They are literally pulling stuff out of buried dirt and these old timers are like "I just couldn't part with that." These collectors are insane. Until two seconds ago they forgot that thing even existed.
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That's how they became collectors in the first place. They're hoarders.
Most 10-20 year old crap you see at yard/tag sales are worthless. Store it 50 years and now someone will want and pay for it, but anyone who doesn't throw the shit out when it's only 10 - 20 years old and saves it for decades can't part with it because they're hoarders.
IN PILES AND MESSILY...YEAH...NEATLY STORED OR DISPLAYED IS A BIT DIFFERENT.
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Yeah, I've seen some of those guys who have a huge collection of stuff that is high quality and well cared for (not stuffed in an outbuilding with rats and a leaky roof like a lot of those picks are), but they're still hoarders in a way. They often have the intention of culling the herd, but just can't part with anything even if that was their intention. The widow ends up selling the stuff..
That makes sense. A lot of stuff people covet now and buy from antique stores was once junk or trash. Old bottles are a great example--tossed in a refuse pile or down the outhouse by the people who used up the original products they contained, then dug up and sold to collectors and decorators a century later.
shareI'm a hoarder myself. It's not bad yet but it only goes one way, yeah? I get the nostalgia of it. The good memory you've attached to a thing. And when you see the thing, you get a high, you relive the memory. But man. When you got one foot in the grave.... IDK. Maybe when you're that old the high is all you have anymore.
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I'm a very low level hoarder, but I'm 65 now and although I'm in really good health, I'm starting to dispose of shit so my wife isn't stuck with that job.
*sigh* my mum was a hoarder, now past. She collected so much crap. Barns full of crap. Some of it expensive antiques, some of it is trash. I've been going through it for years now trying to turn a buck on it. Thinking hard about just throwing it all in the dump and living my own damn life.
It's gotten me downsizing my own collections for the same reason you mention. I don't want some fool dealing with this. Move it along. I don't have kids. So chances are some temp workers will just be throwing it a dumpster one day anyhow. (A job I had many times.)
Every time I sit at the computer and google "what the hell is this?" i'm not living. I'm a chain attached to a ghost.