I think Steve Buscemi nailed it in Ghost World as Seymour: "Well, you think it's healthy to obsessively collect things? You can't connect with other people, so you fill your life with stuff. I'm just like all the rest of these pathetic collector losers."
As autoggraph collectors we spend days, weeks, months, years, even decades....searching for that last signature to complete the collection. The thrill of the hunt, searching high and low, in old musty shops or scanning web searches for that ever elusive name. Then it happens, you have stumbled across that missing piece. Your collection is complete.
Now you are no longer a collector. You have the set....you own it, but what now?
Withdrawal .....that's what comes next, especially if you have an addictive personality.
I remember back in the 1990's telling myself that when the day comes that I get my hands on a Jack Purvis signature, (little person actor from the first 3 Star Wars films) I would call the collection done and stop. I sit here in 2016, now knowing that Jack couldn't sign due to an accident, and that he passed away in the late 90's. There are 7 or 8 of Jack's autographs in my collection now, and I haven't even slowed down. I tell myself, yeah I have an album page, but I need an 8x10. I find an 8x10, but now I need him in character. Find the right one, then I need a white index card for the matted set, and so on.
Collecting is an addiction, there is no doubt about it in my mind. They have addiction specialists in all kinds of fields.....be it drug addiction or hoarding, it seems every possible affliction known to man has specialists in the field ready to help the person suffering from the disease. Where are the people who can break us of this collecting habit?
I was born a collector, I know this now, it's not a new thing, back in the 70's I had to have every action figure, in the 80's every comic book and every baseball card. The people making these items designed them to be sure that you had to have them all. Autographs weren't as easy but they were always there, then by the 1990's we had the internet and collectors groups and a way to track down that missing autograph without traveling 7 states away.
Sites just like this one aren't helping us with our problem, they are making it even more addicting, yet I find myself here every day.
I have heard people day that happiness is a complete collection, but I have also heard the exact opposite. I am leaning towards the fact that there is nothing more sad than a complete collection. A complete collection only opens us up to the next collection. It's a never ending cycle for me... but I guess it is safer than heroin.
Back to the title I suppose....what's your opinion, Happy or Sad?
Comment by CJCollector on July 23, 2016 at 5:09am
Comment by Mike Shepherd on July 30, 2016 at 10:48am
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