Collections are a strange topic. The classic ones have to be baseball cards, or postage stamps, or coins or... realistically, there isn't a "classic" collectable, as we all assign value to things in our own unique way.
Though moving away from value specifically, why do humans collect items?
The reason for this blog's interest stems from David Walker's Paper Clip collection. It's fascinating to see how something so simple can bring such joy and interest to someone. Paperclips, like many items, are not unique - they are simple items that most people will just dismiss as a piece of bent wire, something most people will chain together to make necklaces or bend to make cute little patterns.
David saw a treasure in them, something that was worth keeping and sharing with others. There is clear evidence that our species likes to collect in general. There will be a few readers here who don't think they collect anything that they don't attract this sort of value to anything in particular. However, it is clear that we all collect something; whether it's shoes, clothes, movies, music, or even simpler things like the money we get every week from our jobs.
A lot of these collectables go all the way back to the hunter/gatherer stage of our species. At that point, it was about instant resource collection, driven by the need to survive. We must therefore get a similar feeling day-to-day today.
There may be an argument that humans don't collect consciously. There are people out there who love to clean - their favourite pastime activity is making sure things are in a pristine condition. Considering we are psychologically wired to collect, the overall collection of cleaned rooms or completed cleaning tasks is what motivates them. Similarly, travel enthusiasts collect the countries they've visited, parents collect their children's achievements, and children collect experiences to shape their future identities.
All of this is food for thought, and more so, adding one and one together, to make an assumption. Not all of it is true, but it really makes your head hurt when you start comparing everyday things to collecting. Life is just one big collection.
--- A collection can offer life-support over time, a means of trading, a basis for community and communication, a stockpile of wealth, and a mechanism of self-identity.
Prof. Andrew Dillon
Collections are a strange topic. The classic ones have to be baseball cards, or postage stamps, or coins or... realistically, there isn't a "classic" collectable, as we all assign value to things in our own unique way.
Though moving away from value specifically, why do humans collect items?
The reason for this blog's interest stems from David Walker's Paper Clip collection. It's fascinating to see how something so simple can bring such joy and interest to someone. Paperclips, like many items, are not unique - they are simple items that most people will just dismiss as a piece of bent wire, something most people will chain together to make necklaces or bend to make cute little patterns.
David saw a treasure in them, something that was worth keeping and sharing with others. There is clear evidence that our species likes to collect in general. There will be a few readers here who don't think they collect anything that they don't attract this sort of value to anything in particular. However, it is clear that we all collect something; whether it's shoes, clothes, movies, music, or even simpler things like the money we get every week from our jobs.
A lot of these collectables go all the way back to the hunter/gatherer stage of our species. At that point, it was about instant resource collection, driven by the need to survive. We must therefore get a similar feeling day-to-day today.
There may be an argument that humans don't collect consciously. There are people out there who love to clean - their favourite pastime activity is making sure things are in a pristine condition. Considering we are psychologically wired to collect, the overall collection of cleaned rooms or completed cleaning tasks is what motivates them. Similarly, travel enthusiasts collect the countries they've visited, parents collect their children's achievements, and children collect experiences to shape their future identities.
All of this is food for thought, and more so, adding one and one together, to make an assumption. Not all of it is true, but it really makes your head hurt when you start comparing everyday things to collecting. Life is just one big collection.
--- A collection can offer life-support over time, a means of trading, a basis for community and communication, a stockpile of wealth, and a mechanism of self-identity.
Prof. Andrew Dillon