
Amass Appeal: What's the deal with collecting? (2008) - Tomte
http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/arts-leisure/info-01-2008/amass_appeal.html
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notafraudster
What is the difference between collecting and simply buying? You might think
collecting implies buying toward an end goal (i.e. there is a closed list of
items and I will eventually have them all), but the article discusses, like,
antique knives and other such things.

Is the distinction merely quantity? I have more art than I can hang in my
walls but wouldn't consider myself an art collector, and some of the examples
in the article don't seem to be quantity driven.

Is there a difference between a (hobby) musician who has several guitars
because they have different timbres and a collector who collects guitars?

Is it the mere act of having something rare or unusual? Then many collectors
who buy mass-produced junk (e.g. Funko Pops) are not collectors, and I am a
book collector because I got a few 19th century pieces when my grandfather
died.

Anyone have insight for what exactly collecting is?

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xtiansimon
> What is the difference between collecting and simply buying?

I worked in a comic book shop during my youth. We knew who were the comic book
readers and who were the collectors by their buying habits.

Comic Books are rife with examples distinguishing collectors from readers.
Comic books are a business of entertainment. Historially aimed at children
(price point, themes, etc.). To overcome the impulse to spend their dimes on
other products, they're numbered. In this sense numbering is a mechanism used
by the publishers to prompt serial purchasing--"don't miss an issue". Even if
a great story ends, you're compelled to keep buying. You have another
'continuity' with our human tendency to relate and invest in some characters.
You want the story to never end--Peter Parker should be over 71 years old!

As a comic book seller you know someone is a collector when they spend a
premium price for the best quality of an out-of-print comic ('back issue').
Whereas a comic book reader, compelled to buy a back issue (continuity), will
buy any quality and at the lowest possible price (mildew and all).

And maybe what makes a collector (person) is when they have ammased a
collection (group of similarly themed objects). When they make an effort to
preserve these objects in the same state as when they first purchased the
item. Comic book readers don't care about preservation, and are known to give
their comic books away to their grandchildren (Mr A).

In our consumer society we expect products to age and deteriorate on their own
(acids in cheap newsprint discolor comics over time). Products also become
damaged from use, and you replace them with another similar product. That's
not the same for a collector--Nostalgia.

I still remember my first comic book (GI Joe #26, origin of Snake Eyes). And
the kid in art class who showed me his copy (Arthur), and said, as he pulled
it from the "bag and board" to be careful--it's Mint! ahaha (no it wasn't). So
now, when I pull that same copy (the copy I purchased from the Comic Zone of
Fremont, CA) from the back of my closet, pull it out of the bag and board
(careful with the tape!), my first thought is 7-th grade art class and Arthur.

GI Joe #26 is an object in the 'collection' of $h@T from my life. I was a
comic book seller. And I'm a collector.

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notafraudster
I'm not sure this resolves all the questions I had in my parent post (or that
any reply would have), but I read it with interest anyway. :)

~~~
xtiansimon
Fair nuf. Though, that was my reply to just your first sentence. eheh

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nasalgoat
I've always been a collector of stuff, but it's always been something that is
useful as something other than a knickknack that requires dusting. I used to
collect old gaming consoles (Atari 2600, ColecoVision, etc.) but I played the
games. Now I collect pinball machines, but they are playable art and I have
friends over all the time to do just that.

I also an old car enthusiast and have had several old cars at one time, but
unlike other collectors I have never had any interest in the various ephemera
around it, like die-cast cars, or signs, or literature - all things that
really just sit around doing nothing.

My mother is a reformed almost-hoarder and now I am ruthless about getting rid
of clutter and keeping a clean, simple home, so I guess I'm not actually a
collector even though I have a dozen pinball machines.

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Spearchucker
I find collecting to be pointless. And yet I collect, after a fashion.

I scratch-build radio controlled trucks (offroad variety, ~1:10 scale) and
because of the hours invested cannot bring myself to sell any of them. And so
they accumulate.

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glhaynes
Do you think at some point you might have accumulated enough of them that
you'll feel more willing to sell/give away some of them?

