Its a partially realized notion - I have the room in my house, I have the beginnings of the pen collection. I have a poor knockoff of a Hamilton cabinet. I have books.
But, in a moment of introspection as I contemplate my own career "what next?", I thought that perhaps understanding my motive to own a collection of vintage writing instruments, pack them away in a cabinet beyond anyone else's reach, and continue to add to them (with the occasional sale to prune) might give me a better insight into what drives me and motivates me. This isn't about pens specifically, this is about collecting.... things. Something.
So I've been looking around on the web, searching on "psychology of collecting" and the poll choice above is a very rapidly collected list of ideas that came from psychologists, authors, and a few from yours truly. I'm pretty sure part of my motivation to collect is to affect the way I'm seen by other collectors (although I'm having a hard time getting a handle on "in which way?").
Even if you don't think of any of the above to fit yourself, we all know people that are relentlessly competitive in the way they collect, and some of the things that you might think are personality flaws truly exist amongst others in our community. I don't think that makes anyone a bad person.
Anyway, I thought I might share a portion of this path of introspection I'm taking. Answer as many of these as you think fits.
Edited by marcshiman, 13 August 2013 - 09:31 AM.