- Joined
- Jul 18, 2021
That was a great write-up! Thanks for fleshing out some of the points I missed, I totally forgot to mention about the role pop-culture played in all of this, as you noted it became a huge driver. And you're right, collecting as a hobby has probably been around since forever.
Going back to the Victorian era roots (pre-1900) - the big difference between "then" and "now" is that it used to be something only a relative few could engage in. Largely an upper-class hobby, average people just didn't have the time, the money, or the space for a whole collection of something. The few who did (at least that we read about) were collecting art, or exotic animal specimens, or ancient cultural artifacts. All things that were rare or unique, took a lot of effort to acquire, and eventually became the basis for museum collections. There just wasn't mass-produced consumer-level collectibles to be had. Even something more mundane like a series of fancy plates or silverware would've been very expensive, handcrafted by a famous artist. Any "collecting" happening among average people would've been more along the lines of trinket hoarding, with items on par with flea market or garage sale junk.
Moving into the 20th century pre-WW2, you're right that baseball cards were (as far as I can tell) the first mass-produced collectible, deliberately designed to be bought "simply for the sake of collecting". But going by the stories I've heard from older relatives, while baseball cards were very popular, the collections rarely exceeded the size of a shoebox. And even then, how many stories of mothers eventually throwing them out! (I weep for the amount of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio cards sent to the trash.) And it was largely limited to kids - who actually played games with them or traded them, those cards got ruined lol. But you didn't hear of grown-ass adults hoarding them in unopened packs or dedicating a whole room of their house to it - at least not until much later, when we eventually ended up with a whole industry of baseball memorabilia beyond trading cards.
So then that brings us to post-WW2, which I think we've both covered nicely. The confluence of many factors including larger houses, more discretionary income, invention of cheap plastic, rise of mass media and pop culture, and the evolution of hyper-marketing to target specific demographics. And in the end modern collections are still (largely) just disposable junk, pale imitations of the rare/unique collections that the uber-rich engage in. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Moving into the 20th century pre-WW2, you're right that baseball cards were (as far as I can tell) the first mass-produced collectible, deliberately designed to be bought "simply for the sake of collecting". But going by the stories I've heard from older relatives, while baseball cards were very popular, the collections rarely exceeded the size of a shoebox. And even then, how many stories of mothers eventually throwing them out! (I weep for the amount of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio cards sent to the trash.) And it was largely limited to kids - who actually played games with them or traded them, those cards got ruined lol. But you didn't hear of grown-ass adults hoarding them in unopened packs or dedicating a whole room of their house to it - at least not until much later, when we eventually ended up with a whole industry of baseball memorabilia beyond trading cards.
So then that brings us to post-WW2, which I think we've both covered nicely. The confluence of many factors including larger houses, more discretionary income, invention of cheap plastic, rise of mass media and pop culture, and the evolution of hyper-marketing to target specific demographics. And in the end modern collections are still (largely) just disposable junk, pale imitations of the rare/unique collections that the uber-rich engage in. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Hahaha, that would definitely be me as a caveman. "No throw that away Irga! Grug need that bone in case it useful someday." My hoarding vice is little hardware items like random screws/bolts/washers, and a lot of spare computer parts like cables & adapters. At least I try to keep it relatively organized. And I am vindicated several times a year, when I actually have the necessary part on-hand to fix something, lol.
