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The Difference Between a Collector and a Hoarder

By Rain Noe - September 20, 2011

in Object Culture

The most hurtful thing you can call me is a hoarder. I currently have 29 vintage sewing machines in my apartment in various states, but my aim is to restore them all to perfect mechanical condition and then get them back out the door. (I just happen to be in the Collecting & Repairing phase and have not yet advanced to the Selling phase.)

Collecting objects is a peculiar affliction, and while I'm primarily interested in an object's function, other collectors wish merely to display the things. Apartment Therapy Los Angeles' got a post on how to display five types of collectible objects, from vintage typewriters to what I thought were wooden chess pieces, but which are actually teak pepper grinders. People can and do collect everything, it seems, and a key difference between a hoarder and a collector is curation and artful display.

Want to see collections of various objects from around the world? Click here and see what the Flickrverse considers display-worthy.

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Babs

13 years ago

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Ariel from The Little Mermaid: Collector or Hoarder?
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Brian (Cool & Collected)

13 years ago

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Aww man, now I want to collect pepper grinders. ;)
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