February 06, 2004

An obsession, a lifestyle, a curse

I collect heavy little things.

Tools, parts, toys, instruments, tchotchkes - the weight of some new thing in my hand, often small, metallic and well machined, compels me to add it to my life.

It's instinct by now. I can't say why these things are important, or why I haven't bothered cataloguing them until this day - they almost litter my office, my pockets, my car, my home. But this is as good a place to start as any. Posted by mack reed at February 6, 2004 04:27 PM
Comments

This type of thing was quite popular at one time and was called a "Cabinet of Wonders" or a similar title. Although the creators of these cabinets often claimed some overirding theme I suspect like myself and yourself they were just random collections of stuff that accumulated over the years.

The Brooklyn Museum featured one of the better examples of one of these cabinets several years ago in a show called "The Guennol Collection: Cabinet of Wonders" which I was able to see. Here's a reference:

http://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0312&L=amh&F=&S=&P=144

which may point you toward the catalog.

-Jeffrey Bary (Fellow Junk Collector)
New York University

Posted by: Jeffrey Bary at May 10, 2004 08:36 AM

I would love to have seen that show.

No, if there's any order to the totality of stuff I'm accumulating here, it's being applied artificially as I produce each post. The only thing any of these objects has in common is the little "Hunh!" I probably muttered before picking each one up and keeping it for good.

Posted by: mack reed at May 10, 2004 09:05 PM