Tuesday found me chatting with a few of my co-workers. We started off on some pretty normal topics, but then something changed. Somehow we got talking about collections.
I was going off about empty beer can collections and other such things I don’t understand, when a co-worker laid this on me. Barbed wire collectors. I went hunting… its real. It seems these guys hunt for barbed wire. Cut it into two foot lenghts, mount it on a board and label it. I'm not sure if they name them but I wouldn't be surprised! What do they get out if it? No one knows. Its a lot of work for a small return. I can't imagine there are a lot of people beating down their doors for the collection. Not that they would give up this prize to anyone. I suppose they're just trying to preserve a bit of history...still a little odd.
I’m not an avid collector of anything special. I collect movies but I watch them. I think that precludes me from this niche of “collector”. I guess there are some collections I can understand. Money. There it is, I’m a money collector. I’m always looking for that new addition! As far as other collections? Any collection I can sell to grow my money collection. Other than that, I have neither the time, desire or space for things I don’t need.
Things I’ve noticed about collections and/or collectors
- They don’t have to make sense
- You need a lot of them
- They should have a story, but that story can be, “I don’t remember where I got this.”
- If you want to make money your not a collector
- If you use an item you void it from your collection
- The house can fall apart as long as the collection lives on
- No one can appreciate you in your time
Heard of any odd collections?
PostScript - For those clever few who think about it, the answer is no. I don't think of my box O' cables as a collection. It's a security blanket, and they are all well used.
9 comments:
Not to be picky but shouldn't it be "barbed" wire and not "barded" wire?
Of course you are correct. I have fixed the typo. I read these posts over like tweleve times before publishing, and ALWAYS have errors I miss.
I guess my subconscience wants errors.
Well, I just "previewed" your wife's book about "clutter" this morning and was highly convicted about my "stuff" that is taking up lots of space in the closets and garage - so the last thing I would need is a collection of anything. I used to be a collector of things, but decided that it was silly (not to mention I was moving 2,000 miles and my dad was not big into more "stuff").
SJ-
So Patricia tells me, "I'm cleaning out stuff. If you notice something missing, it probably has been thrown out"
She promised me she wouldn't throw away anything in the office (ie my cables and computer parts) but it still scared me! What if I need that stuff?! :)
Jeremy probably hopes I don't read too much of the book before he comes back from camp incase I get an urge to "declutter" our house :)
Agreed!
What if, like the wire nuts, these hair guys cut off peoples hair when they weren't looking and stored it on boards in their home.
That would be odd. And would make the barbed wire guys seem like insurance salesmen.
Hey, i had a professor in college who collected mechanical pencils. He actually brought part of his collection to class one day and it was crazy the kinds of different ones he had. I mean from short, tiny ones to bigger, and more crazy ones from all over the world. I can't talk too much though, i also once had a pop can collection, then we moved and i tossed it.
I can't imagine collecting mechanical pencils, this is the exactly the sort of person we're talking about.
I suppose if his wife doesn't mind and it brings him pleasure...who am I to judge.
I collect everything. I gather all sorts of odds and ends and store them in my house and never use them, so I guess that makes me a collector.
My husband prefers the more derogatory "pack rat." It's Ry, not me, who's always threatening to "declutter."
But what if I need that stub of a pencil I found in my grandfather's workshop in 1987?
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