Collectiblism

[MonsterArt]

Not that long ago, I agonized about selling my AHI Creature, and expressed this regret to my dear friend, author David J. Schow. David responded with this rather poignant letter, which put me at ease. In the end, it's about the love you receive from owning the object at the time, and what that love will mean for others when you "pay it forward."

From David:

I once had a long-ago discussion about the "collector's market" versus the
*intrinsic* value of such items, and was reminded that the collector's
market is essentially a totally made-up thing.  It's "imaginary value," if
you will.

I've always detested that AMAZING STORIES episode where Mark Hamill or
somebody is essentially a shunned geek until it turns out his old crap is
worth a lot of dough.  The mood of this triumph is very celebratory --
marginalized guy turns out to have had pretty good taste after all -- but
I got exactly the opposite message from it:  Stuff only has value if it's
worth hard cash.  That may be very American and capitalist and all, but I
thought the sentiment was just rancid.

Alternately, it forces us to keep prized stuff with history in secret
rooms, like art thieves, to only whip it out and gloat over it in private.

I have found a "who cares?" attitude to be quite instructive.  Love can be
leveraged by the unscrupulous (in the literal sense of the word).  This
goes for everything from diamond hierloom jewelry to Pez dispensers, and a
sellout -- if you're selling out your ethics -- is never worth the payoff.

I think you have a very smart attitude, one that I think a lot of "us"
have developed, and one that can be developed solely over a lengthy arc of
time:  Certain possessions held an innate warmth.  Once you've enjoyed
that warmth, the battery is drained and you can let the object go with no
regrets, preferably to someone else for whom it arrives "fully charged"
because of its novelty.  People wonder why fanatic collectors give up
their stuff after a certain period of time, and it is because that stuff
has served its purpose, and can move on.

I also think monster stuff in particular was more precious when there was
a lot less of it.

Famous Monsters wasn't subject to deconstructionist scrutiny when it was
the only mag in town.

I only have a few select issues of FM, but most have been with me since I
first bought them.  Oddly, I enjoy smelling them more than reading them.

David, in his own inimibitable fashion, makes a wonderful point here. The treasure is transferable. One persons leftovers can be another persons appetizers. In respect to the passing of Linda Miller, all that she acquired will move on, by intent or by accident, to some new person, who hopefully will find new joy in its history.

[MonsterArt]

A footnote, if you will...

Many years ago, when I was working as an animator for Disney, I was given a real treasure from Tom Case, who was one of the painters on Bud Westmore's team on CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. It was a photo from his personal collection, and the ONLY known COLOR photgraph of the Gillman suit from the original film. For a long time I hoarded that photo. I had something nobody else had. After a while, I released five copies to people I knew would appreciate its significance. Bob Burns, Danny Roebuck, Taylor White and two others. Eventually the photo was leaked out, to the point where it turned up in the documentary on the Universal CREATURE DVD release.

But I didn't care at that point. It had served its purpose to me as something special for a certain amount of time, and now it was time to share it with all those who loved the character and wondered what he really looked like. My little nugget of joy became a worldwide joy, and I was happy to be the one who made it happen.

In the end, to have taken that photo with me to the grave would have been pointless, and would have denied the horror community something of great interest and historic value.

The stuff we collect provides a certain sense of comfort. We feel good when we look at it. We can't take it with us, as the saying goes, but while its here it has great emotional value. At some point, whether by choice or by nature's design, those treasures will move on. And the best we can do is hope that, like that Creature photo, these things will provide inspiration and joy to some new Monster Kid.

[avenger]

Bravo,Frank !!  Well Said.

[typhooforme]

I like what you say, Frank.  I've been a collector all my life--well, Sara Karloff says I'm not so much a collector as an accumulator!  And that may be.  Semantics--and towering heaps of junk--aside, I've been collecting since I was about 12.  Everything from rocks and insects to stamps and matchbooks.  A few favorite mineral specimens remain, and some framed butterflies, but the rest passed to other hands in their time.  I collected Civil War memorabilia and McKinleyana, German bisque and Indian brass.  When I had to leave the old farm to come live here in my present home, I packed up more than 150 cartons and sent them to be sold.  Not enough room to keep it all, and--as you say, as David said--I had got my charge from it by then anyhow!  Even the collecting that is fired by the most powerful emotive forces in my life--books, movie memorabilia--even those collections shift, some things leaving as new items come in.  One thing you learn if you are a collector for a long time is that your collection is often bumped up because previous collectors' holdings are dispersed and become available.  "To everything there is a season--"--and whether you learn that from the Bible or "Turn, Turn, Turn" or life experience, it's as true as can be.

No, I'm not going to try to take anything with me.  I do have hope that I will be able to move some of it along, though--I've been assembling my Vincent Price collection in hopes of seeing it become--along with the holdings of two likeminded collector friends--a Vincent Price Collection (with a capital "C") at Yale University, Vinnie's alma mater, for future scholars' use.  Three collections to become one collection.  If the Fates allow...

[Wich2]

Well writ, Frank - and David, and Robert.

What really does repel me is that small, insecure, "nyah, nyah - I've got one of only five in the world, and you'll never have one!" dementia that a few collectors have. It is the polar opposite of what you describe here; and most emphatically, of that Spirit of Giving that Linda lived.

Whether it's bragging about having more red-haired (?) Mego Draculas than anyone, hoarding the original discs of Van Heflin's radio turn as Philip Marlowe, or being the jerk who probably stole the technicolor tests of SON OF FRANK., it is a sad thing - and a sad comment on a soul that doesn't understand the "warmth" concept that David aptly described.

Best,
-Craig W.

[ServoCrow]

This is a poignant place to be, and I'm very happy the topic was started, Frank.  Your friend, David is right, the treasure is transferable and the posts that have followed yours attest to that. 

It hit home again for me this morning when I received an email from Meek's address, stating she had passed.  It had been quite some time since she and I exchanged private emails.  Needless to say, a flood of emotion ran through me again, and here I am  once again trying to unmaterialize what may seem to some to be a materialistic hobby.

Not for me,it isn't...as I know it isn't for many others.  I used to collect Barbies (so does my sister, she started collecting first).  I bought my sister the 1988 Holiday Barbie (Barbie GOLD).  I worked in retail at the time, and worked my managerial mojo to snag one for her as I KNEW it would be hard for her to get.  Seeing her face that Christmas, was pure joy for me.  She ALWAYS kept her dolls in the box, and to this day, if she gets a doll she doesn't take them out.  When I decided I wanted to collect, I swore I wanted to enjoy them for their BEAUTY.  I always thought they were too pretty to stay in the box.  So DISPLAY, I did.  Later, as financial times got snug for us, I was forced to sell off my collection, except for a few sentimental pieces.  Because I had OPENED THEM...well, you know the story.  Other collectors didn't see the dolls as I did, so I took a HUGE loss.

But that's part of it.  I don't regret that.  I enjoyed the doll-collecting while I was in it.  Occasionally, I will see a pretty one, but I haven't bought one in years.  As Elder Robert so eloquently quoted,  "for everything there is a season".  This is true.  If we aren't enjoying the season we are in; we cannot enjoy the seasons to come.  Otherwise, we will toil in the regretful seasons of the past, if we are not careful.

So, as I continue to think about Meek.....and those who..."shall inherit the Earth"......I shall remember that we are not promised tomorrow, the next hour, the next minute; however, we are promised NOW.  Right now, I will think of my collections, the friends I have made along the way, and say a prayer or two.  In all that, I know a tear will come to my eye as I smile as whisper, "Goooooooooooood."

[Jscareshock]

This is a wonderful posting and a good place to come down to Earth.  Sometimes, being collectors, we forget that the items will out last us.  What you have all written is true and a nice wake up call.  We are what we collect, but we can't be owned by our collections.  Sometimes our collections own us.  They become a burden.  Sometimes it's just nice to get a little space.

[neonnoodle]

"Luminous beings are we; not this crude matter"

--Y

[Monster Bob]

I think everyone is an accumulator to some extent and of one thing or another. We just accumulate different things. I like to think I accumulate friendships, of which I have been blessed.

People collect different things and for different reasons, and I guess there is a small percentage of  people who do it for the wrong reasons. Yes, there are some people who collect 'to have more than anybody else', but I try not to be cynical of anyone.

I personally like to think of myself as a preservationist, collecting and saving what I think is important and what I think is worth preserving.  And I "collect" to counterbalance the rest of the craziness in my life.

For years I had a sick Mom, who was more ill than anyone, including myself, realized. She not only ran a business, but was my Dad's caregiver- he has Multiple Sclerosis. Mom suddenly died five years ago, and not only was I hit in the face with the reality and ramifications of that (I had to disperse and shut down her rather large business single-handedly), but I was suddenly thrust into the responsibility of being Dad's caregiver. A responsibility that is quite a physical and mental challenge all by itself. And as time and his disease progresses, the time and pressures grow larger. And of course, this is on top of the daily grind of two jobs, a wife, and a teen-age daughter.


Yes, people collect for different reasons; and some of us collect just to keep hold of our sanity in our otherwise insane world. 

[typhooforme]

"Luminous beings are we; not this crude matter"

--Y

I was struck how Shakespearean that Lucas line sounds.  I'll add:  "We are such stuff as dreams are made on...."

[BrotherD]

I don't have much to add here except to say that I just sold my Star Wars toys that I've been lugging around with me since I was a kid.  It was a little sad to see them off (especially knowing the person who bought them is going to break up the collection and sell them off in pieces himself).  I was about 99% at peace with the idea of letting them go (I mean, when was the last time I really even took them out of the old wardrobe boxes that housed them anyway?), but after reading this thread, I'm content to have let them go.

[fmofmpls]

The following post was originally posted in the Passing Of Meek thread. I decided to re-post it here because I felt it was relevant to this thread too.

It is during the sad, senseless moments like this that I start pondering why I bother to collect all this stuff.   It gives me great pleasure, of than I am certain, but...I can't take it with me, and perhaps it might be better to spend the monster money (and time) doing things and going places and building memories with my loved ones instead of building a vast pile of ponderous plastic and paper for them to sort through to sell in a garage sale one day.

I'd be a liar if I said I've never asked myself that very same question. But then I remind myself that if it weren't for these vast piles of ponderous plastic, I would have never met you Gary back in 1993. And the long, long, list of friendships that were to follow. All of you guys are like family to me. And when you lose some one like Meek, it hurts real bad. I know it sounds corny, but I cherish all of you. In some ways more than my own family. It all comes back to where we choose to place our priorities. Owning a Frankenstein Head Speaker means absolutely nothing to me if I can't share it with someone else who happens to share my strange obsession of such junk. The toys for me are simply vehicles to a more cherished collectible - fellowship. I was just talking with Richard Olson the other day (before the sad news of Meek's passing) and he happened to mention that we're all just caretakers of this stuff until it's time for us to pass it on to somebody else. His words are still resonating with me this evening. It's so true.

The toys, the movies, the actors and actresses are what brought us here together. It's the fellowship and blossoming friendships that have been forged from 'ponderous plastic' that makes those piles of junk valid. I say keep collecting, but enjoy in moderation.

[BARON TIMOTHEUS BGG]

Dear FAMILY,
... You've, all, written, so much, of what I'd be writing, about, from 8 AM this morning! Distracted, by the day's duties, I've returned, to find the same wisdom, issuing, out, of your hearts!
... Ah, yes; SURRENDER, out, of LOVE, to LOVE, and, IN LOVE, Unshakable!
... The lesser motive, eclipsed, by the Greater Motive & Awareness, to fulfill a Greater Purpose!
... We are The Collectibles, Treasured, by the Ultimate Person, Who takes us out of our packaging, and, into True Life.
... "Before Enlightenment, one chops wood & carries water. After Enlightenment, one chops wood & carries water."
EXANIMO EVERNOW,
TIMOTHY, B.G.G.

[Gareee]

Ah.... us "collectors" are just grown up pack rats.. LOL!

Some times it's actually nice to be free of the junk. I relocated to Florida 15 years or so ago..only thing I took with me, was my clothes, and my video games and computer.. everything else went into storage.

I got by just fine for a year, and then finally relocated all my junk down to florida.. and was again overwhelmed to the point my house looked like a museum.

Half my stuff now is in storage tubs, and I rotate displays out every few months.. and it's always nice to revisit old freinds, without that "packrat" look to my house.

(Course that said, I've put up 8 new 8'x15" shelves in the last week for more display space.. LOL!)

[hhwolfman]

Yes it is true, we are caretakers. I had to shift some of my collection off to a few new caretakers. I know they will take real good care of them. My house is getting fixed and this is paid for. I  have sorted out What I Really love and all is good. HHW