Why do people collection stuffs?

I am moving soon, so I have to start packing my stuff.  Today, I spend whole day putting my toys back into their boxes.  I have already spent a day last week and I guess I may need another day.  I know I have lots of toys, but I still surprise by how many boxes I have.  People love to collect things, just like I like to collect toys.  I have been thinking about why people do collect things for quite some time, but I fail to come up with any good explanation.  Collections are not investments, most of time your collection are just old junks to other people.  Collections are not something you can use daily, they just sit there doing nothing.  Collection suppose to bring you joy, but you only need to have a few to experience the joy.  There is something special about the shear size of the collection.  When I am admiring my fleet of Valkyrie and armies of Gundam, I have a sense of satisfaction.  Where this sense of satisfaction comes from, I have no idea.  It doesn’t make any logical sense to feel happy about something that has no objective value, can’t be used and pretty much just various duplication of one another.

9 thoughts on “Why do people collection stuffs?”

  1. I think the sense of satisfaction is the precise reason and the “value” behind collecting stuff. “Value” is something personal, and therefore subjective. If there’s an objective value, then I think that becomes an investment.

  2. horacio is getting a bit philosophical/psychological here…

    i’m sure that the toys have some meaning to your life!
    therefore, you hold on to it… savor it… and enjoy it…
    however, i’ve learnt that it is even better when it is given out… (= love isn’t love until it is given away)

    weep weep… i’ve given away many childhood stuff toys…
    and i took a picture with stories written about them =)
    (hopefully appearing in my scrapbook in near future)

  3. Horace, you are very serious. I don’t keep the boxes of my 1:18’s. They take up too much space. And now, I try to limit addition to my collection of the 1:43’s. The 1:43’s come with real display cases, not like the 1:18’s that are merely packaging.

    Don’t throw away your toys! I support you. Sorry, Patricia, I must stand up for Horace here 🙂

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