Uncommon Collections - 51023

“Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.” - Orhan Pamuk

Before we jump in, you might recall I wrote on one of the most important things we can collect: feedback. I want yours! You can always respond directly to this email or drop me a comment. I’ll respond to whatever you send me!

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The Daily Rabbit Hole: Facebook Meta Acquisitions

From 2005 through the end of 2021, they acquired 90 companies. They have 4 x the number of companies than the average US business has employees (22).

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Unless you are into the collectible photography/art scene, you’ve likely not come across Vivian Maier. You can read the full history of how she was discovered here, but the short version is that John Maloof bought a $400 blind box at an auction, discovered that a woman (Maier) had extensively photographed Chicago, posted her photos to Flickr where they gained popularity worldwide, and now individual prints go for $4000 plus. Like many artists, Maier wasn’t alive to see her fame ascend, or her pocketbook swell.

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The ‘Wait, What?’ Vortex: Bars of Soap

“Carol Vaughn has been collecting soap since 1991”

I’m gagging just thinking about the smell of that room.

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The Value of Holding …

The most common collectible items in America are probably stocks. I can’t actually prove that - the definition of collecting can be too broad or narrow for stocks to win the category, but we don’t have to do much research to understand that a majority of people collect them. Whether held in a retirement fund, bought during a meme stock event like $GME, or just believing in a single company - people love to buy and hold onto shares of companies. The goal? Value. The longer I hold, the more it could potentially be worth.

Collecting items has been an essential part of human history. In a way, we’re hard-wired to hold on to old things, believing that one day it might bring us value. The question then, is when to let go?

“You can’t take money to your grave” is a cliché because it’s true. This is despite the fact that many who accumulate out-of-the-ordinary amounts of value wind up having reluctance to actualizing it. Saving for a rainy day that may or may not come. I’m not advocating for spending every dollar, eschewing saving for later, but I do have to wonder - when is the right time to cash in? I certainly hope to see the fruits of my labor, as opposed to those fruits exclusively seeding what I’ll never know. Is that selfish? Maybe? Probably? I can’t be the only one contemplating this dilemma.