Collectors and Collections

[HEPZIBAH]

[face=Comic Sans MS]Collectors and Collections....

Do you collect things? Did you intend to start a collection or did it just sort of happen? What started it off? Has it become a bit of an obsession or do you just collect 'as and when'?


I seem to have a number of 'collections' none of which I started intentionally! One of those would be my pieces of Wedgewood. When I 18 or 19 my employers at the time gave me a piece of Wedgewood in the Wild Strawberry design. It was not at all what I expected them to give me (well actually I didn't expect them to give me anything), but it was gratefully and, I hope, graciously received. I displayed it with my other 'nick knacks' and before I knew it every Christmas and birthday someone would give me a piece of Wild Strawberry pottery. I got to quite like 'my collection' in the end and it has moved with me and been displayed wherever I've lived.[/face]

[Mad Dilys]

At the words Wedgewood I was already going AAAAAAAAAGH!

My first husband collected Wedgewood Jasper ware. He didn't intend to, but his large family who were at a loss for a present used to resort to the Wedgewood.

By the time he died he had stored away a very large collection. All colours, terracotta, black, green, airforce blue, light blue and dark blue.

I kept two black pieces, but neither my daughters or I can bear the texture, It's rather like biting chalk, makes the hair stand on end, horrible.

Although very expensive to buy in a shop, no one wanted to buy it when we had it to sell, of course.

I collect very small stones, some as small as a grain of sand are good, they come from all over the world and take very little room. When I pop my clogs they can just be thrown away.

[WIZARD]

My grandmother used to collect "Dolls of the World" when she was a child, all in national costume, of the old British Empire days. She in turn passed them on to my mother who had made some notable additions in the 1950's before passing them on to my late wife for our children. Our daughter now has the whole collection with her in Fort Worth in the USA where she, her husband and girls now live. Both my daughter and her two girls add to the collection regularly. The collection must have started over a hundred years ago, and now have their own room in the attic I believe.

[HEPZIBAH]

At the words Wedgewood I was already going AAAAAAAAAGH!

I kept two black pieces, but neither my daughters or I can bear the texture, It's rather like biting chalk, makes the hair stand on end, horrible.

[face=Comic Sans MS]I have one piece that is like that - a small dish in typical Wedgewood Blue - and I know exactly the feeling from your description. [/face]

I collect very small stones, some as small as a grain of sand are good, they come from all over the world and take very little room. When I pop my clogs they can just be thrown away.

[face=Comic Sans MS]That's a lovely idea. I had an elderly friend who would always collect a stone from wherever she went - it had to be small, but big enough to write on the name of where it was from. She then used them in a smallish rockery garden she created. [/face]

[face=Comic Sans MS]I try to collect stones too and they also come from all over the world. Mine are gemstones - some are even relatively rare....but they do tend to be of the grain of sand size too! [/face]

[HEPZIBAH]

My grandmother used to collect "Dolls of the World" ......... Both my daughter and her two girls add to the collection regularly. The collection must have started over a hundred years ago, and now have their own room in the attic I believe.

[face=Comic Sans MS]I had quite a number of these when I was a young girl - again another collection more by accident than design. None of them were particularly old or interesting to a real collector but they amused me as they were gifts from far off places I'd never get to see....little did I know way back then! I think after I left home my mum gave them to someone who used to do talks in schools and libraries about Children Around the World.[/face]

[Azurite]

I'm another collector of pieces of rock from all over the place. A bit from the Petrified Forest in Arizona, pink granite from Phillae, bits of coral that had been washed up on the beach plus others that sit around the fire.

Also I have a tendency to collect seed pods from any flowering plant, tree or bush that I like the look of while on my travels. Quite a number of these in envelopes !!! Some I have planted.

And pressed flowers which I put in albums around photos of the places they came from.

[Who2]

brains.........

[HEPZIBAH]

brains.........

[face=Comic Sans MS]What...you collect them or you just pick them? [/face]

[WIZARD]

When I was about 7 or 8, my elder brother went away to school, and after my fathers persuasion, left me all his collection of glass marbles. I could never win at the game so I never played with them. At the time of the present Queen's coronation a friend was given a metal model of the coronation coach and horses. Well, him being a marble freak, and me being a budding royalist, we swapped. My brother was not too pleased when he found out what I'd done with his treasured collection of marbles that he'd amassed over the years.

[Scottishtourist]

I collect fungi!!! Yes,seriously! Spotted lovely little pottery mushroom ornament at craft fayre in Glasgow good few years ago and bought it.Collection has now spawned to include ones made of wood,crystal,ceramics,Caithness glass,etc.Each piece has a memory of a place I've been with good friends and family.They've been bought in Rothesay(beautiful Isle of Bute),Edinburgh,Langholm,Blackpool,Dumfries,car boot sales...even motorway service stations whilst travelling home.My youngest daughter's friend used to dust them for me and rearrange the display,whilst calling them my "little mushroom garden!" Never seen any in Luxor though in all my 10 years visiting.Any advice on where I could get one?Fed up buying those beautiful little bedouin camels and whirling dervishes!They're also taking over my home!!! Kind Regards.

[Azurite]

Wizards tale of the marbles got me thinking ....

I remember so vividly my marbles I had as a child, I can even see the bag I kept them in. Thing is I can't remember ever getting rid of them and yet along with so many other things I remember from childhood they have gone.

I have been sat here wishing I had kept all those reminders of a lovely childhood.

Having said that I recently retrieved from a cupboard my old teddy bear that had been wrapped in my christening robe, he is 60 years old, he was bought on the day I was born, and threadbare with stitched up paws to keep the sawdust in, he now sits in a huge old glass fronted unit.

I am now feeling very melancholic !!!!!

Oh to turn back time, oh dear !!!!!

[Winged Isis]

I buy a blue and white mug from each country I visit, but always put an old non-b&w one in the charity box to keep numbers to a manageable level. Some I keep for "company" (bone china), most are for daily use. I only buy one per country (you have to be very strong!), except for my four Egyptian ones. These are my main daily-use ones, as I can easily replace those, whereas I know I will not/be unlikely to visit other countries again.

The trick is, try not to let anyone know you are actually collecting, so all and sundry don't add to it. Or just be strong and say you don't want them unless you get them yourself, because for me, the circumstances of where, how and who I was with when I chose a piece are the main part of the memories attached to it every time I use it. :cuppa:

[WIZARD]

During the course of my many years living here in Luxor, I started to collect alabaster animals. My collection amounted to about 25 pieces or so, not including two or three that were replaced after being broken whilst cleaning, but I hadn't the heart to throw away the broken ones as they each held their own little memories associated with their history which could not be transferred to a new, similar, replacement piece. I've long since stopped adding to my menagerie of alabaster animals which are now confined to a cardboard box, each wrapped in newspaper. I've resigned myself to collecting pounds and stones, or should I say kilos and grams. I think the constant need for dusting my pets had something to do with it as well.

[Mad Dilys]

You've reminded me Wiz of a collection I started on my first visit to Egypt.

I have a very few, very small sitting cats, who are not looking forward, but have their head turned to one side made of alabaster.

They are very rare actually and I think they have a charm of their own.

[JOJO]

From my engagement through to my wedding I collected Caithness Crystal and must of ended up with 40 pieces including 3 of the most beautiful paperweights. A few years back a friend was doing Fundraising to keep open a local day centre for the elderly so I donated all of it to them.

[HEPZIBAH]

[face=Comic Sans MS]I am enjoying reading this thread and there are some very interesting and varied collections being mentioned. I can also see that other peoples collections can bring back memories for some.

What often facinates me is how we can have almost forgotten about a collection we once had - maybe boxed it away during a move but still have it somewhere waiting to be displayed or put into use again, or just not prepared or ready to part with it.

Enjoy your collections for what they mean to you and enjoy other peoples for the joy they give to them and the memories they may stir up for you[/face]

[Arthur]

I seem to be an inadvertant collector of odd-socks. I've never been ruthlessness enough to give up on the prodigal socks return. Where do they all go, the lost socks? And advice please on supporting/dealing with their other halves?

I know, ladies, there are problems with tights, but at least they are conjoined....

[BENNU]

I used to collect silver, men, glass, vintage wine, African art etc.

But since I moved to this claustrofobic flat, so that I could travel more, I have had to limit myself - to gold and diamonds.
:bg:

[HEPZIBAH]

I seem to be an inadvertant collector of odd-socks. I've never been ruthlessness enough to give up on the prodigal socks return. Where do they all go, the lost socks? And advice please on supporting/dealing with their other halves?

I know, ladies, there are problems with tights, but at least they are conjoined....

[face=Comic Sans MS]Think I may have found the answer to your problem.
I recently saw packs of mens socks for sale - there were three socks per pack and each sock was a different colour to the others. [/face]

[HEPZIBAH]

..... I have had to limit myself - to gold and diamonds.
:bg:

[face=Comic Sans MS]Liking your style. [/face]