Collections

Yesterday I ran across an article that I didn't bookmark and now can't find again. I hate it when that happens. The article was about the five least-valuable collectible items that people buy in the mistaken belief that they will grow in value and prove a good long-term investment. The list included kitschy Hummel figurines, collectible plates (of which we have gazillions), and just about anything produced by The Franklin Mint.

Most of us have some sort of collection. As children, and later as adults, we take interest in particular things to the extent that we want to amass collections of them. As we get older, some of the things we collect are gathered in the hope that they will ultimately be valuable ... unfortunately, most of the stuff we collect ends up being pretty much useless except for the joy we get in the simple fact of owning it.

Here are some of the things I've collected over the years:

1. Dust. Oops ... sorry about that ... that would have been Agnes's opinion.

2. Coins. I collected these in grade school and into high school, until I realized that my chances of amassing a coin collection worth more than its face value was just about zero. I learned this the day I had my pride-and-joy 1898 silver dollar appraised and found it was worth exactly $1.00. I eventually spent the collection.

3. Stamps. I enjoyed collecting interesting and colorful stamps. My paternal grandmother, who worked as a cleaning lady at a bank, used to gather up all the stamped envelopes when she emptied the trash and proudly deliver them to me when we visited. I lost interest in collecting stamps and gave the collection away long ago, although I do enjoy seeing the colorful stamps on letters I receive...courtesy of Amanda, I have some beautiful stamps from Indonesia and Australia.

4. Railroad Lanterns. At one time I had a very impressive collection of colorful metal-and-glass oil-fired railroad lanterns. They were interesting and attractive, and the pinnacle of the collection was a lantern I found at a flea market in Germany that apparently originated in China (based on the embossed lettering). I stopped collecting the lanterns when the collection grew too fragile and cumbersome to ship in my frequent military moves, and took up too much space to display.

5. David Winter Cottages. I have a very large collection of these, some of which are quite beautiful and one or two of which are actually worth a small amount of money. I have several that I waited in line for hours one Saturday in Germany to have autographed by David Winter himself.

6. Pictures of People Taking Pictures. I love photography and take thousands of pictures when we travel. My grandchildren's tans are largely caused by camera flashes. One of the subjects I like to photograph is other people in the act of taking pictures...I have an enormous collection of such pictures. One of these days I'll meet up with Andrea and we can take pictures of each other as we take pictures of each other.

7. Books. Agnes and I have thousands of books. Lately, I don't buy too many fiction books...it's cheaper to use the library. There are a few fiction authors I'll spend money on (Bernard Cornwell, Rennie Airth, Allan Furst, and the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child collaborations), but mostly I just buy books about history, current events, and social science.

So, what do you collect, and why?

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo