Defining My Collections

If you had asked me a few days ago I would have said that I collect only a couple of things. Everything else were just one-offs of what I happend to find interesting while out thrifting. But today I realized that I have more collections than I realized.

My favorite find was this 1965 world globe with atlas. Vintage world globes are one of my admitted collections and the physically largest collection. I love old world globes because you can study them to find Countries that no longer exist and determine their age. This globe was easy to date because the atlas has a publication date.

Another admitted collection are my old Christmas ornaments. I bought only two that I thought were unique plus a vintage pink Christmas corsage. I now have three old corsages and am wondering if this constitutes a "collection" now.

We also found these old new stock, Shiny Brite "stems". The green one is dated 1967 and all are labeled "Made in Japan". I am not quite sure what they were used for. They appear to have a wire stem that is folded at the bottom. If anyone knows what they are then please let me know because I've never seen anything other than glass ornaments made by Shiny Brite.

I don't know if you could say that I "collect" old buttons and wooden spools but I do gather them when I find them. I especially like old button cards which could be the start of a collection. I love the graphics on the Lady Washington Pearl Button card below.

I also tend to buy vintage cotton bandanas when I see them. I already have several with the idea that I am going to use them for a craft project. Today we found a lot more. I don't really "collect" these but I do have enough to be considered a collection.

We found this wind-up, tin Popeye speed boat. I do have a few old wind up tin toys but it isn't something that I consider a "collection".

We also found this Napco {National Potteries Co.} mallard duck planter. I do like ducks but I don't intend on starting a collection {except for this collection here}. I like Napco pieces and this happened to be a lovely piece.

I decided that I need to redefine what I consider a "Collection". I used to think that three or more of anything was a collection. But in this age of eBay where you can amass a collection all at once, I now define a collection as a group of objects that I enjoy gathering and displaying. I enjoy displaying all of my world globes and my vintage Christmas items. I do not display my bandanas so they are just pieces of fabric.

I only ponder this concept of "Collections" because I don't want to rapidly gather masses of any one thing but rather to enjoy the slow hunt of objects on my thrifting weekends. And it is because I don't want masses of any one thing that I surprised myself when I stopped to consider the number of objects that I truly do like to collect and display.

Anyone have any thoughts about their collecting addictions?

Hope everyone had a great thifting weekend.