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off topic: I'm interested in the science of collecting
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86 posts in this topic

4 minutes ago, kav said:

Is it true that men are a lot more of collectors than women?  If so this might give additional clue.  

Moms threw out their kids collections... a very very common story. Mine hauled my extensive model kit collection to the curb one day while I was at school.

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20 minutes ago, kav said:

Is it true that men are a lot more of collectors than women?  If so this might give additional clue.  

it seems that women truly do collect odd things.... i knew one who had a small fortune in faberge egg type knockoffs , she showed my her valuable ones she payed $300 dollars for and that she said were now worth $500 !! she even had two 6' display cases....

i looked them up on eBay and they were all trying to sell for those prices but there were nearly zero sold listings ... they were pretty much worthless..i never had the heart to tell and burst her bubble

knew other women over the years who collected penguins , cows, pigs, teddy bears ... you name it and they had lots of money tied up in that drek but it was all worthless

never knew a woman who collected comic books , coins or baseball cards though

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40 minutes ago, kav said:

Is it true that men are a lot more of collectors than women?  If so this might give additional clue.  

That's a good question, but I can attest my wife collects as much as I do.  I am into Comics, Vintage Tiki Mugs, and Old Toy soldiers.  She on the other hand collects vintage Globes,  Franciscan Starburst China, as well as Jadite China.  We got issues. 

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My name is Robot Man and I am a collectoraholic.

I am hopelessly addicted. I can't wait for my next fix. Why else would someone get up out of a warm bed on a Sunday morning at 4:00 AM? Why, the thrill of the hunt of course. Just the possibility that today could be the day. I am for the most part not a "catch and release" guy. I prefer to hang on to my kills to remember the moment, then move on for the next hunt.

I collect anything I like that grabs my attention and looks cool to me. Comics, old toys, sports stuff, advertising stuff, political stuff and general "Americana". All fair game.

It's not the destination, it's the road you travel to get there!

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2 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

here is my $1 bill collection lol 

2104163955_IMG_0555-Edited.jpg.b094149c17749ea5702b0d8acf857df3.jpg

Coincidently right now I’m collecting currency. You should dig a little deeper into the hobby. Some people collect based on the numerical sequences on the dollar bills. They look for things like radar notes, ladders, etc. lots of cool stuff in change. 
 

432D24C0-A501-4093-9073-EBF5FB97BC54.jpeg

Edited by Westy Steve
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Depends on the person and what they are collecting. Some people collect something because they enjoy it, reading it, listening to it, whatever. Some people it's more of a hoarding thing, just having to have tons of a particular thing for who knows why. Some people it's a competition thing and they try to have more than other collectors or have something better or in better condition of whatever it is or the prestige that comes with having something no one else can have. With others its a money thing, investing and that's it. It's too much of an individual thing for one answer.

I agree with Robot Man, with me it's always been just whatever I like I accumulate and also the thrill of the hunt is a huge part. The digging trough antique shops, junk shops, garage sales, flea markets and finding stuff that grabs me and i need to have. Most of the appeal is the hunt, the adventure to get it, the fun of digging through attics and being covered in dust and dirt, the smells. I can't be Indiana Jones so this is what I got. Why so much of the appeal is gone nowadays since there's nothing to find in flea markets and places really any more, they are all new crud or just don't exist anymore to go to. I buy comics, records, toys etc that catch my eye online mostly now and it's really no fun though I still love the stuff. I just know I got it on ebay. not very memorable or exciting. Not like the comics I can look at and love and also have that memory of when I got lost on back country roads and ran across this junk shop and found it in a stack of rotting newsprint and the thrill when I came across this comic I never knew existed before.

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28 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

My name is Robot Man and I am a collectoraholic.

I am hopelessly addicted. I can't wait for my next fix. Why else would someone get up out of a warm bed on a Sunday morning at 4:00 AM? Why, the thrill of the hunt of course. Just the possibility that today could be the day. I am for the most part not a "catch and release" guy. I prefer to hang on to my kills to remember the moment, then move on for the next hunt.

I collect anything I like that grabs my attention and looks cool to me. Comics, old toys, sports stuff, advertising stuff, political stuff and general "Americana". All fair game.

It's not the destination, it's the road you travel to get there!

This is what I’m getting at. Truth is I am collectoraholic.  I collect all kinds of different things, and in high grade. I would have an amazing comic collection if that’s all I did. Right now I am rotating through genres.  It sometimes consumes me but its a source of comfort too.  I have tried to create a Facebook page for people like me but there are no takers. I’m very interested in discussing why we do what we do and perhaps trading ideas and concepts on how to do it better.

With respect to the origins of my collecting. When I was a kid my brother and I would collect coins out of the cash register at the gas station that my father used to run. We became competitive enough that my parents told me that since he started collecting first I was not allowed to collect coins. If you ever wanted to make somebody into a ridiculously driven collector tell them they’re not allowed to collect something when they’re about 11 years old. My brother doesn’t collect coins anymore. I still collect to this day.

What drove me to comic books was when I was in my early teen years I somehow got a copy of Lois Lane. It was an early issue and it was immaculate. It blew me away regarding how it could be in such great condition even though it was so old. It made me conceptualize the entire distribution chain of comics and made me wonder what was out there. From there I got into  Marvel comics and I was amazed by how stories would reference previous stories. Like when the narrator would say stuff like “all the way back in issue number two of the avengers“. I realize they were complete parts of these characters lives that needed to be tracked down. Or stories referencing re-emerging Ultron, or brushes with the cosmic cube.  The continuity of those comics was amazing to me. I found comics to be more immersive than coins, but I still loved coins for what they were. 

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Putting aside all of the obvious talking points i.e. time machine effect and having a deep connection to glorious childhood memories that come to the fore front etc. and in many cases that have been forgotten. That deja vu/total recall impact of being in the moment again is so incredible and tremendous. From this perspective, collecting is pure awesomeness and joy.

However I must admit that I am becoming addicted to registry collecting which is a whole different planet. I think there is something much deeper rooted here at the anatomical level. Perhaps it is the way our brains are wired or some kind of dopamine looping feedback effect etc.

@FlyingDonut had a very succinct observation in the true madness of collecting at this level and I find myself doing this all the time. I acquire a book I need for my registry; now I can't even wait to get it in the mail; I put in the cert immediately after I have paid. The slab shows up and sure for a brief moment I might be in awe or excited but ultimately it gets placed in a box along with its other comrades and then on to the next one. 

I thought about putting a collecting room together but all I can think about is all the slabs I could buy to get my registry ahead instead of deploying that money into a room. There is something that goes beyond the time machine effect. There is an adrenaline like surge you get when searching and being on the hunt. Maybe this function in of itself is nostalgic because as kids we would race into the toy stores on a quest or a 7/11 to get to the comic racks and read the last IH or Bats etc. I just made a connection with a fellow boardie who is selling me a bunch of uber sweet SS slabs I need for my ASM registry and I am absolutely on cloud nine right now. Will see how long this feeling lasts before you guessed it; on to the next adventure.

 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, astrometric said:

Snip...The slab shows up and sure for a brief moment I might be in awe or excited but ultimately it gets placed in a box along with its other comrades and then on to the next one. 


snip

I just made a connection with a fellow boardie who is selling me a bunch of uber sweet SS slabs I need for my ASM registry and I am absolutely on cloud nine right now. Will see how long this feeling lasts before you guessed it; on to the next adventure.

 

 

 

My God, this! I will get an adrenaline rush from a new Acquisition. And I’ll enjoy it for a bit and then I’ll put it into storage and just about forget about it. I have found collectibles in my collection that I completely forgot that I owned.
 

I revel in the moment so briefly upon the purchase that it didn’t reinforce itself into my brain strongly enough for me to remember long-term that I own it. I have learned though, that the better these items are, and the more painful they are to acquire the more I cherish owning them. Hence my new style of collecting us to sell off all my junk and buy nothing but amazing quality things at the top of my budget.

Regarding  that feeling of euphoria, while I don’t tickle my fancy from registry points, I do get that feeling from financial gain that comes from a collectible. Like a garage sale find or something. If I get a great deal on a great collectible it can literally keep me happy the entire week. I feed on the energy of that to get through the drudgery of my day job.  Edit: Please understand that it’s not the monetary gain itself that’s satisfying.  Sometimes we’re only talking about a gain of 20 or $30 which doesn’t take very long for me to earn. It’s how I made that gain that pleases me.

Edited by Westy Steve
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11 hours ago, kav said:

Is it true that men are a lot more of collectors than women?  If so this might give additional clue.  

Men value things more than women do.

Women value people more than men do.

Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule.

Edit: Jordan Peterson's insight into this psychology is invaluable.

Edited by theCapraAegagrus
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So, if you're really interested, seek out and read the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's "The System of Objects - II A Marginal System: Collecting."

If the title doesn't put you off immediately, his essay has a lot of thought-provoking things to say about the psychology of collectors, the psychological nature of objects, etc. 

I'm not going to post his ideas here, because I don't care to support or defend them on an internet message board, especially one for collectors, who may take offense at Braudrillard's conclusions. 

I will say he's definitely talking about collectors, and not speculators or investors.

 

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15 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

it seems that women truly do collect odd things.... i knew one who had a small fortune in faberge egg type knockoffs , she showed my her valuable ones she payed $300 dollars for and that she said were now worth $500 !! she even had two 6' display cases....

i looked them up on eBay and they were all trying to sell for those prices but there were nearly zero sold listings ... they were pretty much worthless..i never had the heart to tell and burst her bubble

knew other women over the years who collected penguins , cows, pigs, teddy bears ... you name it and they had lots of money tied up in that drek but it was all worthless

never knew a woman who collected comic books , coins or baseball cards though

odd things like comic books, baseball cards, pokeman and magic cards, entombed baseballs, bits of sports jerseys, old porno?

 

plenty of women collect comics, including some boardies right here.

my wife still has her star wars action figures from the 70s

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parent, sibling, peer and neighbor influence at a young age is the trigger. the more susceptible (ocd as an example) the stronger the influence.

in teen years, the waxing and waning is directly related to available $ for collecting vs. available $ for other teen social activities, and peer pressure for or against.

in young adult years, it is directly related to economic gain (or loss) and if there are offspring, the inevitable tendency to shift personal collecting desires to the children.

in more advanced adult years, it is directly related to  nostalgia and  the belief that it is worth a gazillion $ now (or isn't worth a gazillion $ yet so i am gonna keep it a little longer).

in senior years, it is how much is it worth and maybe i should sell now, or maybe i should pass it on to the grandchildren, or maybe i now have the time to share the knowledge and show and tell with the younger collectors, or maybe i will give it away (all these choices being directly related to status of mental faculties and whether or not a marriage partner or legal representative is or is not influencing choice.

i think...but i am not sure.

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16 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

Much more accurate than Freud’s nonsense.

The threat of being starved or deprived of something stimulates us to hunt it down, especially when you’ve been previously conditioned by the dopamine buzz of success in similar circumstances.

 

At its core its more about mating than starving.    

In a culture where yams are wealth, the yam farmer with the biggest pile of yams gets more..... let's say pats on the back.

 

Edited by Bronty
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16 minutes ago, Bronty said:

At its core its more about mating than starving.    

In a culture where yams are wealth, the yam farmer with the biggest pile of yams gets more..... let's say pats on the back.

 

Yup. The provider effect.

And, making more sense than Freud there.

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