The wreckage of us.

[Javaman]

This past holiday weekend, I found myself perusing around in a few antique stores.

I'm not a "collector" per say, I'm not into old ornate furniture that is "made well" or "one of a kind", I'm more of the type that looks for small things. Things I can hold, things of use.

Old compasses, a well made watch, a non-electronic barometer. That sort of things. And they usually lean toward things made of brass. Don't ask me why, I just like them.

Anyway, while looking around, a strange thought popped into my head. Did Rome have antique stores? Did people look back longingly upon items that were "well made"? Did the retirees look upon bronze swords and harrumph, "ah, bronze, so much better. That iron stuff today, is just awful!"

I gazed upon wood and steel planes, hand cranked drills, 150 year old pocket time pieces that function the same way the day they were made. Old dishware, odd and mysterious contraptions that have lost meaning or whose use is completely unknown in these modern times, wooden tortilla presses, campaign buttons, old coins, etc.

I look upon these things, most of which were made here, in the US. Rarely you will find any item, either cheaply made or made outside the US (with the exception of some of the time pieces).

Although I hail from a generation that looked upon anything made in either China or Japan as being cheap, it seems now as if it's the rule rather than the exception.

As I continued to walk the rows upon rows of old cowboy boots, WWI and WWII decorations and military paraphernalia, hand crafted boxes with inlaid mother of pearl, I found myself treating the items as displays from a museum. A museum of us. Our history, the unrecorded memories of how we lived, once lived. The times of "make do with what you have".

I picked up each piece and examined it as it if were the only one of it's kind. Treasured it's feel and thought of the original owner and how they used this now "classic" item as something ordinary.

I came across something that gave me a moments pause. It was an old wooden drawer tool chess. Something like the red craftsman tool chests of today, but only made of oak. My dad had one just like it in our garage when I was a kid. The connection to the past was tangible. Many a time, I would retrieve a screw driver or a wrench for my dad from that tool chest. I stood humbled and sad. Humbled by my connection to the past thus highlighting my own mortality. Sad, because it was such a finally made chest and I thought nothing of it when we used it.

I wondered still what items of today will be the antiques of tomorrow? What will be the things that people will comment, years from now, "now that's a classic! They don't make stuff like that anymore!". I'm really hard pressed to think of something. I saw 45 records, but they were from my era, I saw some 35mm cameras, but they were cased in plastic, and I saw a stack of magazines.

TV guilds to be exact. I recall the episode from Seinfeld where George's dad collected them all. And how angry he was when Elaine bizarre stalker shredded his copy into a "newspaper bouquet".

So over I sauntered, what would be the classic cover page, that people will recall and say, "wow, remember that! That was something else!".

The photo?

The Twin Towers Burning.

[Mimosa]

1. Romans were major collectors of antiques

Javaman, you said: "Anyway, while looking around, a strange thought popped into my head. Did Rome have antique stores? Did people look back longingly upon items that were "well made"? Did the retirees look upon bronze swords and harrumph, "ah, bronze, so much better. That iron stuff today, is just awful!"


Yes, Romans were ferocious collectors of antiques, especially Greek statuary and even paintings. They collected Egyptian jewelry, Asian textiles and all sorts of things.

You might enjoy Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series novels, starting with "The First Man in Rome." :)

[htuttle]

2. Old stuff is important to people, because time is important to people

I think that humans can be distinguished from most other animals by our ability to use language to bind time (as Korzybski called it), and learn from the pasts of others over the generations. Only a few other animals seem to do this at all, and none of them have thumbs like we do.

In any case, most sane humans have a certain amount of respect for the past, since if it weren't for our ability to learn from it, would we never have figured out fire, among other things.

[truedelphi]

3. On the TV series pawn Shop the other night,

They showed a made in USA metal sheet iron cutter.

It was this huge piece of equipment, and it was hand operated. No electricity of steam needed.

It would have taken a very strong person to use this equipment and accomplish the job at ahnd.

But nothing like that exists now.

[joe black]

4. Thank you Javaman.

That was quite nice. I like to watch Antique Roadshow just for the history of the artifacts that people bring in.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Old things still of use. MmmHmmm.

I own many watches. Perhaps a hundred and fifty of them. Not one was made after the 1960s. Some date to the teens. I wear a different one each day, the choice depending on my mood.

I own many fountain pens. Many more of them than of watches. Most of them work. I use them frequently.

Old tools. Even my lawn tractor is older than my kids, and they're in their 30s.

Those old things are special. They exude a connection to a past, real or imagined, that is much as depicted by Norman Rockwell. I'm sure a sociologist could tell us what things today will be such things as you described tomorrow. But do you really care? I know I don't. My affinity to those things is more than money. More than collecting. They have, for me, a spirit to them. I can often, literally, feel their presence.

[Javaman]

6. I think the meaning of my post was lost on everyone.

I failed this time around.

Reread it, but this time take in the last sentence with reflection upon everything I wrote before it.

I value your opinion, that's why I ask you to reread it.

cheers! :)