Things I don't collect, part one

 

It may not seem this way to you, but there's a lot of stuff I don't collect. Dolls. Clocks. Cameras. Guns. Fishing lures. Hess trucks. (Nothing is worse than being at an otherwise promising auction that has a pile of Hess trucks, which apparently must be auctioned off very slowly, one by one.) Anyway, I also don't collect salt and pepper shakers, so I thought I'd show you a few of them.

 

Salt and pepper shakers used to be quite the collectible. Especially tiny, useless ones like these tres elegant lamps, which are made of plastic. These show signs of light use, which means someone actually filled them with maybe a teaspoon of salt and pepper (they're tiny) and put them on the table, expecting them to be used. I would feel very silly shaking one of these over my vegetables.

 

These are cute, but again, awfully impractical. They might be Shawnee. Then again, maybe not. Here's a valuable auction lesson I learned from my friend Laurel: When an auctioneer holds up something, like a vase, and says, "Might be Roseville!" my friend Laurel mutters under her breath, "Might not be." It's just good to remember that the word "might" means almost nothing.

 

And these, which are just cheery. Alas, this is not the limit of my salt and pepper non-collection. I have some that belonged to my mom: a pair of saucy red tomatoes, and my Christmas geese, and a corn shock and pumpkin, and a very weird pair of dogs with toothaches. (They were too weird to photograph, but who knows? The day may come.) There's another pair, also from my mom, but I'm saving them for a Very Special Post in February. (In fact, I believe Mom purchased them on her honeymoon. When I pointed this out to her, she kind of shrugged and said "Whatever." She has a disturbingly large unsentimental streak for a mom.)

You may be asking yourself how all of these constitute a non-collection. Well, for one thing, I didn't set out to acquire them. They appeared, here and there, in the bottom of a box lot or on a tray of stuff at an auction. They were not deliberate purchases. Plus, I don't display them all together. They almost don't know each other exists, like distant cousins at a family reunion. If I displayed all of them together, people would get the idea that I collected them, and they would start giving them to me. And I might also get the idea that I collected them, and that is one thing I am trying mightily to avoid.
 

  

Comments

[laurie magpie ethel]

So you are collecting salt and pepper shakers, but not really collecting them, because they just appear. And since you don't display them together, then they can't possibly be a collection. Do I have that straight? No matter how you beat around the bush, I think you need to admit...even if you didn't CHOOSE to have this collection...it chose you.

[LiLi M.]

Smiles...I know exactly what you mean!

[Mary @ Turkey Farm Treasures]

By defination, a collection is an ordered group of elements, all of the same type. For example, three sets of salt and pepper shakers.

Just sayin'.

Maybe you could not, not collect the second set though (very nice).

Again, just sayin'.

[Martha]

They're so cute, and I love how they are not really a collection and how each set doesn't even know that the others exist.

When I was little I loved to visit my mom's aunt, who had an whole china cabinet devoted to salt & pepper shakers. I got to take them out and create little tableaus on the floor. I don't remember asking her where she got them, and I always thought she collected them intentionally -- but maybe not. Maybe, over the years, she acquired some accidentally and stuck them on a shelf in the china cabinet. Then her mom gave her a few. Inevitably, other people (who assumed by now that she had a collection) started giving them to her. Finally, the salt and peppers managed to take over the entire china cabinet.

[Linda @ A La Carte]

Hey I don't collect salt & pepper shakers either! I started out just buying 'orphans' cause they looked so lonely and then once I found an orphan that matched an orphan I had so that made a pair...and well you know it just snowballed from there....but no I don't collect salt & pepper shakers either!

[Tina]

I believe you, Barbara!

Now, I'm curious about where your parents honeymooned. Two very popular destinations so close by...I'll be tuned in Valentine's day.

[Theresa]

The first step to recovery is admittance of the addiction.

Meanwhile, while I'm laughing over this, I anxiously await for part 2!!!
;-)

[Carol @ Old Glory Cottage]

Denial: noun. A refusal to accept or believe something.
Actually, I think you've turned this word into a verb!

[karen]

This is a funny post! Now that I think of it, I have a whole room full of stuff that I don't collect! It's just visiting. I once collected chickens, then EVERYONE got me a chicken from somewhere, and I felt obligated to keep it forever, then I got liberated. I now have a dozen or so...out in my chicken house lol.

[Julie]

I RELATE! I have so many "I never meant to" collections - if your a thrifter is just happens that way I guess - though hubby wonders why I have all these things I supposedly never meant to have. Very funny - I'd add dogs (real ones) tourist teaspoons and elephants(not real ones)to your list (LOL). Jewels

[black eyed susans kitchen]

Okay, I am laughing out loud!! "Things I don't collect"!! You are too funny. I do know exactly what you mean by the Hess truck situation, and for me it always seems to be Hummels. I will walk into an auction and there are 200 Hummels lined up each to be sold individually.
♥, Susan

[Kim]

I'm cracking up at your "nothing could be worse" comment... Tuesday night it was all this one line (and I can't remember the name, that's how impressed I wasn't) of old old tools. Seriously... not to mention the 3 dozen old oil bottles... with the oil still in them. Someone spent over $400 on two dozen of them. What will he do with them? (He also bought all the old tools... one by one by one!) Okay.. off my rant. It is amusing to see what you don't collect... perhaps other things you don't collect would be buttons, thimbles, or Shiny Brites. (I'll feel dumb if some previous post listed this, but I just happened here from a friend's blog.) Happy hunting!
Kim

[Wendy]

I hate Hess trucks! And lucky me, my MIL has a tradition of buying the grandsons one every year. My son has 9 so far. Joy.

[DogsMom]

I know the dogs with toothaches! (Why? No clue.)
All my S&P are packed safely away - which means I don't remember where.

[condo in Philippines]

I think this are all fit for my new condo as a accessories.

Deirdre G