Collecting

Collecting is a hobby. It can mean looking for, finding, getting, organizing, showing, and maintaining things that are important to someone. Someone who collects is called a collector. There are many types of collecting.

Some collected objects might be very old or collectable. Antiques are collectable things that are at least 100 years old. The word vintage can mean old collectables that are not yet antiques.

Some collectors might start by finding items that are interesting to them. They then might start learning how to make a collection. Others might find information about the collectables before buying items. The internet has become a popular way for collectors to talk to each other.

Many types of objects can be collected. Most collections are from objects that were manufactured (human-made). Some natural objects are collected. Bird eggs, butterflies, rocks, and seashells can be collected.

Some collectors collect many types of one thing. Other people focus in a subtopic in an area of collecting. Some collectors find objects that meet a theme. Others—called completists or completionists—try to find all items in a set. Some people find a certain number of things per category.^[1] For example, collecting one thing from every country is very common.

The amount of money that something is worth is important to some collectors. It is not important to other collectors.

Some collectors keep their objects in perfect condition. Others use the items they collect.

• Ephemera

• Blom, Philipp (2005) To Have and To Hold: an intimate History of collectors and collecting. ISBN 1-58567-377-3
• Castruccio, Enrico (2008) "I Collezionisti: usi, costumi, emozioni". Cremona: Persico Edizioni ISBN 88-87207-59-3
• Chaney, Edward, ed. (2003) The Evolution of English Collecting. New Haven: Yale University Press
• Schulz, Charles M. (1984) Charlie Brown's Super Book of Things to Do and Collect: based on the Charles M. Schulz characters. New York: Random House, 1984, paperback, ISBN 0-394-83165-9, (hardcover in library binding ISBN 0-394-93165-3)
• Redman, Samuel J. (2016) Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• Rigby, Douglas and Rigby, Elizabeth (1944) Lock, Stock and Barrel: The Story of Collecting. Philadelphia: J B Lippincott. 9781299010123, 1299010121
• Shamash, Jack, (2013) George V's Obsession – a King and His Stamps
• Shamash, Jack (2014) The Sociology of Collecting
• Thomason, Alison Karmel (2005) Luxury and Legitimation: Royal Collecting in Ancient Mesopotamia. Hampshire, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
• van der Grijp, Paul (2006) Passion and Profit: Towards an Anthropology of Collecting. Berlin: LIT Verlag. ISBN 3-8258-9258-1

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Collecting

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Collecting.

• Journal of the History of Collections (archived 12 April 2009)
• Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Collection (Art collecting) (archived 6 February 2009)
• "Amass Appeal" Essay by Richard Rubin, AARP Magazine, March/April 2008 (archived 7 September 2012).
• Mueller, Shirley M. (2019). Inside the Head of a Collector : Neuropsychological Forces at Play. Seattle. ISBN 978-0-9996522-7-5. OCLC 1083575943.