In other cases , people enjoy the social connection with those who share their passion . Terrence Witkowski , Ph . D ., is professor emeritus of marketing at California State University , Long Beach , and the author of “ A History of American Consumption .” As a collector himself , Witkowski started in the early 1980s and has been collecting antique firearms ever since . He now has a collection of 165 antique firearms .
Some people collect as an extension of their career . A petroleum geologist might get interested in paleontology after evaluating sediment , for example . Others may collect to satisfy a desire . And some get started almost accidentally .
They bring home an object , discover they already have two others that are similar , and realize they ’ ve created a collection . Karin Ekström , Ph . D ., is a professor of marketing at the University of Borås in Sweden who collects Swedish glass . She is one of those collectors who wasn ’ t aware of when she first became a collector . “ The artist I was particularly fond of , Arthur Percy , designed glass bulb vases in the 1950s with a lot of beautiful colors ,” she remarks . “ I had one , then two , then several . Before I knew it , I was collecting them .”
COLLECTORS DON ’ T ALWAYS IDENTIFY AS COLLECTORS Ekström didn ’ t think of herself as a collector because she assumed collectors were goal-oriented , and she wasn ’ t . Whether collectors are motivated by history , nostalgia , aesthetics , finances , social interaction , curiosity or utility , some want to be first in line at an auction or market to make sure they get a piece they like or value . “ In some way , they are like hunters ,” Ekström notes .
Her collection , on the other hand , grew more casually . She would find glass vases when she happened to see them at flea markets or in antique stores . It wasn ’ t until she started a research project where she interviewed art glass collectors that she discovered while many were goal-oriented , not all were . “ People collect in many different ways , and there are many different personalities ,” she observes .
People who collect experiences rather than things — who visit different countries or states , climb mountain peaks or watch baseball games in as many stadiums as possible — may not think of themselves as collectors . People who collect things and use them also might not view themselves as collectors . Ekström noted that a study of shoe collectors for an exhibition at London ’ s Victoria and Albert Museum found that some shoe collectors didn ’ t consider themselves collectors because they wore the shoes .
THE FUTURE OF COLLECTING
Technology has found ways to make collecting work for non-material objects . For example , baseball cards have long been a traditional collectible item — they exist in the physical world , and factors like their rarity and quality affect their value . Now , you can own digital baseball cards . Where traditional baseball cards typically had a player ’ s photo on the front and their statistics on the back , with digital baseball cards , the statistics update instantly — during the course of a game , they change based on the player ’ s performance .
In the metaverse , people are collecting digital collectibles . You can collect non-fungible tokens ( NFTs ) of art or music . “ People in the crypto and digital spaces are finding ways to push collecting into the contemporary age ,” Belk says .
There ’ s a shift in who ’ s building the most valuable collections as well . “ In most collecting fields , the people with really valuable collections are those who have the most money to spend ,” Belk contends . With digital or non-fungible collections , it ’ s often the people with the most time to spend who are building the most value .
ABIGAIL MCCANN / SHUTTERSTOCK . COM
COLLECTORS ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR COLLECTIONS Witkowski , who doesn ’ t hunt , explained his love for firearms . “ Firearms have a tangibility to them . They have heft . You can work the mechanisms . They have this smell of old metal and wood . In consumer research , we call this ‘ haptic .’ You can actually feel the product ,” he says . He also appreciates their connection to history . He collects primarily American firearms , including flintlocks , percussion rifles and muskets .
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