Thread: Collecting vs. Accumulating

COLLECTING vs. ACCUMULATING
A short post about getting stuff and what folks do with it.

Most of us have some things that we have enjoyed and bought, received or traded for. Some of us get into a period of interest for a pastime where we enjoy something enough to buy a few of that item. Where the problem arises is that we soon have enough of the item that are not inventoried and too much / many to start an inventory now.

And, Folks, that is the accumulation part of getting stuff we like.

Now contrast a buddy of mine that collects. He found a couple straight razors at a low cost and decided that he wanted to collect razors. Being a very methodical person he paper sticker numbered each and every item right after he purchased it and wrote down in a notebook, bought for that purpose; the date, price, general condition and features. Also he has a column for the location of the item. He also added a column for the average 'Bay “sold listing” price of that item after the 'Bay started having that information.

Now, this gentleman has a few over a thousand razors plus Barberalia(?). That my friends is... collecting

Another important factor about the accumulations of items, collection or no, is “how do we keep them?”

I am one of those people that has to be able to see what I have. I make and / buy or re-purpose and install shelving and display cases, racks, and so-forth to make my collection visible and shareable. I really hate to open a drawer and find I already had one of something I just bought!

The buddy above is the same way, He has a room / den in which he built display cases and shelving and hanging rails with hooks and he made many very nice shadow boxes which each hold about seven to twenty razors for viewing. The basement rumpus room is also full of displays. He made a glass topped coffee table that holds and displays a hundred of his finest. He is fortunate to have a wife that collects ceramics. They enjoy together the displaying of mugs and scuttles as a displayed collection. He makes shelving for her favored pieces also.

Another gentleman I know also has an inventoried collection of about 2000 razors last I knew. He is of the collect for profit point of view. His collection, other than a very few (6) favorites displayed in one mirror backed knicknac shelf, is wrapped in razor rolls which are sequestered in an environmentally controlled locked vault.

Another gent I know is of the passion to buy and simply tosses the new found item into a drawer or someplace when he gets tired of moving it around his computer desk. How many things he has, I don't know. I do know that he can't find most things when we talk about a trade. He knows he has them but not as to where they are scattered.

A gentleman, or few, I know that post here on SRP are of the idea that their stuff goes to someone that will enjoy it when they have a better copy or no longer will use or want the item. "Pass It Forward" in a big way.

I do know a gent that has junk storage full of stuff he bought to keep anyone else from having it. Not a friend at all.

Why did I write this? We are all, in some ways, a combination of all of the above folks. Depending on state of mind, we may do some of the above actions. We are very able to do a particular set of buys and then change style as we become more knowledgeable.

And... no matter how many we have of what...there is always someone with more, better, newer, older, or fewer of that which trips our trigger! Enjoy the chase... there is always another razor!

~Richard

Sorry guys but in light of this thread I couldn't resist bringing back this post. it was entitled "What happens When You're Gone"

I was getting ready to shave last night and picked out my weapons, my DD Golden Mandarin and my Thater Brush and hmm… lets see I’ll use Obie’s revenge (MDC soap) and finish with some Royale Spice AS. Well I’m lathered up and strop up the razor and start the first stroke down my chin and unnoticed the missus walks by and decides I’m in the way of her getting into the closet and slams the door into my back. Oh, sorry dear you didn’t hurt yourself did you? Why of course not the streams of blood running down my face are very becoming aren’t they? Gee you should be more careful ,yes YOU should shouldn’t you. Well, stopped the bleeding, ruined my shave and the thing keeps opening up in bed. Finally I doze off to slumber land and wakeup with a start and hey, what’s going on here, where am I?

I look around and I’m in some room in what looks like a funeral parlor. I see all these relations I haven’t seen in years and there’s some guy in the corner in a coffin. I see Cousin Art in the corner, heck when did he get out of prison? I thought he would be there another 20 years. I say how you doin Art? Why he doesn’t even bother to respond feedin his face with mini pizzas. I see Cousins Eric and Rob talking in the corner so I go over to them and they don’t respond either so I figured I’d stick around.

Eric says well what did he leave you? Heck if I know I got a box of rocks of some kind. All different colors, some blue some beige some green. Some got some oriental writtin on them. Some are sealed on wood bases. Now why would someone put a rock in a wood base? I got the perfect thing to do with them, I’m gonna use them to patch the stucco on the side of my house they’ll look good there and keep the wind out. What you get Rob? Heck I don’t rightly know. I think they be giant paint brushes? Really, I didn’t know he was an artist. Yea one is marked Plisson, France and it say size 85 and on the handle it say something about white mountain and …uh…I-v-o-r- uh you know that be from that outfit Ivor Johnson who make those Saturday Night Specials that be junk. Yea I got it here I’m gonna throw it in the trash. The others I’ll give to my kids to use to paint with.

I went back over to Art who was talking to Uncle Joe and Joe says he got these giant letter openers. Art says what you gonna do with those? He says I don’t know I got one Purdy one that’s all shiny and it say Maestro… heck that be Spanish for teacher. Some teacher used that to open mail. Yea I never did cotton much to school or those school marms I’m gonna throw it in the trash. The other ones I’m gonna use to pry open cans. How about you Art? Well, I got these pots with white stuff in them. One says something about Martins Candy I was gonna test it but the dog got it and boy we had some mess he got all foamed in the mouth and ran around the neighborhood like that and officer Johns shot him thinking he be rabid. I’m gonna use the rest of the pots to wash the goat. Just then Cousin Billie came over and said you know what that weirdo left me? I got all these leather belts. But they be too short to wear and they ain’t got no buckles. I’m gonna punch holes in them and put things in them. Joe says you stupid or something those be whips. He must have been one of those folks who whip themselves for fun or maybe he think he’s that Zorro fella. Yea one say something about Kana…err..kaya…heck it have the number one million on it and it be an inch thick. I’m gonna cut that one into little strips and make thimbles out of it.

I got to thinkin who the guy in the box was and what junk he left his relations so I walked over and looked down and hey wait a minute that’s me there.

So I see the funeral guy talking to his assistant and the assistant says how the deceased got those scars all over his face? The director say well my electric shaver quit on me so I had to use my Ginsu kitchen knife to shave him. It don’t matter he be one of those straight shavers and those guys are nuts anyway and they always slice their faces, they like it that way. That be a known fact.

All of a sudden I’m standing in this auditorium and there’s this auction goin on and the auctioneer says he got this collection of rare razors from this dude who passed away. He starts talking about how backwards these people are who actually use these and this guy was a real troglodyte. Yea he picks up the razor and shows it and starts saying how he can’t believe anyone would actually use this and starts berating the deceased and the crowd starts cheering and laughing at the deceased whose picture (in the coffin with all the scars on his face is flashed on this giant screen) and they start throwing things at the picture and no wants to bid on the razors and he has to pay people to take them away.

Next thing I know it’s morning and my face and pillow are full of blood and I have to finish the shave I started last night going around the cut. Yea, the missus says I wish you got rid of all this junk and just replaced it with a simple electric shaver. Afterall, when you’re dead and gone what is going to happen to all this junk?

Man that is one crazy dream. I'm luckly to remember if I've even had a dream. My wife, on the other hand, dreams about fighting off terrorists at our wedding. I wonder what that could mean?

And as to Richard's post, I'm not a collector and more into the accumulation side, but fortunately the size of my abode helps keep both to a minimum. I really, really like everything associated with straight razor shaving, but I feel more comfortable when I know exactly what I've got, how it shaves, how to hone it, etc. Granted I've only got just under 200 shaves in, but if I haven't used a particular razor in a while I find myself asking why I have it, and get an itch to sell it and get somethign else. I think I'll ideally keep about 10 razors I really like and possible swap those out over time.
Having this post forever in the ether, I'll be able to check back in a year and see if that's still true, or whether or not I'm building a room to house hundreds of razors.

Ok maybe 20 razors

Richard-

Thanks for a thoughtful and thought provoking post. I have ten straight razors accumulated over the past three years. I use them all and none of them sit for long. I sometimes ask myself if I really "need" them--and the answer would be probably not. But I enjoy having them and keeping them in good shape.

I know of one or two gents that scour every antique store in my area and buy every single razor that comes in--they have deals with the store owners that they get first dibs when something comes in--thats like shooting fish in a barrel. Its more fun to find them "in the wild" so to speak.

My razor AD subsided a while back although there are two more I'd like to try--eventually I'd like to try a Shumate and a Wostenholm pipe--whats scary is if you let it--the AD's will run you crazy--Ebay can be real dangerous if you have hoarding tendencies!!!

If I kick off there is no one to get my razors--my sister and my girlfriend will have them out at the church bazaar for 50 cents apiece--"will throw in the Old Spice Mugs for no charge!!!!" lol

Great thread topic!

Marty E.

Me? I don't collect things! I just gather them up! Seriously. I am about half collection and half accumulation. Don't consider anything unrestored as part of my collection, with some exceptions, of course. Spendur's revelation is great, but probably not too far off for most of us!

Bump for posterity!

Yep, Good timing, Richard!
Not much has changed for me, with exception of not finding anything worth buying these days.
Being happy where I am is cool.

Should not take near as much to get there, however!

I miss Spendur when he had lost his mind. Now that he has found it, He is not as fun!

It was around 1975. Case XX had last made stag handled pocket knives in 1970, ten dots on the tang signifying the year. I had gone to great trouble, and expense, in the pre internet days, to acquire a dozen or so patterns of stag handled 10 dots. I had them in a knife roll and took them to the job. Another ironworker was nearby at lunchtime and I said hey, check these out.

He looked at that roll of Case stags and said, "If you can't be satisfied with what you have, you'll never be satisfied with what you get." Blew my mind ! I knew he was right, but it hasn't made much difference.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yep, Good timing, Richard!
Not much has changed for me, with exception of not finding anything worth buying these days.
Being happy where I am is cool.

Should not take near as much to get there, however!

I miss Spendur when he had lost his mind. Now that he has found it, He is not as fun!

So you be sayin I should resurrect the weekly shaving brain buster????

I accumulate whatever I am interested in at the time. I do not care what happens to the stuff when I die as I have had the pleasure of accumulating and using it. I have already told my wife and her niece and nephew that they can do what they want with my stuff when I am gone. Go ahead and trash it or try or sell it to recoup some money or , least likely, keep anything you may be interested in. No worries, the future takes care of itself.

Bob