People have collected objects, scripts, fossils, specimens, precious stones, artifacts and memorabilia since the dawn of mankind’s memory, for different reasons. Many possible motives come into play – people collect because of nostalgia for a past world, because they want to display their wealth and sophistication, because it satisfies a compulsive need to organise and create order, because it serves as a solace and a distraction in time of uncertainty, because they want to preserve for posterity and for many other reasons. And once they start they cannot stop because there is always a gap in their collection which they need to plug. David Bowie, who collected art, said: “ Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to
