Spontaneous Collection of Items – The Modern Guy’s Desk
When I was five the older couple who lived next door, Mr. & Mrs. Barnes, gave me a rock collection. Mr. Barnes had carefully wrapped each specimen in a bit of paper towel and placed a small card inside which described the stone and the location of its origin. Those small bits of rock and stone may as well have been nuggets of silver and gold to me and I spent many hours carefully unwrapping each one, examining it, and just as carefully storing it back away in its box.
I believe that was my first true “collection” although I never recall a time that I wasn’t assembling items of some sort into a grouping. Often those items have been very specific and similar and, at other times, have been a seemingly random selection of unconnected things that come together as a “collection” only in my mind.
I was thinking of this while cleaning my desk the other day. The items shown above have resided together there for several years now. While totally unconnected in any way this grouping has become a spontaneous collection – one gathered and assembled with no forethought or planning but which are now, at least as far as I am concerned, a single unit.
This grouping includes, a PEZ dispenser, a beat up cream pitcher from The Ruffner Hotel, a wooden Number 8 typeblock, a pewter donkey, a New York Flatiron Building souvenir, a bottle opener from the Fesenmeier Brewery, a U.S. Army pin, and stack of eight Kennedy half-dollars. Each of these items I acquired individually with no thought of where they would go and certainly without having a “need” for them. They just each appealed to me in some manner and over time have simply combined to become a small collection of otherwise meaningless items that stay on my desk. They are now one – a collection.
The modern lady and I are collectors of some very specific items as well – Blenko Glass, Heywood-Wakefield furniture, artwork and dinnerware. The best example of borderline obsessive compulsive disorder in our family is our acquisition of dinnerware as we have accumulated upwards of dozen complete or nearly complete sets.
While our basic tastes always lean towards vintage modern there are several collections in our home which do not fall into that category at all. The modern lady’s mammy doll collection and Virgin Mary figurine collection are two of those and, while additions to these collections are not what we are generally seeking on an ongoing basis, they both seem to keep growing.
Vintage Mammy Dolls – The Modern Lady’s Collection – circa early 20th Century
Vintage Virgin Mary Figurines and Icons – The Modern Lady’s Collection
Collecting has been going on since people first began hunting and gathering. The Association of Collecting Clubs lists 2866 collecting groups and from my experience that list just skims the surface. In our shop we cater to collectors and are constantly reminded of the importance of collections in everyday life. Collections are an expression of individuality and, regardless of the monetary value, add significantly to a persons sense of well-being.
Just like the assemblage on my desk which I wouldn’t part with for any amount of money.
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