ISSUE 14:
1950s Spaceship Model Kits
Possession Obsession
Are You a Packrat?
Deep Space 9 Model Kit
Space Stations and Star Trek
Academia and SF Fandom
Sci-Fi Girl Toys
Science Fiction Book Reviews
Letters to the Publisher
 |
The Artful Collector
Strange New Worlds Issue 14 -
June/July 1994
Possession Obsession: The Case Against Hoarding
[Page 1, 2 ]
by Jane Frank
Director of Worlds of Wonder
Gallery, Washington DC
You May be A Pack Rat ...
Diagnostic Self-Test
You are a hoarder if (check all those that apply):
q You can’t pass up the opportunity
to acquire another example of something you already own . . . if the price is right.
q When you refer to your collection, it is in
terms of multiples, (i.e., "I have hundreds of comics in my closet" or "I
have a few sets, some of them incomplete.") as opposed to "Oh, yes. I have one
of those."
q The idea of buying in quantity turns you on.
Even collections in which only 50% of the material might be useful or of good quality.
You’ll figure out what to do with the rest of the material after you’ve bought
it.
q When asked where you’re going to put
another one, you’re fond of replying, "Don’t worry, I’ll find a space
for it somewhere."
q Dusting has become impossible, or at least
improbable. When you think of dusting at all, it is as a yearly event.
q You spend a lot of time worrying about what
could be the next "hot" collectible; time that could be spent learning how to
maximize your existing collections.
q You find yourself thinking about what you
should collect without giving much thought to what you already collect.
q You’ve lost track of your collection. You
don’t know exactly what you own.
q You frequently misplace things in your
collection. You know you’ve got it, but where? Once found, you may not remember its
name, or where you got it, or why you have it.
q You’re fond of quoting Frank’s Law
"Collections expand to fill the available space."
q You can’t bear to sell or trade anything,
for fear that you may be giving away something irreplaceable or selling it before
it’s reached its peak.
q Friends, when referring to you, say stuff like
"It’s his thing." Relatives thinks it’s a sickness. You think
you’re having fun.
q When you are able to replace an object in your
collection with a superior example, you don’t sell off the inferior one.
q To the question "What do you
collect?" you’re apt to answer, "A little of this and a little of
that," or, "Everything I can."
q The phrase "pruning your collection"
holds no meaning.
Possession Obsession [Page 1,
2 ]
  
Articles by Jane Frank written for Strange New Worlds:
Fantasy and Science Fiction Art Books by Jane Frank: |
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others. 112 pages (all in color). Hardcover. |
| The
Art of Richard Powers — "I think
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which he shook up considerably ... I am happy to see this collection of Richard Powers's
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| Great
Fantasy Art Themes from the Frank Collect 128 pages (all in color),
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|
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