As detailed in
the April 2006
issue of this
magazine, Elvis
impersonator Jim
Curtain
auctioned off
his 50,000-piece
Elvis
memorabilia
hoard only after
his girlfriend
repeatedly
threatened to
leave him. “I
thought he would
keep it
forever,”
Curtain’s now-ex
told the
Associated
Press. “He was a
prisoner to it.
It ruled his
every move.” In
another example,
publisher
Malcolm Forbes
described
himself as “a
collector of
collections” in
his
autobiography
More Than I
Dreamed: A
Lifetime of
Collecting
(1989). During
his lifetime,
Forbes assembled
a collection of
dozens of luxury
yachts, more
than 500 toy
boats,
approximately
120,000 toy
soldiers,
upwards of 3,000
autographed
presidential
documents and
more Fabergé
eggs than the
Kremlin.
So, what drives
this seemingly
addictive
behavior? Forbes
explained that
his collecting
was an attempt
to recapture
happy childhood
memories. “For
me, usually,
nostalgia is the
real culprit,
the trigger,”
Forbes writes.
“I really don’t
believe most
collectors
consciously
start out to be.
I think people
wind up
collecting
things—whether
they’re into
bumper stickers
or restaurant
menus—as
souvenirs, as
memory catchers,
as substitutes
for a diary. Far
more fun and far
less effort.
What begins as a
kind of what-not
shelf item to
recall an
occasion or a
place is
transformed into
a quest that
rarely ends.”
In his book,
Collecting: An
Unruly Passion,
Psychological
Perspectives
(1994), Werner
Muensterberger
spends nearly
300 pages
detailing the
psychological
nuances of
collectors’
minds.
“Collectors
themselves—dedicated,
serious,
infatuated,
beset—cannot
explain or
understand this
often
all-consuming
drive, nor can
they call a halt
to their habit,”
he writes. “Many
are aware of a
chronic
restiveness that
can be curbed by
more finds or
yet another
acquisition. A
recent discovery
or another
purchase may
assuage the
hunger, but it
never fully
satisfies it. Is
it an obsession?
An addiction? Is
it a passion or
urge, or perhaps
a need to hold,
possess, to
accumulate?”
Observing
collectors,
Muensterberger
states, “One
soon discovers
an unrelenting
need, even
hunger, for
acquisition.
This ongoing
search is a core
element of their
personality.”
Assuming Forbes
and
Muensterberger
are correct,
possessing the
object, whatever
it may be, is
what motivates
collectors. So,
what is it that
fascinates us
with autographs,
specifically?
A
Gentle Madness:
Bibliophiles,
Bibliomanes, and
the Eternal
Passion for
Books
(1995) is a
638-page tome,
written by
Nicholas A.
Basbanes, which
chronicles
dozens of
legendary and
infamous book
collectors.
Included in the
text is Stephen
Blumberg, who
built his
notorious
“collection” of
23,600 rare
books by
stealing them
from libraries!
Basbanes is
unsure of
collectors’
specific
psychological
underpinnings.
Like book
collectors, he
says, autograph
collectors are a
slightly
different breed.
“Things on paper
appeal to a
different
species of
collector,”
Basbanes told me
in a recent
interview.
“Paper has no
inherent value.
It’s the content
that gives it
value … I don’t
want to call it
sexual, but we
do have a
strange
attraction to
these things.
I’ve been
looking at the
phenomenon for
20 years and I
can’t explain
it.”
While Basbanes
may not be able
to explain it,
perhaps we, as a
community of
collectors, can.
After all, the
first step
toward
conquering an
addiction is
admitting that
you have a
problem. To that
end, I’m asking
you to share
your obsession,
and use
Autograph
as a sort of
group therapy
session. Send in
examples of your
autograph
addictions, and
we’ll publish
the best letters
in an upcoming
issue. I’ll
start:
Hi. My name is
Josh, and I’m an
autograph-aholic
…
JOSHUA PLATT
is an autograph
collector and
freelance
writer. He can
be reached at
joshua.platt@autographmagazine.com.