the collectors
From toy cars to traffic cones and even toilet seats, you name it there will be someone out there who collects it. Each collector has a story to tell about why they became a collector and what it is that fuels their passion, or maybe obsession, to collect.
Most collectors I met had started out with one interest and developed new ones. David pretty much sticks to Dinky Toys. Dave however has a vast and varied collection from horse brasses and porcelaine eggs to garden machinery and fire extinguishers that he stores all over his home and in three storage containers.
It is a fascinating world and one that has been the subject of much psychological speculation. Freud disturbingly linked the act of collecting to the anal-retentive stage of childhood and ties it back to the time of toilet training. He suggested that the loss of control and what went down the toilet was a traumatic event and that, the collector, through collecting, is trying to gain back not only control but ‘possessions’ that were lost so many years ago.
Freud’s theory might be taking it a bit too far but there is definitely a control and possessing aspect to collecting. There are positive emotions associated with collecting too - the joy at a new find, the camaraderie and community between collectors.
Collectors fairs, sometimes general, sometimes more specialist, go on all over the UK and people travel far and wide to seek out new treasures. A few are in it for the money but most for the love of an object, its connection to their youth or its connection to the past. Whatever the object of the collector’s desire, it is precious and treated with reverence - one of my collectors had objects that had never left their box.
