Collecting – a lot more than just getting
Updated: Jan 13
I've been waiting to send this blog, hoping to save you “collectors of things” from yourselves.
You know who you are, and we know what you seek: baseball cards (John S.), teapots (Kelly R-M), ceramic turtles (Sarah K.), guitars (Roger M.), coins (Ralph E.), Indie band memorabilia (World Enders Fan Club), you name it.
I wanted to wait until bidding was over to reference one of the weirdest collector sites I've seen.
(Well, it might be the second-weirdest, thanks to Products of the Universe, but that's another story...)
Don't even think about bidding on items from … drum roll... the HBO Original Succession Auction, because it's over.
That's right, if you're a fan of the hugely successful show, you missed out on Roman's juvenile outfit from the final episode. (T-shirt from Walmart, shorts from Old Navy, pictured above at a $1,150 price point.)
And lots more, including the Doderick dog costume Greg wore in the first episode (also pictured above, $2,700), Tom Wambsgans's waystar/ROYCO ID badge ($1,550), and the blender (my fave, $575 when I last checked) that Shiv used to make Kendall that “Meal Fit for a King.”
About a third of Americans collect something. And neuroscientist and collector Shirley M. Mueller, M.D., wanted to find out exactly why.
While it makes sense that people collect because it makes them feel good, what Mueller found is that there's actually a physical response. “When we're anticipating getting a desired object, the pleasure centers of our brain light up – even more than they do once we have the object,” Mueller says. “Collectors get to do that over and over again.”
A bonus is that you discover a new social network. You find other people on the same search as you. “The sense of friendship and social bonding with other collectors is one of the main things that people value about collecting,” Mueller says.
AND, you get the enjoyment of arranging and rearranging your collection. (This is one of my favorite activities with my Christmas village; some of the figures even have back stories.)
Bottom line: Collecting “...gives sufficient pleasure that the participant wants to continue it more and more vigorously,” Mueller concludes.
Although that sounds like you could become addicted, I think Mueller's inner collector (her passion is porcelain) is giving us a get-out-of-jail-free card.
So, go at it on eBay! But be careful out there...
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