I'm sure "Collecting" is a hobby as old as mankind. No doubt somewhere way back in history, a Neanderthal Man had an impressive collection of something .... maybe bones, maybe rocks. What ever it was, the collecting of those items was important to him, more so than most of the other Neanderthals around him. His collection made him unique, and his collection gave him a sense of pleasure he did not get from anything else.
I would venture a guess that most of us collect something during our lives. We all know the popularity of collecting stamps, coins and rare comic books. Some collectors gravitate toward collecting items they closely associate with like items pertaining to a favorite sport or TV show. Some collections are vast, like the woman I saw a TV report about recently that had amassed over 10,000 sets of salt and pepper shakers. Some collectors are much more obsessed than others ... I'd say she's just nuts, but then who am I to judge.
As for me, I have had several collections over the years - none of them extreme, but small treasures none the less. Like many young boys growing up in the 60's and 70's, I had a baseball card collection (and chewed ton's of cheap bubble gum). I had some pretty good cards too, including the complete set of available players for the 1967 St. Louis Cardinal roster including the team photo card. That was the year they won the World Series against the Sox . What I wouldn't do to have those cards today! They were all stored and sorted neatly in a boot box in my closet when I went off to college, only to be tossed out with most of the rest of the clutter filling my childhood bedroom closet to make space for my mom's new "sewing room". (It's as if she couldn't wait to get me out of the house or something ...).
These days I have a small collection of knives, a very selective but precious (to me) collection of framed fishing art prints, but my most prized collection is my assortment of antique fishing tackle. It's by no means a large collection, and none of my collectibles are all that rare or in pristine condition. But they are part of my collection because of one thing; I think they are cool.
I used to have the entire collection in a display case in my family room, but when my wife and I downsized to a small abode a few years back, the collection was packed up and stored away for safe keeping. I pull the boxes out from time to time, and I like to take photos of the items for no other reason than I just like the way they look. I look at the rusty hooks and chipped paint on an old lure and I think about the excitement of anticipation it gave every time it was cast to "fishy looking" spots. I don't collect the valuable lures that are still new and in their original box. I like the tackle that has seen use. The stuff that has fought fish and brought joy to the angler using it. It's those stories behind the rods and reels and lures that make collecting this stuff fun for me.
I hope you have a collection you enjoy. I believe we should all collect something. Collections say something about who we are on the inside. And don't get caught up in the thought that collectibles are an "investment" of any kind! For crying out loud, if something I collect now is going to be worth enough to call an "investment", it won't be until I'm long dead and buried. Collect for the fun of it. That's the best reason to collect anything.
