The objects we collect are more than meet the eye in Daydreaming on the Porch
- Feb. 14, 2025, 1 a.m.
- |
- Public
You know how there are little tokens, icons, “things” which people buy on a whim or pick up at souvenir and gift shops? Some people have frog collections with cupboards and china cases full of the little green amphibians in every guise and pose, funny and serious. Philosopher frogs and dopey, dumb ones. Something about frogs.
Then there are the salt and pepper shaker collections (I always thought those were a bit odd); shaving mugs lined up all in a row; the coffee mug connoisseurs; the campaign button and sign collectors; toy cars; Coca Cola memorabilia — the list goes on and on. People like to have little harmless collecting obsessions and display their treasures for others, but primarily for themselves to view.
From kitsch to fine china and porcelain, collecting habits tell us a lot about people. I used to collect stamps as a kid, spending hours peering at them, arrranging, organizing and studying them. Why, I am not sure. But it was part of my tendency toward escapism. I collected stamps of all the British colonies and took vicarious trips all over the world via the scenes they portrayed of exotic islands and small nations on far-flung continents.
Like I said, I have never really understood the salt and pepper shaker collecting phenomenon, but I presume there’s a lesson there, some symbolic meaning to it all.
Some of us develop a long-lasting fascination with certain material things, which, when looked at in the harsh light of logic or rationality, makes little sense. But collecting fulfills some need, the objects accumulated brings a smile to our faces. They let us know that out there in some flea market or junk shop or “antique” store there is one of those missing pieces to a collection, the one-of-a-kind, unique and rare item that, when we see it, immediately takes on value far beyond its actual worth. It becomes something we have to purchase. Our collections are ourselves, one might say.
I don’t do much of this because mostly I collect books — new and used. This has been a life-long passion since I joined the Doubleday $1 Bargain Book Club in 1963 when I was 12.
if I see anything whatever related to my great nostalgia collecting passion, which is old grist mills, I will not hesitate for a second to purchase it. That’s what happend years ago in an antique store on the main street of a little town in upstate South Carolina. There on a table near the far corner of the shop was a grist mill painting in an old, dusty frame of a scene from corn milling days of long ago in the last century or early in this century. it was a time of ingenius mechanical devices that turned big buhr stones that ground wheat the old-fashioned way. I think I paid about $4 for the print, frame included.
To me it’s a treasure because grist mills symbolize a gentler, quieter age in our country’s history when people lived primarily on farms and in small rural towns and communities. They were much more self-sufficient. By 1920, the grist mills were dying out and being abandoned, becoming sentimental relics in the countryside. Today, however, many are being lovingly restored, and an old tradition of millers teaching apprentices is being revived in a few places. I like that.
One other note about collecting obsessions. You may have noticed when you enter someone’s kitchen how the refrigerator door is likely to be covered with stick-on magnets, kitschy pieces of collectible art themselves, holding down photos, recipes, notes, poems, newspaper clippings and a bewildering variety of other objects deemed worth viewing and remembering. Some of these magnets are little doodads that are just cute or odd, conversation pieces — collectibles, again, if you will. Since I rarely have the opportunity to venture into these spaces inhabited by others, I don’t get a chance to observe what’s cluttering up the surfaces of refrigerators these days. I am intrigued, nevertheless.
Myself, I have a grand total of three refrigerator magnets, and each in its own way provides a pithy little insight into my psyche. The complete inventory is as follows: a miniature 6-oz. Coke bottle with tiny temperature gauge; a small scene of a beautiful covered bridge I visited in North Carolina many years ago; and an a 1997 era magnet with Cicero’s oft-quoted maxim: “a room without books is like a body without a soul.” Cicero said that?
I write this here because no one ever sees them, and thus, for posterity, I wish to record these little snippets of my solitary life.
music & dogs & wine ⋅ February 13, 2025
I collect magnets! The first one I had was a friend went to San Francisco when I was 18 and she brought me back a flimsy hot pink magnet "I went to San Francisco and all I got was this lousy magnet." Somehow over the years I collected a few more when I went on trips. Then my friends started buying them for me when they went on trips. I now have two HUGE magnet boards in my downstairs hall with magnets from all over the world, you would think I have been everywhere, but honestly, maybe 10 of them I bought myself.
I have beautiful, artisan crafted magnets from countries all over, and probably almost every state. I think the only continent I don't have is Antartica, cause who goes there? People keep buying me them, and I am out of space. I need to get a new board and make room for the new ones. It's sweet that friends think of me and bring me back these magnets. I think the one I like the best, is actually from the Gaza Strip! It's not a magnet though, it's a keychain. A former friend had moved to Israel for a year to teach English, she crossed the border and got me a keychain. I have it hanging on the magnet wall. I think I like that one the best cause people don't typically visit Palestine, and I know it was kinda scary for her to go there, but she really wanted to.
Other than that, I don't collect anything. I have a lot of perfumes, but I use them and buy new ones, I do have a small wine collection, but I don't save anything to age very long, they get drank over time. I think magnets is the thing for me!
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ February 15, 2025
You are so fortunate to have so many friends who think of you and buy magnets for you on their travels. I bet your magnet boards are fascinating to look at with all the ones from so many countries.
It’s similar to when I was collecting stamps from all over the world, manly British colonies in the 1960s. That seems like ancient history now, but it was a hobby I was deeply immersed in and spent a considerable portion of my lawn mowing money on back in high school. Haha! . I’ve tentatively started back collecting stamps but the progress is slow so far.
If I ever travel again I would certainly be on the lookout for magnets, as I have a great appreciation for them now, even though I only have a few. I particularly like those with special quotations or sayings on them.
music & dogs & wine ⋅ February 13, 2025
Also, when I was little, HUGE collector. I collected rocks, I adored rocks and geodes and any beautiful thing I could get my hands on. I went through a massive Shirley Temple phase from probably 8 - 12. I would go antiquing with my parents and would buy up any Shirley Temple memorabilia I could find. Dolls, sheet music, dish ware. I ended up selling all of that a long time ago.
My dad worked for Mobil Oil for almost 40 years, he had a massive collection of Mobil Oil and Standard Oil (Socony) stuff, we even had a 1920's gas pump in our house, it must have been 20 feet tall! Mobil HQ was in Virginia, and people would visit our house regularly, it was known in the industry as the "West Coast Mobil Museum."
Oswego music & dogs & wine ⋅ February 15, 2025
So interesting what you collected back in chkdhood. That collecting did tell a lot about us and our special interests. Those were the days.
Lady of the Bann ⋅ February 13, 2025
My fridge is covered in magnets. Over half of them are cats. When I realised I had 2 or 3 cat magnets I started looking for others whenever I went on holiday. All of them unique. From Paris,Amsterdam,Turkey and Italy. The other half are 3d, like the bunch of lavender from Provence, the lemons from Italy and the tiny bag of pasta and the minute bottles of wine from Bordeaux. They are not just magnets but special works of art and imagination to remind. me of trips. I also have a few wine bottle stoppers, a bowl or 2 of shells and quartz type natural gems.
The Psychology of 'why' is Interesting. Like shopping for clothes, why, out of all the thousands of items in shops, did that one item stand out as special enough to buy?
Oswego Lady of the Bann ⋅ February 15, 2025
Exactly! It’s the joy and excitement of spotting that one item or treasure one MUST have! It just stands out among all the other items in the antiques mall or when I am shopping online at Amazon or Etsy. Mostly, I’ve done this collecting since retirement seven years ago when I’ve had time to devote to collecting and other hobbies. I so enjoy it.
gypsy spirit ⋅ February 14, 2025
it is interesting to think about the variety of choices people make for a collection of something but I was never really a collector either, although I do have special books, plants amd a few sentimental gift items that I treasure. But yes, we cannot 'take them with us', and yes, often they can be a reflection of a person's personality. I have a friend who collects Japanese cultural items, another who collects frogs and even one or two that collect things that sparkle, but none of it I found easy to comprehend either. Of course some wealthy folks collect great artworks but in those cases its generally as an investment rather than a passion.
Just as I write this though, I admit I do have a fettish for a few things....mugs, cushions, weird chairs and sometimes I find an artifact of a culture I admire...however all these things O tend towards are never permanent collections. I seem to go through phases, went through a blue & white china phase once but it only lasted a couple of years. I tend to get bored with 'things' . Even garden plants I tend to change and vary, reposition etc.
What interesting subjects you do come up with my friend, - but remember not everyone is obsessed with collecting, often it can just be a passing fancy. Life is about diversity and variety....different flowers make a prettier garden than all one colour or form. thanks for this...hugs p
Oswego gypsy spirit ⋅ February 15, 2025
It’s so much fun to collect small treasures, and the the surprise element is what makes it so enjoyable. I never know what I’ll discover next. I shop online and at a favorite antiques mall.
These things endlessly delight me, for example this exquisite seahorse figurine which opens up so you can place tiny objects or treasures in them. The one in the photo below contains three small piece of rough cut Ethiopian fire opal, an obsession of mine now.
All this collecting has mostly been since I retired seven years ago and have the time to nourish my never-lost sense of childlike wonder. Such fun!
https://imgur.com/a/vc4DfOq
https://imgur.com/a/2WGBezY
canadianbutamerican2 ⋅ February 15, 2025
I found you Oswego!! Sammy here. I collect dust.. 😆 joking 😜
Newzlady ⋅ February 15, 2025
You’ve inspired me to write about (and photograph) my collections if I can make time. Yes, plural. I’ll tackle one at a time.
What is the beautiful blue/green stone?
Oswego Newzlady ⋅ February 15, 2025
I hope you will. I could do any number of future entries on my varied collections, owls, for instance.
That rock is called chalcopyrite. According to ChatGPT, it is a common copper iron sulfide mineral with a metallic luster and an iridescent tarnish that often displays shades of blue, green, purple, and gold.
https://enchanting-earth.com/products/peacock-ore-specimen
Marg ⋅ February 25, 2025
My fridge door is covered in all sorts - photos, drawings and magnets - and they all bring me a lot of joy, especially two of my Mum which I say goodnight to every night. I also used to collect stamps when I was a kid and got a lot of pleasure from that as I remember. I also often wonder if those things were collect are tapping into a previous life (lives) we might have had and that’s why they’re significant to us?
Oswego Marg ⋅ February 26, 2025
I have so many collectible keepsakes now in old age that I never could have imagined having when I was younger.
Interesting thought about tapping into previous lives with those objects and treasured personal artifacts. Something to think about because I’m not sure where my present fascination with those things comes from. Hmmm! 🧐
Sweet about the photos of your mum on the fridge. I have photos of my mother scattered about. Some of them are in little shrines with a favorite teacup of hers and a camellia, for example. :)
Marg Oswego ⋅ February 26, 2025
Aw that’s lovely! I also have photos of Mum dotted about as well as the two on the fridge - my 5 year old grandson was curious as to who she was the other day so I spent some time explaining and he proudly told his sister all about ‘Jessie’ when he saw her later😊