By Lee Bernstein

Throughout history, collecting has played an important part in society. Some psychiatrists (for example, Freud) have said the need to collect is inborn. Yet, while the desire to collect may be strong in everyone, it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that the general public could collect with the passion of the upper class.

The elite had always enjoyed having collections, but others didn't have the means or opportunity until mass production. As soon as they were affordable, mass produced objects became available, and acquiring them fuelled collecting among the middle class. The more the public bought, the more manufacturers responded, and merchandising helped fire the collecting fever we know today.

"Collectables" as a buzzword didn't become popular until the second half of the 20th century. Until then, people thought more in terms of "having a collection" or "making an acquisition" than "owning a collectable." Today however, collectables are more than an expression; collectables are a widespread pastime that's growing in popularity by the minute.

Most people collect something, whether they realise it or not. Perhaps it's a shoebox filled with old love notes, a stack of favourite books or CDs, or a scrapbook laden with recipes. People who keep photo albums or have their children's' drawings tucked away for safe keeping may not think of themselves as having a collection, but they do. Many, however, have a passion for "collectables" that extends far beyond making a stack or filling a drawer. Lovers of collectables accumulate their possessions intentionally, and they collect just about anything.

Collectables fans seem to have become perfect hosts for the dawn of the new millennium. The 20th century offered an abundance of advertising premiums, but during the 1930's the craze hit hard. Victims of the Depression longed for escape through acquisition, but they couldn't afford it. For many people, low-priced merchandise or premiums became the way to do it. Items such as pressed glass offered by dime stores and movie houses were more than just economical sets of dinnerware. Piece by piece, week after week, "Depression glass" was an escape as well as an inducement, all of which came laced in cloudless crystal or rainbow colours to help chase away the blues.

Kids accumulated too – advertising gimmicks, bubble gum baseball cards, and radio show premiums made the Depression seem a little more tolerable and a whole lot more fun. Of course, people didn't see the latest gravy boat or secret decoder as being a "collectable," but they did see it as something to covet and collect, if only for the time being.

The Depression also led to what could be called a "mid-20th century need for comfort through possession." People took great joy in overstocking their cabinets and refrigerators simply because the scarcity of the Depression created a need to own MORE than enough to get by.

In the '50s and '60s, old wasn't cool. Modern was everything. If it doesn't work, no problem. Throw it away and buy the latest model.

Something greater was happening, however. Baby boomers were riding on their grandparents' compulsion to start anew as well as their parents need to possess the latest, greatest thing. A lot of middle class kids didn't just own toys; they owned a collection of toys. It wasn't enough to have one or two Roy Rogers or Mickey Mouse Club items. The more, the better. The psychology of gotta-have-it was in full swing. Like the advertising premium fans of earlier times, consumers didn't always see what they bought as being collectable, especially since the items were modern and meant for use ... but accumulate they did.

By late mid-century, shoppers began to compare modern mass-produced items to the mass-produced items of the past. More and more, the cliché of the day became "They just don't make it like they used to." Of course, kids were too busy having fun to worry about such things, but they heard those words and absorbed them for future reference.

Some people felt a longing for remembrances of simpler times, many of which were the things they sought to improve upon and as such, had discarded. Intrigued by nostalgia as well as practicality, these folks began to seek out examples for purchase. Others felt haunts of the past yet longed for tokens of it, many of which were the things they sought to escape and had also discarded-items from the Depression, war, "the old country," and so on. The items collected by these groups were probably the first true "collectables" – secondary market trades or purchases representative of late 19th and 20th century culture, history, and/or mass production.

Manufacturers took advantage of the situation and began manufacturing contemporary collectables. Limited edition plates are a good example. Some manufacturer-manipulated collectables kept their value, some did not, but consumers started paying attention to collecting 20th century "stuff" while their feelings of nostalgia heightened.

This nostalgia wove itself around the public's heart as well as hope. Elders, particularly those who survived hard times, longed for their descendants to enjoy more comfortable and prosperous lives. Baby boomers kept accumulating while their parents kept trying to keep up with the Jones's, and the Jones's baby. It became common for kids to have large contemporary toy collections – everything from marbles to Barbies to Matchbox cars. Adults collected too, with decorative items and memorabilia becoming particularly popular.

Few people can store so much for long. As time passed, people by the millions threw away the contents of bedrooms, attics, basements, and garages overflowing with "stuff." Yet the need to collect remained. People who felt pangs of nostalgia began to acquire what others discarded. Parents who collected through their children went on to collect for themselves while their children (the middle age adults of today) shared a love of possession with the next generation, and so it goes.

Today's collector enjoys both the vintage as well as the modern. As we acquire the new, we cherish the old... and search for all the stuff we wish we'd saved as kids! Now, at the end of this millennium, "collectables" is a common term, with the need to collect reflecting our elders' desires as well as our own.

Collectables have come of age, and with the age comes a reflection of ourselves as a society as well as individuals. Whether it's the past or the present... whether it's through our parents, ourselves, or our children: we wait, we watch, we remember... and we collect.

The preceding material was written by Lee Bernstein. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.