Collections?

Image from Antiques At Home - One of my favorites!

This week, I've been pondering about personal collections. Having been in the antiques business, I've certainly sold a good many things to people who enjoyed collecting, as well as designing. In fact, I just recently sold an English egg cup to a lady who had been collecting them for years. While she was purchasing it, she told me her whole story on how she got started on collecting them. Some other things that I sold to collectors were porcelains, transferware plates & platters, paper mache, sugar shakers, enamel ware, old textiles, etc. Currently for me, I don't have a lot of collections, as one may think that I would, but I do have a few things that I love, bits of English and French copper pots, transferware, a little Staffordshire and Mulberry ware. The Mulberry ware always brings back memories of my road trip with my buddy Cruella to Brimfiled, MA.

Image from the epicurean collector - another favorite!

Another collection that I do have, and you may laugh, but it's true, are huge big monster Starbucks mugs. The story behind the mugs is this; when the hubby and I first graduated from school, like most, we got corporate jobs and started doing a lot of traveling; for fun and business. The one thing that we would do while strolling around the city is stop for our morning and afternoon java. So naturally, we would pick up the city Starbucks mug. We had mugs from San Franco, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami,London, Hawaii, Victoria, Seattle, New York, Chicago........ Now over the course of many moves, and not having the proper space to put the mugs; I thought about pitching them! After all, they were not really worth anything. But the thing is, I never pitched them. In fact, everyday as I'm leaving for work, I head out with my huge monster Starbucks mug and everyone laughs at me! Not because of the mug but all the coffee that I'm consuming. I'm currently drinking out of Las Vegas!

Image from A Passion for Antiques

also by Barbara Milo Ohrbach

I guess, no matter if you collect egg cups, strawberry forks, spoons, teapots, pickle jars, ducks, silver, sterling, trophy cups, dolls, porcelains, watches, textiles, maps, stuffed bears, lunch boxes, magnets ( hubby & I have a few), or even Starbucks mugs, for me, a collection has no requirements; expensive, elaborate, impressive, or useful, nor judged! Collections are built over time; they're about personal memories of journeys. But most importantly, collecting should be about enjoying and having fun through this thing called life! Don't you think?

Image from Laying the Elegant Table