Collecting
CSB 1
Auckland Airport bought a collection jukeboxes - guy said he had to sell because had no room for any more - mate suggested that if bought another one his wife would leave him, then he could get a single bed, then there'd be room for 3 more down the bedroom wall.
CSB 2
Next to a stall selling tiny pseudo-Victorian portraits is a stall selling miniature copies of Hello magazine for £7.50 and miniature pots of Vaseline. After a special request, Platt's Mini Packages started selling tiny packets of sliced bread: "I already sell non-sliced, but this customer wanted sliced", said stall owner Liza Lawrence. It is hard to see what difference a single word on the outside of the 1cm high packet of Hovis could possibly make, considering it's stuffed with toilet roll anyway, but miniature collectors like perfection. "It's all about control," says Charlotte Stokoe, organiser of this year's Kensington Dolls' House Exhibition. "It's about a house with no dirty dishes, that you can control completely, with no kids to mess it up. It's really appealing to a lot of people."
THOUGHTS
How many things do you need? 100 objects project
People want to be special, and the less special they are the harder they try.
QUOTATIONS
"You're a collector when you stop decorating - when you buy something, don't have a blank spot on the wall for it and have to take something down to put it up." .
The film director D W Griffiths once got a letter from a fan asking for an autograph. He got back a letter telling him to stop collecting autographs and start doing something that will make his autograph worth collecting.
I could never make up my mind between Old Masters and Young Mistresses
Beware the hobby that eats - I collect sunsets - they're usually beautiful and they don't have to be dusted.
More Quotes about Collecting
ANECDOTES
Demi Moore owns so many dolls she has a separate house for them, and in 1996 she insured them with Lloyds of London for $1.5 million pounds.
The Long Tail concept applies to collectors as well - the Internet allows people to form interest groups for even the most obscure hobbies - for example Melbourne Australia has groups of train and tram spotters, but sub-group of people who just collect timetables. And apparently there is a thriving community of collectors of airline sick bags.
The United States now has 2.3 billion square feet of self-storage space. Fifty percent of renters were now simply storing what wouldn't fit in their homes, even though the size of the average American house had almost doubled in the previous 50 years, to 2,300 square feet. You say, "I paid $1,000 for this table a couple of years ago. I'm not getting rid of it, or selling it for 10 bucks at a garage sale. That's like throwing away $1,000."
More Anecdotes about Collecting
ARTICLES
2 German brothers have built the world's largest model railway.Covers 12,000 square feet and has 6 miles of track, but is still not complete Boys Toys
Anthony Toth is so obsessed with perfectly recreating a vintage Pan Am first-class cabin, that he bought a home with an oversized garage in which he could build a faithful replica. The project has taken him, in total, 20 years. Construction required multiple visits out to a spot in Death Valley where airplane carcasses are dumped. First Class cabin
The West Coast guy who loved tanks
"When you talk to collectors about the feeling of wanting to buy a work of art sometimes they do say it's like seeing a woman that you have to have. Then once you have her, you move on to the next painting. If you want to look at art, you can go to a gallery. This is a personal, private, obsessive activity . . . about having a quiet moment to yourself to think about how rich you are."
expensive art
More Articles on Collecting
BOOKS
Scientists have identified the part of the brain which causes people to hoard valueless things, and strongly resist any suggestion to get rid of it. The victims have damage to a small area called the mesial prefrontal cortex. The Naked Scientist
Intricate and extremely expensive pocket watches A Grand Complication
Jeremy Clarkson collects crap - passes through many airports so seeks worst kitsch For Crying Out Loud
Create very expensive books Taschen Books
Men obsessed with 'collecting' lists of birds they've seen The Big Twitch
More Books about Collecting
OPINIONS - FORUMS AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Replicas, stamps ...
Collectors Letters
SHORT STORIES
What price for your treasures?
My Rose and My Glove
