We All Start Off Life As Collectors; Some Quit Sooner Than Others

WE ALL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF BEING COLLECTORS - SOME WITH A LITTLE TOO MUCH ZEAL FOR THEIR BUDGET

TODAY CRITICS MAKE US FEEL AS IF WE'RE NUTS, FOR WANTING TO COLLECTING THINGS - AT LEAST I DON'T FEEL CRAZY

     WHEN YOUNG, WE FIND THINGS OF IMMENSE INTEREST. WE TRY TOUCHING, BITING, SMELLING, PUSHING, CUDDLING AND AFTER HAVING A GOOD LONG LOOK, WE MIGHT, AS CHILDREN, GET BORED QUICKLY, BREAK THE PIECE, AND MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE EVEN MORE ALLURING. IT'S BASIC CURIOSITY. SOME OF US HOWEVER, START OBSESSING A LITTLE SOONER THAN OTHERS, AND IT SHOWS UP WITH OUR "DO NOT SHARE" POLICIES…..SET DOWN AS A PERSONAL PROTOCOL BEFORE WE CAN EVEN PRONOUNCED "DADDY," AND "MOMMY." "MINE" IS THE BIG WORD THEN. THAT'S EASY TO DEMONSTRATE IF LEFT UNSPOKEN. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY SON AND A TRACTOR.

     MY WEE LAD ANDREW BIT ANOTHER CLASS-MATE, BACK IN GRADE ONE, BECAUSE THE KID TOOK WHAT HE PERCEIVED, AS "HIS TOY TRACTOR." AT THE TIME, HE HAD NUMEROUS OTHER TOYS TO PLAY WITH, BUT FELT HE COULDN'T SPARE THE TRACTOR. WE GOT A NOTE HOME TO TELL US OF THE INCIDENT, AND IT WAS REASON FOR A WEE TUTORIAL ON SHARING. BUT HE HAD HIS BROTHER ROB HAD BEEN BITING, SLAPPING, AND WRESTLING OVER TOYS FOR MOST OF THEIR YOUNG LIFE. IN THIS EXPOSE, I'M TELLING YOU, IT'S BETTER BETWEEN THE BOYS TODAY, IN THEIR VINTAGE MUSIC BUSINESS, FOR ONE SIMPLE REASON. ROBERT, THE YOUNGEST, KNOWS HOW TO COMPROMISE. HE IS A PEACE-MAKER, AND HAS BECOME QUITE PROFICIENT, AT DIVIDING INTERESTS AT THE SHOP. ROBERT BUYS MOST OF THE RECORDS AND NEW VINYL FOR HIS SECTION, AND ANDREW IS THE MAIN BUYER OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. THEY OVERLAP IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY, BY SHARING THE PURCHASE, AND THEN OFFERING THE ITEM FOR SALE. WHEN IT SELLS, THE PROFITS ARE EVENLY SPLIT. TEN YEARS AGO, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.

    THEIR RABID PASSION FOR COLLECTING, WHICH BEGAN FOR THEM, LIKE SUZANNE AND I, EARLY IN LIFE, WAS TOO RAW TO COMPROMISE. SO WE LET THEM WORK IT OUT FOR THEMSELVES, AND ONCE INTO DAY TO DAY RETAILING, SEVEN YEARS AGO, THEY FOUND REASON TO MAKE PROPORTIONAL, ADVANTAGEOUS COMPROMISES, AND WORK TOGETHER, IN ORDER TO SIMPLY AND PROFITABLY STAY IN BUSINESS. IF THEY HAD GONE ON COLLECTING, WITHOUT THE RETAIL COMPONENT, I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED ANYWHERE CLOSE TO WHAT THEY HAVE TODAY.  ANDREW MIGHT STILL BITE HIS BROTHER, BUT NOT WITH THE SAME VIGOR.

    SOME PEOPLE CAN COLLECT SENSIBLY, AND REALIZE, AND RATIONALIZE, EVEN AS CHILDREN, THEY CAN'T USE FOUR OR FIVE TRUCKS AND TRACTORS AT ONCE…..WHILE THEIR CHUMS HAVE NOTHING TO PLAY WITH. ANDREW WAS POSSESSIVE OF HIS STUFF FROM THE BEGINNING. ROB, NOT SO MUCH. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY INTERVENTIONS, TO REMIND THEM ABOUT THE WHOLE PARTNERSHIP SITUATION. YET THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A GREAT DEAL….ON A SPECIAL AMP OR GUITAR, THAT COMES BETWEEN THEM, WHICH TESTS THEIR RESOLVE AT BEING GOOD PARTNERS, ALWAYS WILLING TO SHARE PROSPERITY AND THE "THRILL OF THE BUY!" SOMETIMES HOWEVER, IT GETS UGLY. MOM AND DAD JUST SMILE AND WALK BACKWARDS AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO.

    SUZANNE AND I HAVE BEEN IN BUSINESS SO LONG, COLLECTING FOR OURSELVES HAS ALWAYS PARALLELED WITH RETAIL DEMANDS, EXCEPT FOR HER ROYAL ALBERT "TRILLIUM PATTERN" DISHES, THAT SHE HAS BEEN ACQUIRING SLOWLY, PIECE BY PIECE, FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY NOW. SHE COULDN'T AFFORD THE WHOLE SET WHEN IT WAS RELEASED, BUT OPTED TO "KEEP A LOOK-OUT FOR THEM" ON OUR ANTIQUE HUNTING ADVENTURES. THIS WAS IN THE EARLY 1980'S. WE'RE STILL A LONG WAY FROM OWNING A COMPLETE SET. BUT HONESTLY, THIS IS THE ONLY SERIOUS COLLECTION WE HAVE, OTHER THAN KEEPING AND CONSERVING OUR FAMILY HEIRLOOMS, INCLUDING A FEW INTERESTING CANADIAN ART PIECES. IF EITHER OF US WAS OBSESSIVE ABOUT COLLECTING, IT CAME LONG BEFORE WE WERE MARRIED. WE BOTH COLLECTED OLD BOTTLES. SHE GOT HERS FROM SEARCHING THE LAKE. I GOT MINE FROM DIGGING AT OLD HOMESTEADS. WHEN WE CAME TOGETHER, IN MARITAL BLISS, SHE INFORMED ME, THAT MY BOTTLES WERE "SUCKY." CAN YOU BELIVE THAT? NO WONDER HER SON BITES PEOPLE.

     MY FIRST MAJOR COLLECTING JAG, WAS MY STRANGEST. I HAVE NEVER CONFESSED THIS, AS SUCH, BEFORE, BUT NOW APPEARS TO BE A GOOD TIME, CONSIDERING THE BIOGRAPHY OF MATERIAL I'M TRYING TO ACIEVE. IT WAS AT A TIME WHEN I REALLY DIDN'T HAVE ANY AGENDA TO DO SO, OR BECOME THE BIGGEST AND BEST COLLECTOR OF SEA SHELLS ON EARTH. THAT'S RIGHT. SEA SHELLS. NOT JUST ANY SEA SHELLS. STORE-BOUGHT SHELLS. I HAD THOUSANDS. I SPENT THOUSANDS. MY PARENTS THOUGHT I WAS A LITTLE LEFT OF CENTRE, AND SO DID MY MATES AT HOME, WHO WERE COLLECTING HOCKEY CARDS, AND BUILDING MODEL AIRPLANES. IT ALL STARTED LIKE THIS. I WENT TO FLORIDA. I GOT SUCKED INTO SOME SOUVENIR SHOPS. I LIKED THE NOSTALGIA OF THE ATLANTIC BOULEVARD SHOPS, MARVELED AT THE INVENTORY, AND GOT HOOKED BY THE MILLION AND ONE WAYS YOU COULD CREATE INTERESTING THINGS FROM THE OCEAN. LAMPS, ORNAMENTS, WALL HANGINGS, AND OH SO MUCH MORE. TACKY? ABSOLUTELY. 

HERE WAS THE FASCINATION MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE…..THE NOSTALGIA OF OLD TIME SOUVENIR SHOPS

     When I was in public school, back in the early 1960's, my parents took me to Florida. In my family days, we spend many winters in Florida, always in Daytona. We stayed at an ocean-front rental cottage enterprise, which I think then, was called the "Sun Dog," but that name may have come later in its history. We stayed there two or three times, at least once in the early 1970's. What fascinated me most, back then, was the old motel portion of the property, and the art deco designed front, with huge rounded glass panes, and racks of post cards, and shelves loaded with suntan lotion. During the month of February, when my parents got the best deal on accommodation, there wasn't much need for sun tan lotion. The sun was out about seven days out of thirty. I still love the aroma of these lotions, that have always been reminiscent of enjoyable past "vacations."

    Even when we first stayed there, the front office was rarely staffed, and you were on the honor system if you wanted postcards or lotion, or anything else they sold. You could either ring the bell, and the proprietor, who was quite elderly, would come down the stairs and gladly take your money. But they kind of preferred if you wrote your room or cabin number down, and they'd add it to your bill. In other words, it was just a remnant of the motel business of forty to fifty years earlier. A lot had changed. Even in the early 1960's, you could see the changing landscape in Daytona, as more nostalgic hotels and motels, from early in the century, were being knocked down, to facilitate large hotel towers. We didn't like those. We adored these final vestiges of the old tourism industry of Florida. My parents had been to Florida with friends, a few times before I came along. I don't know what it was about Daytona that turned them on, (and it wasn't the Daytona 500 either) but I'm glad they hauled me along after this.

     So I mindfully knew what was of vintage and what was new, in terms of the future for the Daytona oceanfront. It was also obvious, the souvenir shops, where they sold neat sea shell lamps and candle-holders, were also becoming relics of the past. The folks who were going to be lodging in these palatial towers, weren't going to be too interested in the purchase of things made out of sea shells. Or the bins of conch shells I loved to paw through. The property they were on, was going to become too valuable to operate these shops, and I was pretty confident, that I was shopping in souvenir outlets that already knew their future was limited to a few years….at least where they were situated. But when I arrived in Dayton, you could hear them whisper, "Hey, the kid's back…..we're in luck. Let's bring out the shell nativity scenes, and the shell giftware that he always buys his mother."

     I was spellbound by the bounty of the Ocean. I don't know where these shells came from, and it just didn't matter. Even if I got up before dawn, to scour the beach for these shells, they didn't exist in that section of beach…..I know that by experience and many miles walked. So, without feeling any great need to know precisely which part of the ocean, and what longitude and latitude they were found, I was just enthralled there was so much selection. And in the same shops, I bought countless other souvenirs of Florida, made in China (works the same in Canada), and at one time, I had a huge collection of local post cards. When I started taking photographs instead, I bought film from these same shops. They saw me coming that's for sure. I probably kept a few clerks employed during the slow season….as the summer is still their big-money time of year. They got misty-eyed when I told them I was heading back to Canada. "But I'll be back next year with more money," I'd yell back, and that would give them a little bonus grin.

     Do you know though, there isn't one Daytona shell souvenir left in my possession. The dilemma is, I have zero recollection, of what happened to them. I know they filled my room, when I lived with my parents, but honestly, my mother must have one day, before we moved, got into my stash of ocean treasures, and tossed most of it out. I feel bad that I have no recollection of what happened to them, because I had spent thousands of dollars, building up this diverse, and rather odd, sea shell collection. Merle had a clutter issue, and if she found something on the floor, even the result of some misadventure, it could become a casualty of the "clean apartment act of 1971." This was the beginning of the period, when Merle decided that, seeing as I had discovered girls, I wouldn't need my cherished childhood toys, including my Munro table-top hockey game, and all my hockey cards. And most likely the sea shells went at the same time. I never sold a single sea shell lamp, or shell-encrusted picture, wall hanging, or jewelry box, in any of the shops I've operated since the late 1970's. I don't think I would have tossed them out, because I knew what money had been spent to acquire them. Merle, you see, would use the argument, "We're going to be moving some day," and she liked to box things up in preparation. Even if we weren't going to be moving, her mantra was "get ready before it's too late." Then she would lose at least half the boxes we packed, and always the Christmas ornaments. Four of five moves, resulted in lost ornaments. Not a few. The whole shooting match. My dad and I assumed she did this on purpose, so she could go out and buy new ones. I think the shells met the same fate, which was by no means devastating, because they had long-since been sources of fascination anyway. I have always been a souvenir buyer when we travel, and then after two years or so, I ask Suzanne why she insisted on buying those tacky souvenirs on the shelf. "I expect 'the look,' long before it arrives, like a thud of mash potatoes in the face." Suzanne is too cheap frankly, to ever buy a souvenir. She puts all her time and money into the multi-decade hustle to find her Trillium dishes.      

    One day we were in a second hand shop in Orillia, and there was a complete set of her dishes, on sale, for six hundred and fifty dollars. I offered to buy her the complete mint condition collection, there and then, so she could boast having finally built her coveted set of dishes. She declined. "I'm not going to spend that kind of money for those dishes," she snapped indignantly. If I was to calculate, how much she has already spent, on a partial set, that may never, ever be complete, it has probably cost way more than the $650 asking price. And we would have been able to use them sooner, on our harvest table here at Birch Hollow. Instead, she's got a ten year plan. My bet, is that she will achieve her objective, but will refuse to use such a valuable china set for day to day meals. Just special occasions. By golly, we've got china cupboards full to overflowing with other sets, we use for special occasions. By my calculations, there just aren't enough special occasions to warrant having all these sets. But you know, the pursuit and acquisition, on her terms, is what makes her a happy collector. At our time in life, this is just great recreation. My promise to her, is that before we are both placed in care, somewhere, that we will have the set complete, and have enjoyed at least one meal with a background of beautiful trilliums. She smiles at me now, because she hasn't got a clue what I'm writing about. If she knew, that pot roast might get tossed out on the newly exposed lawn, for the venerable old crows sitting up on the pine across the road. Thank goodness she doesn't read my columns. Never has. And boy oh boy, that's a trend I hope will continue, because if she all of a sudden felt a need to pay more attention to my body of work, since we got married in the mid 1980's, my career as a tell-all columnist would be over. Ah, she's a good sport. And she's a teacher with contract grievances. So that means she's preoccupied at the moment, and that's good for me.

     We all have had an interest, at one time or other, in collecting things. Flat stones, marbles, baseball cards, Jello collector coins, Sheriff pudding collectibles, Wade figurines from tea packages, old coins, stamps, buttons, advertising tins, pens and pencils, pencil cases, embroidery work, hats, cuff links, jewelry, boxes big and small, model trains, planes and automobiles, and oh yes, sea shells. This really puts me in a minority situation, because a lot of people collect Royal Albert Trillium china. I'll just leave well enough alone. It's okay to collect. Just keep track of your stuff, in case there's a Merle in your family, who'll one day, decide to spread your possessions around the neighborhood, because by her assumption….."You've grown out of this collecting thing." And by the way, "No I haven't." Thanks for dropping in for a visit. Lots more collecting stories to come. Maybe they'll remind you of things you used to collect, way back when. See you again soon.