The phenomenon of the individual collecting : from desire to greed

This essay deals with the individual collecting of four individuals with different backgrounds and lives. The essay investigates what, how and why people collect. It provides a stepping-stone in moving closer to understanding one, in human nature, deeply rooted phenomenon - collecting. The essay is based on a list of questions made by the Nordic Museum in Stockholm. It also includes in-depth examinations of four person’s passion of collecting, in which four individuals were interviewed: a pig collector, a collector of Mickey Mouse items, a multi-collector of objects from other cultures and one collector of items related to the artist Madonna. All of the collectors were driven by different factors, of which some were rooted far back in their childhood, and for some the urge to collect had increased because of difficulties in adult life. The investigation is based on the thesis that the market and the personal emotional feelings are the two main driving factors when it comes to collecting. This study and the people who participated in it, makes it clear that no market is strong enough to overcome the human mind and its will to decide what and how to collect. Although the market to some extent affect, for example by creating the availability or not, it is ultimately the emotional sense that decides how the collection would look like. This essay is meant to fill a gap of knowledge in the area of the individual collecting, and provide a better understanding of the driving forces that are deeply embedded in the soul of a collector