Those of us in the hobby (and in some other pastimes involving collectables) often joke that "there is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness." Some would consider this man to be a deranged hoarder; others will be envious of his massive accumulation of material. Most of this material is probably philatelic "junk," but I would love to spend a weekend browsing through his holdings looking for hidden and unappreciated minor treasures.
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ReplyDeletethis is not hoarding. It's a treasure trove. I couldn't function like that but everything is organized.
There was a saying a wealthy person is a collector, a poor person is a hoarder.
Saw a show years ago one had the world's biggest collection of yoyos in custom build display cases.
Wish they had shown some of the stamps.
Really amazing. I have my Dad's collection now, it is a few boxes but he put a lot of energy into it back in the day. Someone gifted him a whole Russian collection, which has impressive stamps, but untouched by my Dad or myself.
ReplyDeleteCollecting is fine. If you're interested in your collected objects.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that many people who collect things "for the value" will not get the money back they invest initially. How many rare baseball cards from grampa have been tossed out without thought?
I collect comics because I like (re)reading them. Recently discovered a friend of my parents has a HUGE collection. He's trying to get rid of it as he's getting older, and is letting me shop in his collection. There are some serious rarities in there, but he'll never get the value back he put into it. Certainly not if he keeps giving it to me. He's been going to fairs to sell some, but most people are just browsing to complete their collection, and the rarities rarely sell - because they're so expensive.
I have a large comic book collection as well. Sold most of the early Disneys on eBay some years ago. Haven't yet tackled the superheroes (Superman and Batman back to 1958) but plan to do so maybe this winter. Will not be hard for me to recap my costs (10c each).
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