by: David Kunstek
Everyone collects something right? It may be baseball cards, hats, or some other type of sports memorabilia. Even if you don’t consider yourself a collector of anything, you may be and don’t even know it. How about the collection of tools in the cellar you don’t really use, but you have to have them! Even maybe all those movies laying around you no longer watch, sounds like a collection to me.
More common items people typically collect are things like, coins, military items, guns, and sports items. Generally it will be something that once interested a person, had an impact on their lives or they just simply enjoyed. Me, I am a collector of shot glasses. What it was that spawned the interest is beyond me, I think it may have started in college. I now have a collection of over 300 shot glasses, and yes, I have had at least 1 shot of some type of a concoction from each one of them.
Looking at them now, they are reminders of places I have been, and things I have done. Every one of them has a story to be told, the memories flood my mind every time I pick one up. None of my shot glasses really have any monetary value, but I would never part with them, as a collection, they are proof of my existence if kept together.
I have searched the internet to find the reasons why others collect shot glasses. This quote was found on a personal site of an obvious diehard Hard Rock Cafe shot glass collector; “My goal is to display each of the shot glasses that have been available over the years from The Hard Rock Cafes and The Hard Rock Hotel.” Needless to say, the man(or woman) has their work cut out for them to complete that collection.
My next quote comes from another personal web site; “I love my shot glasses! Currently I own almost 400 of the mini drinking vessels. My friends insist that one day we have a party where each glass gets used at least once. I don't have enough floor space for when they pass out! For now, I am content to hanging these puppies on the wall. My other loves are Pink Flamingos and Oreo Cookies, but they haven't overwhelmed an entire room yet. Give me time.” This collector just loves collecting them, no rhyme or reason why, she just enjoys the act of doing so.
I am sure it is clear to you by now that the reasons why people collect many times are very different. They range from being a simple hobby, all the way to self preservation. Sometimes people collections end up in museums after they have past on. The Smithsonian Institution is living proof of that. So no matter what it is you collect just remember, next time you go somewhere, bring a memory home with you.