to ask whether collecting anything is pointless?

[DeathbyDying]

Following on from the thread where a poster was looking for a particular novelty salt and pepper shaker shaped like a mouse with cheese, I ended up on ebay and etsy looking at novelty salt and pepper shakers.

There are loads of lots of a number of them as one lot which are obviously collections that are being broken up/sold off.

It made me think that most collections of the type of things people collect are pointless because when you die, what might be interesting as a whole set becomes just tat to unload.

Conversely, if you've got something valuable, the total value becomes a block to sale. I remember seeing in an antique shop a whole collection of silver vinagrettes which were just beautiful laid out all together. One or two weren't as striking as the whole set. the shop owner said it was a collection that was being sold off but to buy all of them would be cost prohibitive for most people and one or two were pointless

I suppose the question is if a collection of something gives you pleasure during your life, it is worth collecting?
Or if you know when you die, stuff you've spent years and money assembling will just be treated as landfill or ebay unloading or junk does that outweigh the pleasure of collecting?

People collect because it gives them pleasure. Part of it is the owning but a big part of it is also searching out the items.

I would have thought the pleasure your loved one gained from their collecting would far outweigh any minor difficulty you might have disposing of it? I wouldn't think it a big chore just to get in the auctioneer/house clearance/charity shop to get rid of it.

My very elderly mum still collects things to do with her creative hobby which she hardly does any more. I'm happy to actively enable her because it gives her pleasure. It's her money. How mean would I have to be to tell her to knock it on the head because a few hours to get rid of it means more to me?

It's not pointless if the pleasure you get from it is enough by itself to outweigh any sadness you might feel at it being straight to the dump when you die. With some very valuable stuff, the equation is different as it's potentially an asset. But worth factoring in that not every collectible that has value now will hold it.

It was a big thing in the 'old days' before minimalism came into being. My paternal grandma collected things - handmade teddy bears which were a beautiful collection and cost around £300 each but mostly sold off at vastly reduced value once she had died. I have 'homed' all her Beswick horses and ponies but don't have anywhere to put them out so they are wrapped in a box in the loft. Likewise some fine porcelain ornaments, an ornate dinner service and also a beautiful tea service. Beautiful but so impractical nowadays. She definitely thought she was investing for the future when buying these but people just dont want stuff to display any more.

I collect vintage black and white postcards of all the places we go on holiday. One came today of the windmill in Paston, Norfolk, which I could see from my holiday accommodation last week.

They do make me think though- who are these postcard dealers? The effort that must go into categorising and listing all these postcards, and the sheer joy they must feel when someone wants the exact postcard they have! What are the chances! This one came with a tiny pencil £10 written on it- I paid £2.59 on eBay- who would pay £10, I don't know?

I love them though, they hang in my downstairs loo and every visitor comments on them. I like the fact that these places don't change, even over 60/70/80 years. The same places we go and enjoy have been enjoyed for so long by so many people. I hope when my dc pack up all my stuff, these little postcards make them smile.

Sounds perfect @thenewaveragebear1983 an active choice, part of your home, a memory jogger of the past holiday and you in that location at that time.
May be your DC will split the collection or chose to revisit the places and build their own memories or maybe reframe in 2050 colours and decorate their own cloakrooms. Sounds great and not pointless.

My son has the collecting gene from his Dad. Has already started three different collections. So much stuff! It brings them both joy though:

I have accidentally started a small collection of large glass sand timers. I just love fiddling with them and they’re all different and beautiful (to me). Apart from that I am ruthless!

If getting pleasure from something is not in itself of worth then many many things humans do have no worth.

In purely monetary terms I can't think of many things that would be worth a lot as a whole collection but not also have worth individually so not really sure what you're getting at.
E.g books, jewellery, pottery, boxed action figures,...if a high worth collection would still retain value if sold individually.

If you're talking about low worth items (e.g random paraphernalia with say giraffes on it, or fridge magnets) then as people have already answered, no it probably wouldn't have much financial worth but no more/less than any other possessions that weren't collections.

So dont really see how whether things are "collections" or not makes a huge amount of difference to any type of "worth"

Basically you can spend £100 on twenty fridge magnets, call it a collection and your kids will chuck it in the skip when you die. Or spend £100 on three cushions two magnets a mirror and 3 photo frames and your kids will chuck it in the skip when you die. Neither is ultimately "worth" more than the other, emotionally or financially!

I don't really care what happens to my stuff when I die as I wont be here.

If it brings you pleasure, then it is not money wasted.

I agree with this.

My Dad used to collect a certain thing. I used to talk to him when he used to go to the shows to buy them and ask him why he paid the price he did.

He used to say that he didn't really have much choice, because if he didn't buy it then, he might never see it again. He had a budget and if something came within it then he would buy it.

Then with the advent of the internet the market became a lot more "liquid" if that is the right word. Prices were driven down because people could actually find multiple sellers and see their prices against each other. It was no longer the case that you had to buy there and then if you wanted to collect.

The irony is that his entire collection that he thought was worth a small fortune is actually worth relatively little. And somewhat more ironically I sold a battered thing of the same kind of type that I actually had for far more than a substantial percentage of his stuff in total is actually worth today, basically because that type is deemed more collectable. He would be turning in his grave if he knew about that !

I would say with collections, generally quality counts. So if you want something and want it to appreciate in value, small amounts of high quality stuff is better to aim for rather than lot's of lower quality stuff.

I read a book called “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble,” about the history of that fad. People’s Beanie Baby collections largely ended up in one of three types of places - donated to daycare centers, donated to police stations to give to kids in crisis, or donated to military units, who gave them to kids in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I think it would be fun to break old china collections and put the pieces in cement paving stones as decorations. Not sure what to do with all those Hummel figurines, though…

I was in a charity shop the other day. There was a group of over 100 small pottery or china owls. Clearly someone's prized collection which was no longer cherished.

Yep, I see stuff like that every so often.
A while back, a local charity shop was suddenly full of dolphin ornaments/plates/clothing/toys.

I quite envy the idea of loving something so much you want to make a collection! To be so passionate about something, for yourself, lovely! X