Why some of us are collecting things like blades etc .....

[Jock]

Hi Folks,

 

I saw the following and did a deep search into the deepest chambers of my little heart:

 

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"The typical collector is a male, usually unbalanced in some direction, who, if he were normal, would not need to collect odd bits and pieces. I believe that any collector suffers from some kind of mental or psychological aberration, and that his collecting is a therapy which may run into a great deal of expense but which protects his sanity and allows him to operate in other fields fairly normally."

 

James A. Michener

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Next time your wife complains about you spending $ 3000 on a sword - just show her this quotation and tell her if you don't buy it, the alternative is that you would be roaming through your back yard eating grass whilst barking like a dog.....unable to look after job, wife and kids --- maybe --- just maybe -- she might tell you to buy 2 or 3..... )

 

Jock

 

PS: what does it mean for the ones who give up collecting? Gone Insane or Healed? Who knows = to risky I better go on collecting......! ;o)

[Rich S]

Actually Michener is sort of right, but not really. He is obviously a non-collector trying to explain collectors behavior. In reality collectors and non-collectors are both normal; just different sub-species neither of which understands nor communicates well with the other. The two sub-species just tolerate each other (as least most of the time). It's all just genetics - either you're a collector or you're not. Some folks have brown eyes, some have blue. Some are collectors (the sane ones :-), some are non-collectors. of course there's a world of trouble when a married couple is comprised of both sub-species- total chaos and misunderstanding - it will end in disaster!

 

Rich S

[Hermes]

IMO it is about survival and not about being "unbalanced", collectors are just lost soul's from collecting food and staples we all needed to survive a cold world back in the cave/ice age, where you needed to collect/gather every day just to live day to day, this went on for 100,000 of years before modern history of the last 5,000 years, this is embedded deeply in all of us and comes out in some to collect endlessly.

[Ford Hallam]

James Michener was actually an avid collector of woodblock prints. I believe there is an fairly extensive collection of his in Hawaii...somewhere

 

Personally, I think it all comes down to early toilet training... but Hermes may be absolutely right ...for myself though, I sublimate those urges into actual making :D ...think of me as an enabler .

[Brian]

And I thought it was just about "he who dies with the most toys, wins"

 

Brian

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Next time your wife complains about you spending $ 3000 on a sword - just show her this quotation and tell her if you don't buy it, the alternative is that you would be roaming through your back yard eating grass whilst barking like a dog.....unable to look after job, wife and kids --- maybe --- just maybe -- she might tell you to buy 2 or 3..... )

 

Beware ! It's dangerous. She could say the same for her insane shopping of shoes and

dressess...

[IanB]

I was dropped on my head when a baby. :D :D :D

Ian Bottomley

[Jock]

folks,

 

 

for me (as I found after a deep search) it comes from the fact that my mum told me during my childhood:

 

"Behave and be nice and you get a toy!"

 

As I always behave and am 100% nice I believe that I have a right to reward myself with toys constantly...

 

 

Jock

[Bugyotsuji]

My first (?) girlfriend accused me of being a collector and asked me if this is how I saw her, as just another one for my collection. Never did understand the question...

[remzy]

I collect Nihontos because it makes me feel viril and powerful, when i put a wig on my shinto wakizashi and call him Tina, i makes my life worthwhile.

 

(hey, i cant speak nonsence too! )