Collecting Corner: June 2008

Greetings

Collecting Corner is a blog that explores the fascinating world of collecting. It's about anything that can be collected or is connected with collecting. It's for collectors, those who want to collect, and those who don't collect but who want to understand the passion that drives those who do. It's about different ways to think about collecting and what can be collected, and ideas for figuring out what to do with your collection.

This is a forum for discussion of questions like:

What do you collect?
Why do you collect that thing, in particular?
Where do you find it?
Why do you collect, in general?
What do you do with your stuff?
What's your mode of collecting -- systematic, random, something in-between?
What's the weirdest thing you've collected?

Think of these as the standing questions of this blog. I'd love to hear from you. Please join in the discussion, or just stop by to see what we're talking about. I'll do my best to find and share information that is useful and interesting, and try to keep things organized, easy to read, and fun.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Who's Laughing Now?

The painting, called "Rembrandt Laughing," was estimated to sell at auction for $3,100. A bidder recognized it as an original Rembrandt self-portraint and bought it for $4.5 million. A bargain, considering it is worth about ten times that amount. It was painted by the artist in 1628, when he was in his early twenties.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/102047/Rembrandt-Laughing-is-self-portrait---experts

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Got e-Bay at Shelburne Museum

Shelburne Museum explored how e-Bay has changed the world of collecting in its exhibit "Got e-Bay," shown last year at its Round Barn. The Museum gave $1,000 each to eight celebrities, including Jerry Seinfeld and Bianca Jagger, and asked them to curate their own collection with it. How has collecting been altered forever now that the world is a big garage sale via e-Bay? You can watch a short video about the exhibit by clicking on the link below. If you were let loose on e-Bay with $1,000 and were asked to start a collection, what would you buy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5lbSQtVSA

Friday, June 6, 2008

Check under Your Bed for Stuff

This is a story that is related to collecting, but isn't really about collecting.

When he was a boy in 1945, seventy-year old John Webber's grandfather gave him an unusual brass (or so he believed) cup. The grandfather was a "rag and bone man" in England, a junk dealer, who had an eye for antiques and interesting objects. As a child, Mr. Webber used the cup for target practice with his air gun.

For years, it was stored under a bed in a shoe box. When Mr. Webber was moving last year, he came across it and decided to get it appraised.

It turned out to be a golden vessel made in Persia during the third or fourth century BC and was sold at auction on June 5th for $100,000.

Have you ever found, bought, or been given a seemingly insignificant object that turned out to be a hidden treasure?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/06/05/auction.cup/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

The Quintessential Collector

My name is Valerie Biebuyck and the inspiration for this blog is Electra to the Rescue, a book I've written about a quintessential collector: Electra Havemeyer Webb. She collected folk art for the most part, although she collected other things as well, throughout most of the twentieth century, beginning at a time when "serious" collectors viewed it as little more than trash. When she ran out of space at her house, she moved some of her folk sculptures (just one of many types of folk art she acquired) to an indoor tennis court! She had so much stuff (she collected more than 120,000 objects during her lifetime) that she actually started a museum. When she ran out of space at the museum, she started collecting buildings and bringing them to the museum grounds to house her treasures. She didn't limit herself to folk art and lovely old houses, though. She also collected a lighthouse, a covered bridge, a one-room jail, a railroad station, and a 900-ton steamboat. All of this is at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, a place that Electra called "a collection of collections," and where Electra has satisfied her dream of sharing the acquisitions of a lifetime with others.

A Collection of Moments

You can collect things that most of us think of as collectible, such as stamps, coins, dolls. You can collect expensive things, like art by famous artists who work in a particular style, or priceless historical artifacts, or sports cars.

But you can also collect things that are not tangible. Like Nobel Laureate Heinrich Boll's character in "The Clown," who was a "collector of moments." My father-in-law speaks often of the influence that concept has had on his life -- to collect moments, such as the surprise celebration planned by his children to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, and another such surprise a few years later in honor of his 80th birthday. He also collects smaller, quieter moments, as well, such as a pleasant afternoon planting cedar trees and talking with my husband.

Many people think of these things as memories, but my father-in-law prefers to view them as a collection of moments.

What are moments you have collected?

Collecting Corner