I have been a collector all my life. It started with shiny rocks and weird pieces of mostly just trash that I was fascinated by. It moved to stuffed animals, thimbles, Lego and more throughout the years. Now it’s mostly coffee gear, video games, and cardboard coasters from breweries, which is kinda just trash that I’m still into.
I love learning what other people collect. It is pretty special when someone has a large collection of something truly unique. Also, what an easy way to add joy to your everyday life. Collect your favorite classic book in multiple foreign languages? Now every trip is a little treasure hunt. Love matchbooks? Now all the cool bars and restaurants you visit could have something very special near the host. Whether you’re in a different country or a small town down the road, you can find something that will spark joy for specifically you that other people may just pass by.
I went to Wikipedia to see what they had to say about collecting and for the most part it’s not that interesting, but there is a section called “Notable Collectors.” I think it’s lovely that some people get so wild about collecting that they get into Wikipedia just for that but also there’s some gems in there, like Tom Hanks collecting typewriters, and JP Morgan collecting various items, but primarily, you guessed it, gems. This is a very rich person thing to collect. Side note, it seems to be much easier to get on this list if you’re already famous for something else, but some of these people are on here just because they have or had a great collection. There’s something to aspire to!
As children it’s very common to have something that the community is collecting, and we start to fade away from that as we get older. Pokemon cards were everywhere when I was growing up, and even though I didn’t play the game properly, I definitely collected a ton and traded with friends. There are still communities of people that gather around certain phenomena, but it seems more disjointed now. Maybe that’s just a side effect of the world feeling so much bigger than when we were young. I am guessing that is an evolution of thought that every generation goes through, and isn’t just because the internet grew up at the same time as me.
There’s a balance to strike here though. Collect too much, display too prominently and it gets weird. I support you to get weird, but don’t come back at me if someone thinks you have a few hundred too many action figures on the walls. I think this is partially why I have so much less Lego than I would like to have. What do you do with it? Displays take up precious space and do you have to theme it? If you have all Star Wars Lego, great, but what if I have like seven different themes and they don’t go together? What then? We don’t have a ton of extra space in our house either, so I can’t just have an entire cityscape of Lego that takes up the whole basement. Also Lego has gotten super expensive so there’s that too. Still, I have a few Lego items and some keychains around the house, and each one brings me a bit of joy.
As I’ve gotten older, I have a bit more self control not to bring home that weird looking stick from the beach, but I still love that childlike feeling of being attached to something because it is both familiar but excitingly unique.
PC: Me again and probably always, although Ellie may send me pics sometimes. That first photo is the old Trinity College Library in Dublin, definitely worth a visit. The Book of Kells stuff is all super interesting. Library: just a collection of books. Also I do recommend the Lego bonsai set. Fun build and easy to display, it’s smaller than it looks.