Finding Items to Collect for All Different Types of Reasons

By Bill Primavera

When my wife Margaret and I ran an antiques shop in Brooklyn Heights called The Saturday Shop (which was a misnomer because we were also open on Sundays), we had a weekly customer named Abe Stransky who would always buy any daguerreotype we happened to have for sale.

(The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process, where the image appeared on a silvered copper plate.) 

Whenever we happened upon one from our various sources, we would set it aside until he had the opportunity to look at it, and he always bought whatever we had.  Years later, long after our shop had gone the way of a new venture or two, we read that, when he died, he left the most impressive collection of daguerreotypes ever assembled by one person. As I recall, the collection was auctioned off for a handsome return to his family.

My wife started several collections early in our marriage, first a collection of anything that had mushrooms depicted, then small ceramic boxes. As for me, I was drawn to children’s playing marbles from the 1800s and early 1900s and collected a significant number of them. To me, they are beautiful as objects, but more than that, they represent the pleasure of children who came long before me.

Identifying the reasons for people collecting was merely guesswork on my part, so I did some research online to learn why people collect. I learned of the theories that the value of their collections is not monetary but emotional. The collections may allow people to relive their childhoods or connect themselves to a certain period or to a time they feel strongly about.

Some collect for the thrill of the hunt. Collecting is a quest, a lifelong pursuit that can never be completed. Also, collecting may provide psychological security by filling a part of the self that one feels is missing. Motives may not be mutually exclusive; rather, different motives may combine for each collector for a multitude of reasons.

My research discovered the most common reasons people collect things for knowledge and learning, relaxation and stress reduction, personal pleasure (including appreciation of beauty and pride of ownership) and social interaction with fellow collectors and others (i.e., the sharing of pleasure and knowledge), which is more my personal reason for collecting.

It may also present a competitive challenge or they may receive recognition by fellow collectors and perhaps even non-collectors. Altruism is another motivation, since many great collections are ultimately donated to museums and learning institutions, or the desire to control, possess and bring order to a small part of the world.

For others collecting represents nostalgia and/or a connection to history (also a reason for me) or accumulation and diversification of wealth, which can ultimately provide a measure of security.

The majority of collectors often reap several of these benefits, though some may invest excessive amounts of time, energy and discretionary funds. For some, it can be addictive.

My most recent interest for collecting may be considered somewhat specific, since it involves games people played – carpet balls that were all the rage in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Not only are they beautiful in their varied designs, but invite the owner to once again use them for what they were intended – playing. Be assured that I intend to do exactly that with them.

Bill Primavera is a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate and founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc., the longest-running public relations agency in

Westchester (www.PrimaveraPR.com). His real estate site is www.PrimaveraRealEstate.com. To engage the services of The Home Guru and his team to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.

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