Reflections on Collections

I am a collector - always have been. Ditto with my husband. Over the years (both single and together) we have managed to amass many collections - and have the chaos to prove it. Finding room for them has always been a problem. Keeping track of them has been an even bigger problem. I can't count the hours we have spent cataloging, indexing, moving, displaying and boxing these collections.

Some collections are partially practical. I do actually read many of the thousands of books we have in our library. We do actually watch many of the thousands of DVDs and Video Tapes that we have. Bill actually reads a lot of the thousands of comics that he has. I actually cross-stitch some of the thousands of patterns that I have.


Other collections are merely decorative and are meant to be displayed - like Bill's dragon collection, and my nativity collection, and his knick-knack collection, and my Star Wars and Star Trek collection. Of course, most of them are in boxes as we don't have room to show them all off.

Some collections are merely for the pleasure of the person who collects them. My grandmother collected bottles of water from rivers, lakes and oceans all over the world. The water looked pretty much the same in such small quantities, but they were all labeled and brought back many memories to her. When my brother and I were growing up, every time we went on vacation we would collect the various bottle caps that we found as so many of them were different from the ones we had at home. (My mother later threw them all away as they were unhygienic!)

If you are actively collecting anything, you have to keep track of what you have or you will end up with a lot of duplicates. Needless to say this has happened to me on many occasions. I have often bought books and movies that we already had. I have bought cross-stitch patterns that were already in my 'collection'. I'm sure Bill has occasionally bought comics that he already had as well.

Some collections are worth a lot of money (at least on paper). I not only have the vast stamp collection that I amassed while growing up; I inherited my mother's even vaster collection when she died. Many people collected beanie babies as it appeared they would be very valuable in later years. Ditto with Cabbage Patch Dolls. Ditto with National Geographic magazines. I don't think any of these are worth nearly as much as the collectors thought they would be.

Even collections that ARE worth something (like baseball cards, or comic books) need a very specialized buyer to extract even a fraction of what they are theoretically worth. That requires large amounts of time and energy to find these people and do a lot of negotiating. Of course, there are always places you can sell these things - like eBay or Craig's list - but you have to do it piecemeal and that requires large amounts of time and energy. Not to mention figuring out shipping charges and what to do if the auction winner doesn't pay you, etc.

If there is one thing that has become increasingly obvious to me is that collections are for the person who is collecting them - not posterity. My mother collected horses when she was a child, and frogs when she was an adult. I seem to have inherited the bulk of both collections. As I wade through box after box of these things, there are very few that I would want to keep for myself. They had a lot of value for HER and I'm sure she enjoyed looking at them, but they don't mean anything to ME.

This is particularly true of all the South American artifacts that I have found in these boxes. She was fascinated by their ancient art and sculptures, and we have lots of crudely fashioned clay statues and pots that she saved. I don't think they are worth very much (and my uncle corroborates this) but I hate to just throw them away. I also hate to give them to Deseret or Good Will as I have a gut feeling that many of them would just be tossed. But I don't want to keep them either. We have enough stuff of our own!


When my mother knew that she would be gone soon, she started labeling a lot of frogs with the names of the people who had given them to her - with the thought that they could be given back. It was a nice idea, and some people did want a frog or two back for a memory of her - but the majority did not particularly want their frogs back. And there were a whole lot of frogs that she must have bought herself, because I seem to have inherited a whole pond full of them!

So here are my words of wisdom regarding collections. Collect those things that you, yourself, enjoy using or looking at. If you have something that has particular historical significance (like the crude elephant that looks like a dying cow that you made with your own hands in Kindergarten) - label it! Make sure that anybody who has to root through your belongings after your death will realize what a priceless treasure this is. And be sure to label it clearly. "Made by Aunt Doddy" may be lost on future generations. "Hand-painted by Dorothy Fay Crum" will not (at least not if they have any of their genealogy).

If you are tired of collecting something, and it no longer has any value to you - GET RID OF IT! Don't leave it for your poor suffering children to sift through after you are gone. You might think you are leaving them a great treasure, but it's more likely to be a great headache.

And have I followed all this advice I have given? NOT! However, I'm working on it. The problem is, as fast I as get rid of part of one collection, I am collecting part of another. I really feel sorry for my kids.