by Tom Spruce
Every hobby has its stereotypes. Golfers get accused of ruining a perfectly good walk. Gamers are told to "go outside." And anyone who enjoys running in their spare time probably finds themselves trying to explain the “runner’s high” at every social event.
Collectors, however, face a unique challenge.
We spend our lives chasing rare items, preserving history and carefully curating collections that mean something to us. Only to be met with the same baffling comments from people who just don't understand.
With that in mind, here are 14 things non-collectors say that drive collectors up the wall. We apologies in advance for the rage bait.
We get it. From the outside looking in, collecting can seem irrational. Why spend hours searching for a specific card, coin, shirt or programme when there are thousands of similar ones available?
Well, that's precisely the point. Collectors don't collect objects. We collect stories. But these standard comments prove that this point is still lost on most “normies”. I’d probably have a chamomile tea handy when you read through these...
Ah yes. The collector's equivalent of nails down a chalkboard.
No, we can't just buy another one. If we could, there wouldn't have been a six-month hunt, three missed auctions and a small celebration when we finally found it.
Rarity is kind of the whole point.
Yes, and the crown jewels are just shiny rocks. Macchu Picchu is just a pile of rubble. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is just a shocked emoji on a bridge.
Collectors don't pay for paper, cardboard or metal. They pay for history, scarcity, craftsmanship and cultural significance.
The material isn't the story.
The meaning is.
Not everything is inventory. Sometimes a piece enters your collection and immediately rockets in value to you, earning itself a permanent place on the shelf.
Some collectibles are investments. Others, thanks to the Endowment Effect, are personal treasures.
Collectors don't always collect teams. In fact, a lot of famous actors and sports people are collectors, so it would be tough for them to limit themselves to one mode of collecting.
But speaking about us 'normal' collectors, mostly it can be difficult or unrewarding to limit yourself to just one team or group.
Sometimes they collect players, eras, moments, stories, or locations. Every collection is different and individual to the person. That’s what makes them so special and unique. It’s like your collector’s fingerprint.
It’s an interesting point. Because, as we keep saying, collectables are about the memories, feelings and nostalgia attached to them. But the same could be said for a holiday, right?
Bu, there’s absolutely no chance of that fully licensed, official legal tender coin or rare stamp stealing your sunbed.
Plus, your collectables will still be there with you providing joy long after the tan lines have faded, and the all-inclusive wristband has finally relented and allowed you to remove it.
Of course. And while we're at it, why visit a football stadium when highlights exist?
Why attend concerts when Spotify is free and the tallest person in the venue hasn’t decided that the best vantage point in the building exists just 3 inches in front of you?
Experience is the point. Ownership is the point. The physical connection is the point.
Well, that escalated quickly.
Image from WAusJackBauer YouTube
Nothing says "nice collection" quite like an unexpected reminder of your own mortality. The irony is that many collectables were designed to outlast their owners. That's part of their appeal.
This statement usually arrives moments before a small child lunges towards your PSA 10 Erling Haaland card, with jam all over their fingers and destruction in their eyes (where did they even get the jam from?)
Look, we love children. We just don't necessarily want them handling a pristine collectible with the same enthusiasm they bring to chicken nuggets, finger paint and helium balloons.
Have you tried not upgrading your phone? Not booking golf weekends? Not getting that new game? Not ordering takeaways?
Everyone spends money on things that bring them joy. Collectors are no different.
Correct. That’s how all money and value works in the entire history of human civilisation. You've successfully described value.
Not just collectibles, by the way.
Every collector has heard this story. Usually multiple times.
It's always followed by a wistful stare into the distance and a brief mourning period for a collection lost somewhere between a loft clearance and a charity shop donation.
We sympathise. We really do.
But its conversation kryptonite.
No.
A hoard is accidental and chaotic. A collection is intentional and an extension of the self.
One is forgotten about in a garage. The other is catalogued, researched, protected and displayed with pride. There's a fairly significant difference.
Similar to point 5. For the same reason golfers don't sell their clubs, cyclists don't sell their bikes and football fans don't cancel their season tickets.
People spend money on the things they care about. Have you thought about all the things you could’ve bought if you hadn’t gone on so many holidays?
And there it is. The heavyweight champion of collector comments.
The truth is that value is subjective. One person sees a coin while another sees a limited-edition piece of sporting history.
One person sees a signed shirt; another sees a direct connection to a player they idolised growing up.
The price only seems strange when you don't understand the story, memory and connection behind it.
If you've noticed a pattern here, it's because most of these comments focus on two things:
What an object is made of
What it might be worth
Collectors tend to focus on something entirely different. Meaning.
To contextualise this further, to collectors a commemorative coin isn't just metal, a signed shirt isn't just fabric and a matchday programme isn't just paper.
They're physical reminders of moments that mattered, stories you can hold or memories of people you’ve treasured.
That's why collectors spend years searching for certain pieces. That's why we protect them so carefully, and that's why the phrase "it's just cardboard" never quite lands. Because, to us, it’s never “just cardboard”.
The funny thing is, most of these comments aren't meant to be insulting. They simply come from people viewing collecting through a different lens.
Collectors have always understood something that non-collectors often miss: the best collectibles aren't valuable because of their retail cost or what they're made from. They're valuable because of what they mean. This is what we mean by a haptic bond.
If you want to find out more about why our collections mean so much to us, check out our article exploring haptic value and the science behind collecting.
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