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The Why Factor: Collecting

Collecting

08/05/2015

BBC World Service - The Why Factor, Collecting

What does collecting of inanimate objects bring to our lives?

What does collecting of inanimate objects bring to our lives that other things do not?

Stamps, coins, sea shells, wine - the list of things that humans collect is endless. But why do people do it? What does a collection of inanimate objects bring to our lives that other things do not? Are people attracted by the thrill of the chase, the pleasure of possession or the control in acting as the custodian of precious things?

Mike Williams talks to an eclectic group of collectors in search of some answers. Roman and Maz Piekarski have spent the last 50 years building up a collection of some of the world’s finest cuckoo clocks. When Lisa Courtney was bullied as a child she gained comfort in building her collection of Pokemon toys.Seventeen-year-old Tushar Lakhanpal started his pencil collection at the age of three and when David Fulton sold his business to Microsoft in the 90s his new found wealth allowed him to pursue and acquire one of the finest collections of rare instruments ever assembled. 

(Photo: Roman and Maz Piekarski have been collecting cuckoo clocks for the last 40 years. BBC copyright)

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