Pity the man who is owned by things, rather than the reverse.
This reminded me: Ronnie, where can I find the piece that you wrote about the estate auction of a Cord 812(?)
The man, an engineer, had carefully saved every part removed in favor of an upgrade and also painted the new parts in uniform color to distinguish his alterations. He had owned the car since before marriage and the children, IIRC. Was that for TTAC?
That would be Harold Allsop's '37 Cord. One of my favorite cars and stories. One of the things that I've realized over the years is that while we car guys often think it's about the machines, people read stories about other people, not about machines.
I've taught my sons an appreciation for automatic timepieces so they'll keep my small collection of inexpensive watches but I have little doubt my books will be donated. I've considered splitting off the ones that are worth some money but then I remembered my excitement stumbling across a signed copy of Buzz Aldrin's Men From Earth while scanning the shelves in a Goodwill so fuck'em, leave the books to be discovered by someone who'll appreciate them.
The local chapters of the National Women's Committee of Brandeis University used to run big used book sales. The Detroit sale was a big event, held at a suburban shopping mall, and if you had the chance to get there early, you'd find signed, first editions of significant books, some with personal inscriptions from the authors, or other books with inscriptions indicating they were gifts of some import to the giver and recipient.
After Clara Ford died the basement of Fair Lane was found to be packed with cardboard boxes from just about everything Henry and Clara acquired in their marriage, so it's possible that the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village were more of a hoard than a collection.
Could it be that she had a Depression era mindset, where one thought that financial ruin could happen to anyone? My brother and I joke that we are the last vestiges of the Depression mindset, inherited from our parents, where we can’t throw something out “in case we might need it one day”.
My mom was a hoarder and I spent some time learning about hoarders. A lot of people think that it was growing up during the depression and WWII rationing that caused people to be hoarders but studies show there's no link between early deprivation and later hoarding. It's just that hoarding typically gets out of hand when the hoarder ages and there are no children or a spouse to restrain it, and seniors of the last 40 years all happened to live through the Great Depression.
Hoarding is an anxiety disorder. They are afraid of throwing away something that might be valuable and eventually they lose the ability to distinguish between trash and treasure. To avoid the anxiety, they won't throw anything out.
Compulsive shopping is related because of the fear of missing out on a bargain.
Combine the two and you have a house full of brand new-in-the-box housewares and small appliances, boxes of past-date groceries, and six inches of old mail and paper waste on the floors.
Fortunately for my siblings and me, as with Watts' sons, our mother hoarded things of value that had liquid value, in her case financial securities, in their case a collection worth millions of dollars. Fritz built a singular stereo system, a monument to himself really, that was so specific to a dedicated listening room, that I'm not surprised they only recovered about 15 cents on the dollars he spent.
I watched the documentary about Watts and his sons last night. Mind boggling is the only way to describe the collection of 300,000 comic books and another million trading cards and other collectibles. The documentary shows his son at a comic con asking a dealer about a particular high graded comic that was being offered at $10,000. He then mentions how Heritage Auctions, which is handling the high dollar items in the collection (like the #1 Batman), sold four similar copies, all for at least $10K, and offhand says, "We have 100 of those." That's a casual million dollars.
Interesting note about Peter Mullin, he didn’t like to drive any of his fabulous old cars! He usually let his wife drive on rallies and in other automotive events. His daily driver was a Mini Cooper.
Pity the man who is owned by things, rather than the reverse.
This reminded me: Ronnie, where can I find the piece that you wrote about the estate auction of a Cord 812(?)
The man, an engineer, had carefully saved every part removed in favor of an upgrade and also painted the new parts in uniform color to distinguish his alterations. He had owned the car since before marriage and the children, IIRC. Was that for TTAC?
That would be Harold Allsop's '37 Cord. One of my favorite cars and stories. One of the things that I've realized over the years is that while we car guys often think it's about the machines, people read stories about other people, not about machines.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/08/asked-attracted-harold-replied-car-course/
Thank you!
A very good point as this is not just a rich man's dilemma .
-Nate
I've taught my sons an appreciation for automatic timepieces so they'll keep my small collection of inexpensive watches but I have little doubt my books will be donated. I've considered splitting off the ones that are worth some money but then I remembered my excitement stumbling across a signed copy of Buzz Aldrin's Men From Earth while scanning the shelves in a Goodwill so fuck'em, leave the books to be discovered by someone who'll appreciate them.
The local chapters of the National Women's Committee of Brandeis University used to run big used book sales. The Detroit sale was a big event, held at a suburban shopping mall, and if you had the chance to get there early, you'd find signed, first editions of significant books, some with personal inscriptions from the authors, or other books with inscriptions indicating they were gifts of some import to the giver and recipient.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Many wealthy people are little more than janitors of their possessions
After Clara Ford died the basement of Fair Lane was found to be packed with cardboard boxes from just about everything Henry and Clara acquired in their marriage, so it's possible that the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village were more of a hoard than a collection.
Could it be that she had a Depression era mindset, where one thought that financial ruin could happen to anyone? My brother and I joke that we are the last vestiges of the Depression mindset, inherited from our parents, where we can’t throw something out “in case we might need it one day”.
My mom was a hoarder and I spent some time learning about hoarders. A lot of people think that it was growing up during the depression and WWII rationing that caused people to be hoarders but studies show there's no link between early deprivation and later hoarding. It's just that hoarding typically gets out of hand when the hoarder ages and there are no children or a spouse to restrain it, and seniors of the last 40 years all happened to live through the Great Depression.
Hoarding is an anxiety disorder. They are afraid of throwing away something that might be valuable and eventually they lose the ability to distinguish between trash and treasure. To avoid the anxiety, they won't throw anything out.
Compulsive shopping is related because of the fear of missing out on a bargain.
Combine the two and you have a house full of brand new-in-the-box housewares and small appliances, boxes of past-date groceries, and six inches of old mail and paper waste on the floors.
Fortunately for my siblings and me, as with Watts' sons, our mother hoarded things of value that had liquid value, in her case financial securities, in their case a collection worth millions of dollars. Fritz built a singular stereo system, a monument to himself really, that was so specific to a dedicated listening room, that I'm not surprised they only recovered about 15 cents on the dollars he spent.
I watched the documentary about Watts and his sons last night. Mind boggling is the only way to describe the collection of 300,000 comic books and another million trading cards and other collectibles. The documentary shows his son at a comic con asking a dealer about a particular high graded comic that was being offered at $10,000. He then mentions how Heritage Auctions, which is handling the high dollar items in the collection (like the #1 Batman), sold four similar copies, all for at least $10K, and offhand says, "We have 100 of those." That's a casual million dollars.
I’ll have to look for that document.
Interesting note about Peter Mullin, he didn’t like to drive any of his fabulous old cars! He usually let his wife drive on rallies and in other automotive events. His daily driver was a Mini Cooper.
That reminds me, the guitars on the wall need dusting.
I’ll just be in my room reading Ecclesiastes
You might find this useful: https://www.sefaria.org/Steinsaltz_Introductions_to_Tanakh%2C_Ecclesiastes%2C_Book_Introduction.1?lang=en
I think it says a lot that the Jewish sages incorporated the "Wisdom" books in the Hebrew canon. Religious faith is not for the faint of heart.