Collections

These past few classes, we have been talking about how the idea of collecting art has changed over time. I find this extremely interesting yet crazy in how people will go to certain extremes to buy a particular piece. I guess I am in the wrong business because it seems like many of these pieces that people want to buy will pay millions to purchase it. To be able to pay that amount of money to have a specific artwork hanging up in a person's house seems to be crazy to me. But I guess like any other collector's item, people who start collecting art make it as a hobby and wants more and more to add.


In class, you had asked us if we had collected anything when we were younger, or still are collecting. I heard various responses and was astonished at how many people made it a hobby to collect a certain item. My brother is twelve years older than me. He was the one who I looked up to as I was growing up,but it was a challenge to find similar things we both were interested in. When he went away to college, he used to travel a lot. And since he was always interested in foreign money he started collecting it as he traveled to different countries. It was not until after college when he was in the navy and stationed in Japan for four years, where he started traveling even more. That was when he began to send us post cards and letters from the various countries he had visited, along with money from that country. He wanted my sister and I to start a collection for him and put the money in a show book. Although it was not until after that I realized that I started to become interested in the coins and bills he was sending over. It was like a way of connecting with him while he was away for so long. My sister and I would get so excited when we received a letter addressed to us in the mail from him. We would always try to guess where it was coming from and what we would find in the closed letter. My brother's money collection brought us closer while he was away. Since I am home for break, I recently looked at the show book my sister and I put together. It not only holds a traditional collection of money from different countries, it also holds a sentimental value that my brother, sister, and I will always share.
My younger sister is only five years younger than me so it was easier to find things to share. Before she was born and even years after, I used to collect marbles. I loved the color and the glass feeling of them. But as my sister got older, I got over marbles and put that collection away. Since my younger sister always followed whatever I would do, she had started her own collection of collecting bouncy-balls, the little colorful balls that you would get out of a 25 cent machine at the supermarket. I do not know if her collection stemmed from my original collection of marbles but I thought it was pretty unique. Every time we would go to the store with my mom, we would pool our quarters together and race to the machine and use the money to get as many balls as possible. My sister kept these balls in a colorful little shoe box that we had decorated specifically for the balls. It is kind of a weird collection but it was something that was fun for her and eventually for me as well. Most of the times, the bouncy-balls were untouched. At other times, my sister and I would create games in the hallway and set up boxes and time each other on how many we would get in. Stupid little childish games, but I don't think I will ever forget those moments. Especially when my parents had enough of hearing all of the bouncy-balls bouncing around on the hard wood floors. I guess it would get kind of irritating after a long day at work. But again it was a way my sister and I got along and shared a collection.

--Jessica