign of poor mental hygiene if not mental illness, while others - while admitting it's a bit extreme - say "Hey, it's their money, it's their lives, not your problem so shut up." A few naturally piped up to say "More power to 'em! They can have my ______ when they throw dirt in my face, I'd NEVER sell it!"
None of these people, by the way, profess to be Christians nor take any particularly moral stance either way, as far as I can detect.
Question: what would you do if, say, a family member displayed behavior such as described above? Would you try to convince them to sell off the junk that they're not taking to the grave with them anyway? Would you intervene at all, knowing that if you did they might never speak to you again? No, I have no personal reason for asking nor am I asking "for a friend." Just curious how people here would react.
