Featured Is Collecting A Genetic Disposition?

Is Collecting A Genetic Disposition? Do (or did) any of your close relatives share a passion for collecting? How bad did they have the collecting/antiquing bug?

Your thoughts?

 

Whether genetic or learned, I can't say. My mother certainly liked beautiful & interesting things, particularly if vintage/antique. If she had had more disposable income, she probably would have accumulated more stuff than she did. I feel my taste was developed by hers, what we had decorating our home, going to resale shops with her.

To the extent collecting is related to hoarding, & hoarding is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), there well could be a genetic component.

 

My father collected stamps. He was quite sad at the end of his life to find out they were not worth much at all.

One grandfather collected coins, wheat pennies. stamps and electrical gizmos.
He actually used the gizmos to make things which he was quite good at.

My grandmother liked tea cups, I have many of hers now. I am not a fan of tea cups but I liked having them here, but they do take up a lot of space.
Like Bronwen said, I think my grandmother influenced my taste and choice of colors more than any other family member.

She also had many many sets of china. When I got my first place, she offered me my choice of any one set to get me going which really helped out. I miss her.

 

At least 4 generations of jewellery collectors, I blame the French side of the family. My grandmother was probably the first in her generation to own Native American jewellery here in the Netherlands. I still have one of her Navajo rings, and wear it regularly.
My mother started a Yemeni and Yemenite (Israelis of Yemeni origin) jewellery collection, which I still have and have added to with great gusto.

 

Definitely genetic.

Grandmother collected, as did my mother and her four siblings. Now me and the person no longer mentioned.
Everyone big time collectors of just about everything. Glass, pottery, paintings, old fire arms, jewelry, coins, you name it one of us collected it.

 

Mother liked her tea cups & saucers ....& plates.....but I can't say the either of my folks were collectors.....just that over a lifetime well spent & with lots of entertaining on holidays ....stuff tended to accumulate !!

 

Hi,
In my family I am the only nut to collect old things. Not even in my nieces and nephews are there people who like old things. That is why I worry about who is going to profit from my passing. That is why every year I give stuff to them who I think it may mean something to. Otherwise everything will go into the trash.
greg

 

make a will.......say where your stuff goes.....don't leave it to Davey to clean out your home.......although with all the stuff you got....he may just jump the pond to get a crack at it !!!!

 

Greg, no one wants your wonderful vintage kitchen table in your family?

BTW- we don't want you to go anywhere, we want and need you to stick around--OK?

 

Hi Pearls,
If it is not newer than 6 mos it needs to be trashed as far as they are concerned. My MIL likes it but I will out live her. She is 93.
greg

 

We grew up calling it "squirrel blood." Which seemed to mean, several generations of women who appreciated and sought out and purchased lovely adornments and items from the decorative arts. Great grandmother Katie and Grandmother Fannette would not have dreamed of simply collecting.

I have squirrel blood too.

 

In my family both sides had its fair share of collectors. On my dad's side my grandfather loved attending auctions and was a flea market vendor in retirement. I think he was more of a hoarder than collector, purchasing lots of box lots and inexpensive collectables rather than higher quality items. Also one of my aunts and one of my uncles on my father's side collect. On my mother's side only my grandmother and one of my aunts collect but their idea of a collectable is like a Hallmark store, lots of newer manufactured to collect items. My parents are not really collectors but the collecting bug has reasserted itself with a vengeance with me though, perhaps it skips a generation sometimes.

 

My Grandfather and Grandmother would often go "antique collecting" in the 1930's...My Mom and Dad and us kids would go out every other weekend to antique shops....I never had a chance of not being a collector. Started in the Antiquarian book trade at 15....This morning I went to a house and filled up my car with books...it never stops...

 

Not in my family! I am the first one to give any attention to anything antique. But I have to say, only one person in my family likes to collect anything at all, and I am one of nine children!

 

Marie - I come from a family of 9 children also. I am the youngest with the oldest being 81 & I am 64.

I am also the only one in my family who collects stuff & likes antiques. I also didn't really get into collecting until I was in my late 20's. Of course moving around like we did for the next 10 or so years was not very conducive to starting a collection of very many things.

 

My name is Ruth and I am a jewelry hoarder.(LOL) (when it's not fabric instead) I don't see much Yemenite stuff here, but do hoard Eilat when it pops up at a reasonable price. Otherwise, I'm just a general magpie; if it looks cool and it's going cheap, it tends to follow me home.

My late father was a rail nut who collected trains, railroad stuff, stamps, and other assorted bits. Mom's a get-rid-of-that type instead, so apparently I take after Dad's side of the family. My mother's family moved ever so often when she was little, so things didn't accumulate. On my father's side no one ever threw anything out.

 

We may have to start Jewelry Hoarders Anonymous.
I always justify it by saying it is an investment, which it is, even my husband agrees. And they are all such tiny little things, aren't they, not getting in anyone's way.
(Just a lot of them, and those boxes keep stacking up, can't find anything, etc....)

The Yemenite stuff is getting more expensive, exorbitant at times. It is very hard to find bargains here as well. And more people are recognizing Eilat stones now, we should have kept quiet about it.

 

My grandfather saved anything and could find a use for it eventually. He also collected rocks in his travels. My mother (his daughter) collected lots of fine china and glass. She had a large collection of napkin rings, salters, and butter pat plates. I am the biggest collector of any of my 5 siblings but we all have an appreciation for the old and unique. One sister has collected depression glass. My brother has a snuff bottle collection. The other 3 have and display or use old things but aren't necessarily collectors.

 

Maybe genetic. My dad collected things but since I didn't even know about most of it until after he died I'm guessing it's in the genes.

Going through his things after my mom passed (he'd gone first) we found stamps, coins, matchbooks, that sort of thing but also volcanic ash from volcanoes he'd visited, rocks, that sort of thing.

 

In 1945 my Dad and Grandfather were driving in my grandfathers late 30's Ford on Monterey road in San Jose , California..all of a sudden , my grandfather slams on the brakes, throws it in reverse and backs up 200 feet...he jumps out and grabs a pair or heavy welding gloves that had fallen off some vehicle on the side of the road ....Yep, I have them now, my Dad is 82 , I am 56, my son is just 2 years and 7 months old .....I suppose he will be welding with them some day.... and , like me and my Grandfather, he loves to "collect" ....my Dad , not so much , though he has a huge HO and HOn3 Model Railroad Layout..... I think all of us are frustrated Artist crafstsmen, me especially because of lack of work space. My Great, Great uncle my Dad and I were named after was a Master Carpenter and my Dad has his Huge wooden Tool Chest full of late 1800's wooden planes, saws and the rest that go with it. I think Genetics plays a large part in who we are and where are talents lie.