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Why people collect things

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Here are some reasons why people collect things and amass large collections

Here are some reasons why people collect things and amass large collections

While playing or watching sports are often considered to be the national pastimes of most Americans, there is actually one activity that has that pastime beat by a wide margin.

The hobby of collecting things is one that almost everyone in the world does. There are times when we collect things without even realizing we are actually collecting. Of course, even more popular than the less than direct practice of collecting, are the people who go out of their way to collect some kind of item or another and build on those collections as the years pass.

Some collectors are very much into amassing as many baseball cards or magazines or special stamps as humanly possible. Some people just like to keep figurines or some other keepsake that they can look at whenever they want. People keep these collections because they are worth quite a bit of money or, on the flipside, because they don’t cost all that much to keep.

At the heart of all of that massing of things is why people collect things. Most people will tell you, should you ask them point blank that they are keeping and gathering all this ‘stuff’ is because it means something to them. People are not going to go out and get a whole bunch of some kind of object unless it has a real meaning and level of importance to them.

Quite often, collections are made up of things that have a historical significance. The entire reason for museums is so that they can collect items and trinkets from the past, with the goal being that by showing them off, they can entertain and educate people about events that occurred long before they were alive.

Individual collections serve much the same purpose as those that exist in a museum, though they are usually on a much smaller scale. Some people do go out of their way to amass objects from the distant past, sometimes even competing with museums in order to acquire trinkets and baubles from the distant past.

The fact remains that the reason why people collect things is usually because the things they are collecting represent a personal history or personal importance. People might collect something like figurines that have something to do with Disney because they either thoroughly enjoy or enjoyed Disney world. They might also be collecting those items because they grew up loving the Disney movies and characters.

People might collect figurines or trinkets that have to do with the NFL, or Major League Baseball or their favorite college program because of the memories that come flooding back whenever they look at those items. They may also collect the items, such as signed baseballs, because of who signed the ball. While someone may not have seen Ernie Banks play for the Chicago Cubs, a signed baseball might be something worth collecting because the collector understands the importance he played to that team.
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Stamp collecting has long been another way people can mark the passage of time, while also having visual reminder of the people and events of the past. Collections of stamps can encompass almost any topic. Someone might mark all of the country’s former presidents by collecting the stamps that depicted them. They might also simply get a set of stamps that mark the most important part of a specific decade of stamps.  

Most people gather items together because at some point, it is simply just a lot of run to go back over those items and remember why and how you got them. The memory of acquiring the collectibles can be the only reason one needs to have them in the first place.

 

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