The End of the Collector Mindset

[tonyb]

That young man in the doughboy uniform is my grandfather’s uncle Charlie, to whom I alluded much earlier in this thread. The infant is my grandfather himself.
Both photos came my way via my mother, who said I am the only one she is confident wouldn’t just give them away or sell them to an antiques peddler.
I see these old oval sepia photos in antique shops all the time, priced at 30 or 40 bucks, sometimes not even that much. I’m left to wonder what the buyers do with them. Reuse the frames? Use them as decor in an eatery or a bar with an early 20th century “theme”?
I’ve let my cousin Bob, who is younger and in better health than me, know that I want him to assume custody should I croak before he does. And after Bob shuffles off? The photos may as well become decor in a theme restaurant, something along the lines of the Old Spaghetti Factory, which folks out West might be familiar with.

 

[Bugguy]

Many of the Bohemians, (as in Czech) had perfect front rooms too, in Berwyn and Cicero Illinois. They mostly lived in kitchens and ba

Hey! I grew up near 31st and Pulaski. All my Czech friends houses (and mine) were like that. Kids couldn't play in the living room. Couch and chairs had plastic slip covers and the tall lamp on the table in the middle of the picture window had plastic covering the shade.

Still not as bad as the lamps with the oil (looks like water) running down the wires to look like rain.

As for living in the basement, note that no-one ever killed themselves jumping from the window.

 

[belfastboy]

Hey! I grew up near 31st and Pulaski. All my Czech friends houses (and mine) were like that. Kids couldn't play in the living room. Couch and chairs had plastic slip covers and the tall lamp on the table in the middle of the picture window had plastic covering the shade.

Still not as bad as the lamps with the oil (looks like water) running down the wires to look like rain.

As for living in the basement, note that no-one ever killed themselves jumping from the window.

My mother did not want me sitting on the 'good' couch in the living room....she said I was too heavy and would permanently squish the foam cushions. She also continually admonished me for not picking up my feet high enough and my feet were going to wear out her new shag carpet prematurely. I could go on and on with the list of …"things not to do, or how not to do them"....but it wasn't interesting then and sure as hell not now. She grew up dirt poor before the depression and it got worse during so I always cut her slack as she had to claw her way up to afford the nice things she had.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Owning furniture and such that rarely got used wasn’t exactly common among my people when I was a kid, but it wasn’t all that uncommon, either.

An old girlfriend, going back about 25 years ago, lived with another gal who kept the living room drapes closed, except on special occasions, so as to prevent fading of her upholstered furniture. Wound pretty tight, she was. Not a crumb on a counter. Floors you could eat off of. Et cetera. (Gotta admit that I was amused but not particularly surprised when it was disclosed to me that she was into some pretty kinky stuff, involving whips and dog collars and the like.)

 

[Old Mariner]

I tend to fall into the category of not wanting "the stuff", but for me, it's mainly due to a laundry list of pragmatic reasons.

I live alone, and so if I were to move, the less packing, and lifting, etc. the better.

I live in an apartment and so only have "x" amount of storage space. (I also do not like clutter.)

I like to have *less* stuff to clean and not more.

I have tended to move frequently - usually spending no more than 4 years, at most, in one place. Now my current apartment - I moved into in October 2014, and I am somewhat surprised I am still here (but for the time being, it is an excellent location for me).

If I have no interest in said items, I don't see the point in keeping them. I would rather donate them so someone else can enjoy them who wants them.

Finally...I just never was a "stuff" kind of person.

 

[tonyb]

No Marie Kondo, I.

I don’t ask my possessions to somehow “spark joy” to maintain their presence in this house, although I’d argue that much of my stuff is at least kinda joyful, in its way.

It’s a safe bet I will never again open most of the hundreds of books in this place. But the collection goes back more than half a century, and its presence on my shelves reminds me of where I’ve been and what I’ve thought and what once interested me and in some cases still does. When I’m dead and gone my memories will go with me, and the books will be another thing for my survivors to deal with. I hope they get at least a few bucks for them, or donate ’em to some worthy cause.

 

[tonyb]

I’ve long been a lover of tribal arts. Over the past decade or so I’ve amassed something of a collection of Oriental rugs, mostly of the simpler, more coarsely woven tribal variety (as contrasted with the “finer” city rugs).

I claim no expertise, but I’ve been at this long enough to be kinda conversant. (Even the experts sometimes don’t agree on a particular rug’s pedigree, considering the amount of cross-pollination of stylistic conventions and construction techniques from town to town and region to region and even country to country.)

I have about 30 of the things now, with a combined value of maybe a few thousand bucks. (Most such rugs can be had for much less scratch than is commonly believed.) Some are layered atop others. And yes, Marie, they do indeed spark joy. Every one of them. I may give some away to friends who offer favorable comments about them, but none are for sale.

 

[belfastboy]

I’ve long been a lover of tribal arts. Over the past decade or so I’ve amassed something of a collection of Oriental rugs, mostly of the simpler, more coarsely woven tribal variety (as contrasted with the “finer” city rugs).

I claim no expertise, but I’ve been at this long enough to be kinda conversant. (Even the experts sometimes don’t agree on a particular rug’s pedigree, considering the amount of cross-pollination of stylistic conventions and construction techniques from town to town and region to region and even country to country.)

I have about 30 of the things now, with a combined value of maybe a few thousand bucks. (Most such rugs can be had for much less scratch than is commonly believed.) Some are layered atop others. And yes, Marie, they do indeed spark joy. Every one of them. I may give some away to friends who offer favorable comments about them, but none are for sale.

We spent a winter in North Africa many years ago and have fond memories of the hours (and I mean hours) spent bargaining over Berber rugs.....it was exhausting but we did come home with a few that adorn my office floor.

 

[tonyb]

We spent a winter in North Africa many years ago and have fond memories of the hours (and I mean hours) spent bargaining over Berber rugs.....it was exhausting but we did come home with a few that adorn my office floor.

I’ve befriended a couple of rug peddlers. They’ve gotten money out of me on several occasions.

I’ve stepped into a few rug stores operated by people I don’t know, but thanks to those in the biz I *do* know, I know that the prices those shops put on their rugs are at least twice what a person should pay for comparable merchandise.

Assigning a price on items with little if any intrinsic value is inherently arbitrary. To repeat the well-worn observation, such a thing is worth what a person will pay for it.

When I consider the amount of effort that goes into an authentic hand-knotted Persian (or Afghani or Turkish or Caucasian or ...) rug, the prices we pay here in the West are real bargains.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Hey! I grew up near 31st and Pulaski. All my Czech friends houses (and mine) were like that. Kids couldn't play in the living room. Couch and chairs had plastic slip covers and the tall lamp on the table in the middle of the picture window had plastic covering the shade.

Still not as bad as the lamps with the oil (looks like water) running down the wires to look like rain.

As for living in the basement, note that no-one ever killed themselves jumping from the window.

The funny part is that even when there were visitors the front room tended to be used only to stash coats and purses while everybody gathered in the kitchen. At least that was my experience when we would visit my parents' friends.

 

[tonyb]

The funny part is that even when there were visitors the front room tended to be used only to stash coats and purses while everybody gathered in the kitchen. At least that was my experience when we would visit my parents' friends.

Do people still pile their overcoats on the master bedroom bed when they have social gatherings during the cold months?

Such was the practice among my people back in the day. The typical coat closet just couldn’t accommodate all those heavy garments.

But then, maybe those sorts of gatherings aren’t as common as they were back then. I was part of a large extended family then, with grandparents and numerous aunts and uncles and cousins all living in the same region.

 

[Bushman]

Do people still pile their overcoats on the master bedroom bed when they have social gatherings during the cold months?

Such was the practice among my people back in the day. The typical coat closet just couldn’t accommodate all those heavy garments.

But then, maybe those sorts of gatherings aren’t as common as they were back then. I was part of a large extended family then, with grandparents and numerous aunts and uncles and cousins all living in the same region.

I know we've always done it at my place. I don't have many social gatherings, but when I do, everybody knows where to put their coat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd be surprised how many people even here in the Northeast don't bother to even wear coats anymore. They're used to going from heated house to heated garage to heated car and consider anything more than a North Face vest to be unnecessary. The average bed could hold a lot of those.

I make people keep their coats on when they come to my house. Fuel oil is expensive.

 

[tonyb]

On the TV this morning is a rebroadcast of a This Old House episode from 2001 featuring a visit to a late-19th Century Victorian in Portland, Oregon, meticulously restored by a then-youngish couple who found the house some years prior with pretty much all its fancy Victorian details stripped away.

The result of their efforts is spectacular indeed, and the homeowners have every right to be proud of it. But damn, the interior is more a museum than a home. Just about everything (and there’s a whole lotta things) is period correct, right down to the newspaper and magazines placed atop the tables. (I don’t discount the possibility that the old periodicals were placed there for the shoot, “reality” TV being what it is.) Lots of stained glass and busy ceiling and wall treatments, etc., etc., etc. It’s just TOO MUCH.

Yeah, I know, my approval isn’t required. But then, it isn’t to be compelled, either.

 

[LizzieMaine]

MIght that be the CHrismans? If it is, they're actually pretty well known in "vintage living" circles. Sarah Chrisman has written quite a few books about everyday Victoriana, and you might for want of a better term call her a very successful professional atavist.

 

[Edward]

MIght that be the CHrismans? If it is, they're actually pretty well known in "vintage living" circles. Sarah Chrisman has written quite a few books about everyday Victoriana, and you might for want of a better term call her a very successful professional atavist.

They're a different couple from the awful pair who kicked off a row when they visited those botanical gardens a few years ago, aren't they?

I find it interesting when people choose this sort of lifestyle. I'm fine with it as long as they don't go down the route of thinking it makes them somehow superior to those who don't.* In my experience, it's a rare person who can consciously go 'total immersion' without burning themselves out sooner or later. I've seen quite a few people leave the 'vintage' thing behind entirely (one or two even becoming quite spiteful towards it all, or their perception of it) as a result.

I think money no object I'd probably be happiest with about a 90% immersion level.... a full on, MCM looking home, but not something I felt I had to hide anything modern in a drawer, or that felt too much of a museum to relax in. Like I'd not want to feel I couldn't leave a laptop sitting out on my desk - though what I wouldn't give for a laptop with an overtly MCM looking design. I suppose for people like me that's the attraction of concepts like steampunk/dieselpunk/atomicpunk...



*(Strangely, this is something I've seen in all sorts of alternative lifestyles - everything from the very conservatively religious to the opposite to swingers - the urge to judge everyone who isn't the same as 'lesser'. I wonder if it's part of the human condition in some way, maybe a way of feeling one's own 'difference' is "ok" if self-doubt enters in the picture?)

 

[tonyb]

MIght that be the CHrismans? If it is, they're actually pretty well known in "vintage living" circles. Sarah Chrisman has written quite a few books about everyday Victoriana, and you might for want of a better term call her a very successful professional atavist.

I hadn’t known of Ms. Chrisman prior to your mention of her. So I looked her up and no, she is not of the couple featured in the This Old House episode, who (to their eternal credit, by my lights) did not go about in Victorian drag.

The founders of Atomic Ranch, Jim Brown and Michelle Gringeri-Brown, might also fit the ”professional atavist” handle. Theirs was a good idea at a good time and they made fine use of their individual and combined talents. But the quality has suffered since they sold the publication. The writing borders on the amateurish and some of the factual assertions are just plain wrong. And mid-century modernism isn’t as hot as it was when the Browns started up. It might be that it’s still very much a going concern; I wouldn’t know either way.

 

[tonyb]

…

I find it interesting when people choose this sort of lifestyle. I'm fine with it as long as they don't go down the route of thinking it makes them somehow superior to those who don't.* …


*(Strangely, this is something I've seen in all sorts of alternative lifestyles - everything from the very conservatively religious to the opposite to swingers - the urge to judge everyone who isn't the same as 'lesser'. I wonder if it's part of the human condition in some way, maybe a way of feeling one's own 'difference' is "ok" if self-doubt enters in the picture?)

I’ve befriended some real oddballs, and I suppose I’m something of an oddity myself. But not since my adolescent years have I made a grand public display of it. Some project an image that says, “OK, you think I’m weird. So I’ll show you weird, m*****f***er. And I won’t wear it on just my sleeve, either.“

But that’s still letting someone else call the tune, ain’t it? It‘s still trying to be something less than genuine.

I like to think that most people outgrow it, and maybe most do, once they become more comfortable in their own skin. In my experience, with myself and with the people I know well enough to have some insight into their character, ”superior airs” are a manifestation of an underlying sense of inferiority.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I just donated about 200 vintage sewing patterns to a craft/sewing store. I'm slowly getting rid of vintage dresses I know I'll NEVER wear. Got rid of all my "rockabilly" hair trinkets and jewelry. I used to think it was my "duty" to save such stuff from the "evil" younger generations that just want to make lampshades and Halloween costumes but let them have at it. The only true vintage dress that means anything to me is my GGG Grandmother's dress from the 1900s. Dresses I've made over the years for myself are becoming Barbie clothes.

I'm the only one in the family interested in my old family photos, but when my grandmother recently passed away, I had to refuse any more. I have a bunch of OLD marriage certs from the 1800s. After me, who knows what will happen to them!

My weakness is still magazine hoarding, though lol. I still have all 300+ movie magazines from 1912 to 1962. I have all my SPIN magazines from the early 90s. My 80s Teen and Seventeen magazines. All my Bitch, Bust, Rockabilly Monthly, pinup mags, Playboys from 50s-2000s, women's mags from the 30s and 40s... I still buy magazines if I see one I like. I just CAN'T GET RID of them! Magazines are a time capsule to a very SPECIFIC point in time that was meant to be discarded when that time was "over". These are the true time capsules for me.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^

Good that you donated those dress patterns rather than toss them out. Somebody (several somebodies, probably) will make good use of them.

I’ve stopped subscribing to all but a couple of print publications, so my stacks of magazines aren’t growing much anymore.

Twenty-five years ago I moved from my residence of 20 years, which prompted me to rid myself of a couple tall stacks of New Yorker mags, a few hundred of them. Those would now be worth at least a few bucks each retail, should a person wish to go to the trouble of selling them by the each.

Vintage paper (magazines, maps, posters, brochures, etc.) is among my weaknesses. It’s fortunate that even a considerable amount of it doesn’t take up much space.