Collecting for a Curiosity Cabinet

Before curation can even happen, there is the initial step of collection. But collecting can be broken down into many smaller steps (when speaking of the hobby or profession): perusing, hunting, spotting, attaining, arranging, cataloguing, displaying, storing, preserving, and sometimes selling and trading. And everyone has their own personal collection style, depending on their selection skills and tastes. But there are several customary boundaries known in the collecting world regarding the timeline of collectibles. When is an item considered vintage or antique? Does the lifespan differ depending on the article? How so? What is the resale price once it is no longer at retail price? Why? Below is my diagram to represent these issues:

There are also price guides out there (book form and online) with many typical prices outlined for many specialty items. The first price guide ever recorded is by Stanley Gibbons in November 1865. But of course, in the end, its value is only about how much one buyer is willing to pay for it.

And in the strange and slightly rigid world of collecting, there is also the “box debate” – whether a collector wants the box or not, and if so, does it have to be in pristine condition? A recent example is from the National Barbie Doll Collector’s Convention. A toy is ultimately made to be played with, so withholding the toy from ever even being opened stops it short from its true destiny. But then again, not all collectors are pro-box. Some purchase items without the plan of reselling them and believe that the box obscures the true details on the doll itself. Obviously, there are merits to both parties’ arguments. The relic with remnants of a past life versus the pristine artefact in perfect condition reminds me of the Woody versus Buzz Lightyear dilemma of Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story.” Modern media tends to favour the Buzz Lightyears. With the intricate connections between possessions and personality, what we lean towards tells us a lot about our nature.

But before all these finicky distinctions due to capitalism and mass production, there was a long history to collecting. From the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty resulting in the Library of Alexandria to the Medici Family becoming the first Renaissance private patrons to great works of art, the act of collecting at large meant an accumulation of cultural wealth at one juncture. Which leads us to the “curiosity cabinet”. Some cultures call it the “wunderkammer”, but whatever its name, it is basically the precursor to the museum. Its purpose was to be an encyclopaedic collection of things that could not be categorically bound, sometimes mixing fact with fiction. Another way to look at it is as a microcosm or mini-theatre of the world. Sometimes they are made to be places for retreat and contemplation. Sometimes they are made for demonstrations of symbolic power. Whatever its initial purpose, it requires connoisseurship and was the starting point for advancements in cultural enlightenment. In 1587, Gabriel Kaltemarckt recommended to Christian I of Saxony that for a true curiosity cabinet, one must have:

1. sculptures and paintings
2. curious items from home and/or abroad
3. antlers, horms, feathers, etc. from strange animals

Now, these criteria may no longer stand for a successful museum exhibit (though it is actually still mostly true), the main point to take from this is in the item’s juxtapositions. The associations and oppositions of such disparate objects in close proximity to each other encourage analogies and comparisons between them. This helps us view the world as dynamic, rather than static. In a mawkish way, this blog (and any blog for that matter) attempts to do the same thing.