Why do people collect things?

Most of us, at some point in our lives, collect things. The urge to collect a set of particular objects might be transitory or it might become a permanent feature of our lives. What gives us this desire to collect things?

Some psychologists believe that the need to collect things is one that goes back to the experience of humans in early times. In those times it was often difficult to get food and so people tended to hoard it. In the same way, squirrels and other animals hoard food for use at times when a plentiful supply is not available.

There are some people who collect things that they hope will make money. They regard the items which they collect as an investment. Some collectors of this type look to the future when they make such an investment.

For example, they choose to buy the paintings of an unknown, but promising, artist in the hope that the artist will one day become famous. If their dreams are realized, the paintings will have increased a great deal in value, and the collector will make a lot of money when they are sold. Of course, there is a great deal of risk involved in such purchases, but the risk sometimes adds to the pleasure of collecting.

Some collectors whose motive is a financial one is more interested in short-term profit. They will go round second-hand shops, jumble sales and car-boot sales, hoping to find things at bargain prices to add to their collection. Then they will sell the collection at auction or make a private deal with another collector.

What these collections consist of may vary enormously. Sometimes it depends on the fashion of the day. A collector may be willing to pay a great deal of money for a collection of China plates from a particular period or for a collection of stamps from a particular country.

However, a collection of old and unusual buttons or a collection of toy cars in good condition might also attract a great deal of interest and money. The nature of the object which people collect varies enormously from person to person. Some seem likely to have, or to acquire, a money value. Others seem completely worthless.

By no means everyone collects things in the hope of making money. Many people collect objects which help them to preserve memories. They, thus, might buy a particular item, such as a doll in national costume, from each country they visit. Or they might buy a miniature of some local alcoholic drink that they know they will never drink.

In a similar way, some collectors are motivated by a sense of nostalgia. They collect things which they feel helps to preserve the past. Their collection gives them a connection with history and so they might collect objects that are obviously historical in nature, such as war memorabilia.

Children often collect things because they are following a trend that is popular among their friends or schoolmates.

It may have become fashionable to collect a particular type of sports card, marbles of a particular colour, figures of a particular TV character or even bottle caps. Sometimes, young people go on with their collection when the fad has faded. Sometimes they abandon it.

People often collect things just for fun, and why not? Doing so brings them pleasure and relaxation. That is, after all, the purpose of hobbies.