Why collect?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Ok, Ok, I realize that my collection must seem strange to others but I get this gut reaction when I read about mess kits being collected or another guy calmly responding with the history of mess kits, as if, it were something that all of us should have knowledge. Actually, I get the same feeling when I see some guy with a shoe box of patches. I really start to wonder about the inmates in this ward, me probably being the worst. We seem to have some kind of obsession after finding one item that reminds us of something out of our past and then we find another and so on. Soon, we proudly point at the cardboard box full of stuff and call it a collection.

 

It is later validated by some other guy that comes along that has been collecting the same things for years. He just happens to have the one item that we have struggled to get and simply hands it over. We are blown over by this act of total disregard for the finer things of life. It may be that he has found twenty of them or has decided that other things are really more important but there it is, at long last, the Holy Grail of Scout collectibles.

 

I started collecting Scout fiction after climbing into an attic and finding a copy of one lousy rat eaten book. It is now over twenty years and I am still looking. I have almost completed one of the world's most foremost group of things anywhere in the western hemisphere, etc. and my wife has every right to dump the whole lot into the river and be done with it. If she did, my life would then somehow lose some cosmic meaning that I have come to rely on.

 

At one time, I thought that I would collect everything that Scouting had to offer. I would make a Scouting museum. Since I had gotten in on the ground floor after only fifty years, how much stuff could possibly be around? That was my question; of course, I answered it by looking at the things in my box. It would be simple and would not take long. I felt that I had a head start. A few people I knew gave me some things either out of pity or as a joke. I still am not sure.

 

After a few years and visiting several Scout Tradeorees and trying to purchase these items, I narrowed my search. It became like one of my whittling sticks that just kept getting sharper. I began to focus and the vision got clearer. I no longer went for the uniforms, patches, canteens, etc. I collected books and a few items that interested me. The books I collected were reduced to specific types and kinds. I now have a mess but no museum.

 

The world may be a better place without my little museum. Scouters from all over will not be bothered with another big ball of twine to look at when on vacation. I have accepted the fact that maybe someday, somebody will let me donate a few items to their museum but somehow I doubt it.

 

Well, that is my story and I am not sure it answers my question. Sometimes when I write in these small boxes, I keep thinking the answer will simply scroll up from the bottom but it never does. So, I have come to rely on the feedback of others to fill in the gaps. Is there someone out there with a good idea what this collecting thing really is and how do you get rid of it?

 

Is it an addiction? "Hello, my name is Bill and I am a collector." It could be a totally self involved conflict without resolution and that only death can cure. It may be an allergic reaction one gets after visiting a Scout Camp one summer during one's youth or a contagious bug that comes from burning your first Dutch oven of biscuits. There may be no cure, so let's describe it in hopes of a brighter tomorrow.

 

I thank each of you in advance for any contribution.

 

Fuzzy

 

 

[WAKWIB]

I do not collect in large quantiies but do become fixated on some of the few items I aquire, but it's mostly Scouting stuff I've received from my involvement in the program. But one can become obsessed with just a few trinkets. If you have seen or read "Lord of the Rings", it took only one little precious ring to push Gollum over the edge (figuratively and literally!!).

 

What if Gollum were a Scouter??

 

"My precioussss patch...we loves it....puts it on our red vesst...yesss"

[WAKWIB]

(This message has been edited by WAKWIB)

[purcelce]

I collect patches. I enjoy swapping cloth at conclaves, NOAC, and other Scout functions. I'm also an ebay junkie for the BSA patches. I started when I was a youth and the feeling is still there.

 

Funny Story - We had our Winter banquet last weekend. The lodge usally puts out a "restricted patch for the event". This year the restriction was one per person attending (Last year was two per person) This year I brought my daughter and soon to be step daughter who are 6 and 5.

Laughing to myself that I had some pretty good trading stock, I bought the patches and let them carry "their" patch. They both wore their GSUSA uniforms. One of the old times in the lodge caught wind of my plan and told the girls, "You know those flaps would look real good on your uniforms."

Now every day I get the question. "When are you going to put the patch on my Brownie vest?" Or "I have a Daisy meeting soonand want to show off my new patch."

Now I have to figure out how I'm going let the girls know that we don't want to been in the bad graces of the GSUSA uniform police.

 

Another good story, about "my" collection.

Back last summer I had all my trinkets and cloth spread out over the kitchen table. I was sorting out the stuff I would never trade out of the other stuff. I came across my Brotherhood Neckerchief. Only give out when you made Brotherhood, and only one per life. (I wore it to a conclave and had several "Wanna trade" offers for it. Had to take it off after lunch, but that's another story.)

I put my valuable off to the side as I piddled with the other stuff. A few moments later out of the corner of my eye, I see my prized posssesion dragged on the floor by my 8 month old son. Screaming in terror, I chased the infant bandit to the back bedroom. I was able to retrieve my precioussss, before it became a slober rag. All was well and now my precioussss, sits on a shelf with other lesser preciousssses.

 

 

 

[purcelce]

I collect patches. I enjoy swapping cloth at conclaves, NOAC, and other Scout functions. I'm also an ebay junkie for the BSA patches. I started when I was a youth and the feeling is still there.

 

Funny Story - We had our Winter banquet last weekend. The lodge usally puts out a "restricted patch for the event". This year the restriction was one per person attending (Last year was two per person) This year I brought my daughter and soon to be step daughter who are 6 and 5.

Laughing to myself that I had some pretty good trading stock, I bought the patches and let them carry "their" patch. They both wore their GSUSA uniforms. One of the old times in the lodge caught wind of my plan and told the girls, "You know those flaps would look real good on your uniforms."

Now every day I get the question. "When are you going to put the patch on my Brownie vest?" Or "I have a Daisy meeting soonand want to show off my new patch."

Now I have to figure out how I'm going let the girls know that we don't want to been in the bad graces of the GSUSA uniform police.

 

Another good story, about "my" collection.

Back last summer I had all my trinkets and cloth spread out over the kitchen table. I was sorting out the stuff I would never trade out of the other stuff. I came across my Brotherhood Neckerchief. Only give out when you made Brotherhood, and only one per life. (I wore it to a conclave and had several "Wanna trade" offers for it. Had to take it off after lunch, but that's another story.)

I put my valuable off to the side as I piddled with the other stuff. A few moments later out of the corner of my eye, I see my prized posssesion dragged on the floor by my 8 month old son. Screaming in terror, I chased the infant bandit to the back bedroom. I was able to retrieve my precioussss, before it became a slober rag. All was well and now my precioussss, sits on a shelf with other lesser preciousssses.

 

 

 

[dsteele]

Secret tip for collectors of BSA stuff:

 

Cozy up to a professional, like myself, who gets inundated with sometimes old, sometimes rare, sometimes unattainable by others, stuff . . . and really doesn't want it.

 

I've met old volunteers who gave me their rare patches because, for some reason, they were impressed by me and wanted to give me a gift. I always accept, because I'm honored by the honor, but the actual do-dad doesn't mean much to me. I've found that I can keep the honor and give away the item to someone who does appreciate it.

 

Anyone looking for a Region 7 patch? Or an Eagle Knot with a dark green background, or a size 42 waist 1960's wool uniform? I think I have those things somewhere. They are not for sale, but if they have meaning for you, I'll try to find them. Lord only knows what else I've got somewhere in the house.

 

To use the Lord of the Rings analogy (this only works if you read them rather than watched the movie) I'm like Tom Bombadil. He was the only character in any of the books (Fellowship of the Ring) who was completely imune from the ring. The reason they didn't leave it with him is that they knew he would forget about it in time and it would be lost again . . .

 

Some professionals hawk their stuff and plan to sell it in their retirement. Some really do hunt for the items and plan to keep them. Some, like me, simply forget . . .

 

DS