Who's Going to Want Grandma's Hoard Of Antique Gnomes?
Since Kids Aren't Connecting
With Collecting Today,
Answer May Be Nobody
In Graytown, Ohio, 51-year-old Doug Martin has amassed a collection of 5,000 pencils, most of them never used. Some date back to the 1800s.
He sometimes wonders what will become of his prized collection when he dies. Will his children stick them in a sharpener and write with them? "It hurts to think about it," he says.
Young people today have little interest in the stamp, coin or knickknack collections of their elders, so an aging America can't help but wonder: What's going to happen to all those boxes in the basement?
Well, here's an idea for Mr. Martin: "His children can glue his pencils together and make a coffin for him," says Harry Rinker, sharply.
A collectibles researcher in Vera Cruz, Pa., Mr. Rinker, 64, himself collects everything from jigsaw puzzles to antique toilet paper. But he thinks sentimental "accumulators" need a reality check. "Old-timers thought the next generation would love their stuff the way they did," he says. "Well guess what -- it's not happening." He advises: Enjoy your collections, die with them, and have no expectations about anything after that.
Collecting things, once a big part of childhood, is now pretty much passé with kids. Preoccupied with MP3 players and computer games, they are rarely found sitting at the kitchen table putting postage stamps into collectors' books or slipping old coins into plastic sleeves. These days, baseball cards and comic books are collected by adults. Of the estimated 37 million Americans who identified themselves as collectors in 2000, just 11% were under the age of 36, according to a study by marketing consultant Unity Marketing Inc. Most were over 50.
Some collectors say they wouldn't mind if their heirs just sold everything on eBay. The Internet keeps alive a market for many objects by making it easy for far-flung collectors to find one another. But people do fear that collections lovingly assembled will be mishandled or trashed by their offspring. That's why collectors groups are now organizing emergency efforts to keep things out of the wrong hands.
The International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society, based in London, gets in touch with families when it hears of a member's death, so the machines can end up with someone who will treasure them. They're often too late. One member recently died and his family sold his old sewing machines to a junk dealer for $200. The machines, some dating to the 1860s, were worth about $65,000, according to Graham Forsdyke, secretary for the 800-member society. He adds: "I don't know of a single collection that's been passed down after a death."
Young people today amass hundreds of songs on their iPods and, decades from now, may very well be collecting "vintage" cellphones or other electronic devices, says Linda Kruger, editor of Collectors News, based in Grundy Center, Iowa. Or it may just be so much junk. There's no way to predict the future value of such things, she adds.
In the meantime, most young people don't connect with their elders' collections. In Goodyear, Ariz., Zita Wessa, 72, says her grandchildren walk past her display cases of gnome figurines "and show no interest at all." Her 45-year-old son, Scott, says he'd be happy to inherit one of the giant cabinets she stores them in, but the gnomes "don't do much for me. If she begged me to take them, I would, because I love my mother. But I don't know what I'd do with them." (His mom says she paid $5,600 over the years for her 160 gnomes, but their current value is uncertain.)
William Adrian, 72, of Plainfield, Ill., collects miniature guns. He says his three children "wouldn't give you a twenty-dollar bill for any of it."
"Collecting is about memory, and young people today have a different memory base," explains Mr. Rinker, who is well known in antiquing circles for his books and personal appearances. He lives in a 14,000-square-foot former elementary school in Vera Cruz, Pa. He uses the classrooms as storage spaces for his 250 different collections. He says he doesn't care what becomes of it all once he's gone, and if his children opt to use his rolls of century-old toilet paper, "that might be the finest honor they can give me."
Doug Martin with part of his pencil collection.
Mr. Martin, the pencil collector, is unlikely to have his collection stay in the family after he dies. His daughter, Elizabeth Jefferson, 24, says if she inherits the pencils -- which her dad values at $4,500 -- she'd donate them to other collectors or to a museum.
If new generations of collectors don't materialize, the value of items will plummet. That's why marble clubs, to generate enthusiasm, send free marbles to schools. The U.S. Mint has a Web site with cartoons and computer games to entertain kids about the thrills of coin-collecting. Indeed, children have shown considerable interest in the state quarters program.
In West Chester, Pa., Judy Knauer, founder of the 700-member National Toothpick Holder Collectors' Society, gives away toothpick holders to young people. She tells them, "Here's your start." But few get hooked.
Some collecting groups have created unstated policies. The 650-member National Milk Glass Collectors Society -- a group devoted to opaque glass -- holds an annual auction. When the rare young person shows up to bid on an item, older collectors lower their hands. "We back off and let the young person buy it. We want them to add to their collections," says Bart Gardner, the group's past president.
In Palo Alto, Calif., Tom Wyman, 78, has about 900 antique slide rules. Mr. Wyman belongs to the 430-member Oughtred Society, named for William Oughtred, who in the 1620s invented an early form of the slide rule. The group hosts lectures to entice youngsters to embrace slide-rule collecting. But Mr. Wyman says such "missionary work" is a hard sell. "It's quite a challenge to give a talk that keeps everybody awake -- both the 80-year-old collectors and the 12-year-olds in the audience."
Mr. Wyman's son, Tom, 41, who doesn't know how to use a slide rule, admires his dad's devotion to preserving the instrument. Still, he appreciates that his father has promised to eventually dispose of the collection. "He has told me, 'I won't saddle you with this,' " says the younger Mr. Wyman. Some of the slide rules are worth just pennies, while others could sell for $2,000.
George Beilke, 61, of Tulsa, Okla., has amassed 35,000 used instant-lottery tickets. His daughter, Sarah, 23, says that when she tells friends about the collection, "they look at me like I'm crazy. It's guilt by association." During her childhood, her dad tried to get her involved. He gave her tickets and assumed she was diligently putting them between the sheet protectors he provided. But she just hid them in her room.
Ms. Beilke is set to inherit the collection and says she'll donate it to the 200-member Global Lottery Collector's Society. She may hold on to a handful of tickets as keepsakes. "It would keep the bond between us," says her dad. "I just hope she puts them in the sheet protectors."
Some collectors now accept that younger people don't want their stuff. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky, 64, has collected the last editions of 79 daily newspapers that closed down since 1963. His adult children don't want the old newspapers, which fill a closet. "The only kind of paper my family wants is greenbacks and stock certificates," he says.
He hasn't been able to find a university to take his collection, either. And now he's under the gun to get rid of it. He is about to marry his third wife, who is 27 years old, and in the prenuptial agreement, there's a clause that he must dispose of the collection by Dec. 31. She wants to store her shoes in that closet.
"At least I can wear my shoes," says his fiancée, Jennifer Graham. "He never reads those papers, and besides, he likes how I look in my shoes."
毕生珍藏无人继承
在俄亥俄州的Graytown，51岁的道格?马丁(Doug Martin)收集了5000支铅笔，大部分都是从来没用过的，有些甚至是19世纪时候的产品。
他有时很困惑，不知道自己去世后，这笔珍藏将被如何处置。孩子们是不是会把它们用铅笔刀削尖，然后拿来写字？“想到这一点就难受，”他说。
现在的年轻人不像他们的长辈那样喜欢收藏邮票、钱币这些小玩意儿。日益年长的美国人禁不住要思考这个问题：藏在地下室的那些箱子将怎么办？
这里有个办法可以供马丁先生参考。“他的孩子可以把这些铅笔粘在一起，给他做一副棺材，”哈里?林克(Harry Rinker)尖刻地说。
64岁的林克是宾夕法尼亚州Vera Cruz的一位收藏品研究者，他收藏各种各样的东西，从趣味拼图到老式卫生纸，五花八门。不过他认为，多愁善感的“收集者”需要有一个现实的态度。他说：“老家伙们以为下一代会像自己那样珍爱他们留下的收藏，但你猜怎么著，这种情况并不会发生。”他的建议是：享受收藏的乐趣，死的时候连它们一起带走，不要抱任何其他期待。
收藏曾经是不少人童年时代的一个重要部分，但对如今的孩子来说已经显得很过时。现在很少看见有孩子坐在厨房的桌子前把带邮戳的邮票小心翼翼地放进集邮本或把旧钱币装进塑胶套子里，他们满脑子想的都是MP3播放器和电脑游戏。时下有成人收集棒球卡和卡通书。根据行销顾问公司Unity Marketing Inc.的一项调查研究，2000年，在3700万自认有收藏爱好的美国人中，只有11％在36岁以下。大部分的收藏者都在50岁以上。
有些收藏者表示不会介意后代把自己生前的收藏拿到eBay上去卖个精光。互联网为很多物品开辟了一个市场，使得相隔万里的收藏者都能找到对方。但他们特别害怕自己精心收藏的物品会被后代毁坏或当作废品扔掉。正因为如此，眼下一些收藏家团体正在抓紧时间采取措施，避免珍贵的收藏所托非人。
设在伦敦的国际缝纫机收藏者协会 (International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society)每当听说有成员去世就会和一些家庭取得联系，确保这位成员收藏的缝纫机会转到珍视它们的人手中。然而他们经常来晚一步。最近有一位成员去世，他的家人已经把他生前收藏的老式缝纫机以200美元卖给了一个收废品的。据这个现有800名成员的协会的秘书长格雷厄姆?弗斯代克(Graham Forsdyke)称，这批缝纫机值6.5万美元左右，当中有的还是19世纪60年代的产品。他又说：“我至今还没有听说哪位成员的收藏在他去世后得到传承的。”
位于爱荷华州Grundy Center的《收藏家新闻》(Collection News)的编辑琳达?克鲁格(Linda Kruger)说，如今的年轻人会在iPod播放器上存上几百首歌曲，往后的几十年，他们可能还会收藏vintage手机或其他电子设备。她说，也许这些东西看上去只不过是一些垃圾，但未来的价值谁知道呢。
与此同时，大多数年轻人都不继承他们长辈的收藏。在亚利桑那州，72岁的齐塔?韦萨(Zita Wessa)说她的孙儿们从她收藏侏儒塑像的展示柜跟前走过，丝毫没有兴趣。她45岁的儿子斯科特说会很乐意继承母亲用来存放小塑像的那些大柜子，至于那些小人儿，“对我没有什么用处。”“如果她求我接收它们的话，我会答应的，因为我爱我的母亲。不过我真的不知道会怎么处置它们。”（他的母亲说她买这160个小矮人总共花了5,600美元，但它们目前的价值还不好说。）
伊里诺斯州Plainfield的威廉?阿德里安(William Adrian)现年72岁，他收藏袖珍手枪。他说他的三个孩子甚至认为这手枪连20美元都不值。
“收藏其实是一种回忆，现在的年轻人跟我们有不一样的回忆，”林克解释说。他因著书立说和频频亮相而在古董收藏圈小有名气。他住在宾夕法尼亚州Vera Cruz的一座1.4万平方英尺的房子里，这座房子过去是一所小学。他把教室改成了他的250个不同藏品的储存室。他表示并不在乎自己去世后这些收藏的命运将会如何，并说如果孩子决定把他收藏的那些有百年历史的卫生纸拿来使用，“那真是荣幸之至”。
收藏铅笔的马丁去世之后他的珍藏将不可能在留在他的家庭中。他24岁的女儿伊莉莎白?杰弗逊(Elizabeth Jefferson)说如果她继承了这些铅笔（他父亲认为它们值4500美元），她会把它们捐给其他收藏者或博物馆。
如果没有新一代的收藏者，藏品的价值就会一落千丈。这就是为什么大理石俱乐部为了培养学生的兴趣，经常给学校免费赠送大理石。美国铸币公司(U.S. Mint)的网站通过各种卡通和电脑游戏让孩子在娱乐的同时能感受到收集钱币的兴奋心情。事实上，孩子们已经对由各州来发行一部分25美分硬币的项目表现出了相当大的兴趣。
在宾夕法尼亚州的West Chester，裘蒂?克瑙尔(Judy Knauer)成立了一个有700名成员的全国牙签筒收藏者协会(National Toothpick Holder Collectors' Society)，他们赠送牙签筒给年轻人。她告诉他们：“就从现在开始。”但很少人对这种收藏上瘾。
有些收藏组织制定了一些不成文的规定。有650名成员的全国牛奶杯收藏者协会(National Milk Glass Collectors Society)专门收藏不透明的玻璃杯，他们每年举行一次拍卖。每当有为数不多的年轻人举手竞投一样东西时，年长的收藏者就会把手放下。“我们退回来是想让年轻人买下这件物品，我们希望他们的收藏品能够多一些，”协会的前主席巴特?加德纳(Bart Gardner)说。
在加利福尼亚州的Palo Alto，78岁的汤姆?怀曼(Tom Wyman)收集了大约900个古老的计算尺。怀曼是奥特雷德协会(Oughtred Society)的430个成员之一。协会以威廉?奥特雷德的名字命名，奥特雷德在17世纪20年代最早发明了计算尺。组织经常举办讲座来吸引年轻人参与计算尺的收藏。但怀曼说这项“传教士式的工作”像是强行推销。“作一次让所有听者--不管是80岁的收藏迷还是12岁的孩子--都不打瞌睡的讲座，真是个挑战。”
怀曼41岁的儿子汤姆根本不知道怎样使用一把计算尺，他对父亲专注保存这种工具感到十分崇拜。但尽管如此，当父亲表示会处理掉这笔藏品时，他表示非常赞同。“他跟我说'我不会让这些物品给你增加负担，'”小怀曼说。有些计算尺只值几块钱，但有的能卖到2000美元。
住在奥克拉荷马州Tulsa的61岁的乔治?贝尔克(George Beilke)收集了3.5万张使用过的即时抽奖彩票。他23岁的女儿萨拉说当她跟朋友说到父亲的这个收藏，
