Why we collect antiques
There is something so intriguing about walking into an antique shop and looking around knowing that most of the items you are looking at have been around for centuries. Most of the items in antique and vintage stores have a story to tell and those stories can be yours anytime you choose. What is it that makes us want to hold onto the past so tightly?
We try to preserve the past for a number of reasons. A lot of things you find in antique stores today are no longer made. Companies have gone out of business, items are no longer relevant to the modern world and things are simply just not made like they use to be. For example, antique furniture has become so prevalent in today’s home décor because there is an intricacy about them that you cannot replicate today. Furniture was made to last back then and lasted it has. You can’t recreate that.
Part of what makes our country so great is that we not only try to learn from our mistakes but we are proud of the nation we have become and we want to preserve that. This is why there are antique and vintage stores around. We are looking to hold onto a part of our past so we can be reminded of how far we’ve come.
There was once a time when life was simpler. There weren’t 750 different brands of the same item, there was one. There wasn’t a pharmacy or coffee shop on every street corner, there was one or two in a mile radius. Plastic containers didn’t exist; everything was sold in glass bottles or wooden crates. Today, everything is disposable. This is the difference between then and now. For many people, collecting trinkets or even large pieces of yesterday help keep the past alive.
If you are a collector, it doesn’t matter what you collect, you collect because you love the items and what they represent. Maybe you grew up watching your grandmother cook and now you are in search of old baking items, cookware or even one of those old-fashioned wooden refrigerators that use to be in your grandparents’ kitchen. Whatever is nostalgic to you has relevance.
Many people collect for the sheer monetary value and that is okay too. If it’s important to collect items that may have value, it is still the thrill of the hunt that drives people. We are interested in the past for many reasons and there is no better reason to collect except for the fact that we love it.
Antique collecting will never go out of style. No matter what it is you are collecting or why you are collecting it, the only important thing to remember is that you do it because you love it. If you are in the Southampton area of Pennsylvania, visit Antique Allure. We are a large antique shopping mall with an ever-changing inventory. Chances are if you are looking for it, we have it right here.
