WUNDERKAMMER VIII
“People have always collected things. Whether a vestige of
our hunter-gatherer days, a need to forge order amid chaos, or a simple desire
to have and to hold, the urge to possess is a hallmark of the human psyche.”
““A good Wunderkammer would have a stuffed crocodile, a decent mummy, a fetus in
a bottle (preferably with two heads), gems and minerals and fossils, Aztec
headdresses or Japanese ceremonial swords, oil paintings, and antique
sculptures,” says the scholar Terry Belanger.”
These are two quotes from “The Things They Brought Back” by Jeremy Berlin, an
article in National Geographic of January 2014. They leave me
with the question “How am I doing with my Wunderkammer?”
The doll was made from a salt box by one of my kids in about 1980.
It watches over me when I’m on my computer from the top of a six foot
bookcase.
The Ewok guards my printer and computer from the ever vulnerable window
overlooking the trash dumpsters. I think this came from JR
when I upgraded computers with his advice after retiring. It
used to have a very personal post on the right hand corner of my monitor, but
that was when we used CRTs that were more than a half inch deep.
My brother Bud was a Master Sergeant in the Army and of course carried a
clipboard. When he left the Army he gave me the clipboard.
I carried it for school and pretty much wore it out but still have it.
The red dickey (I’ll bet the Army had a different name for it) and other
artifacts from my 27 months in the service include name tags, dog tags, spare
stripes, and a 2nd Artillery (Hell on Wheels) patch.
The dickey was worn when I was on color guard, the stripes were acquired
but never used (would have been next promotion), and the patch was from my basic
training.
This grouping represents a bit more than half of my golf ball collection.
It would be very difficult to gather together the entire collection for
one picture. Most of them are logo balls with businesses,
events, organizations, golf courses, etc. represented.
Another set is golf ball brands. Some brands have a hundred
or more “variations”; for example, I have nearly 200 unique Top-Flites!
You are invited to visit my
website to see
more details on this collection. I admit to having some
leftover coding problems with the section on golf balls, but you can get an idea
of the categories. This work is on my never ending “To-Do”
list.
All of the “processed” golf balls are washed, sorted, inventoried and logged
into Excel files which include complete descriptions and locations as in flat
display boxes, bottles or other containers. Those that are
yet to be “processed” are other items on my “To-Do” list and wait quietly in
storage containers. There are a grand total of about 4444
golf balls.
“Small temples with monks
near river”, original in oil, by Sunti from Thailand.
Acquired from her personally at one of the “art parties” we had in 1970 while in
Bangkok.
“Colonial woman at window”, needlepoint by unknown. Handed
down by my ex-in-laws. There is an
unframed one on ebay for $75 at this writing.
“Llama face and neck”, original water color by Ulderico Puma Ccama, Peru 1993.
Purchased by Stuart from a street vendor in 1994. I
had rejected it because the vendor refused to haggle and wanted $3 or so.
Framing cost far more but was worth it. Found
an equivalent work by this artist currently on ebay for $180.
Group on the right is three lithographs handed down by the ex-in-laws:
“Pitcher with flowers and fruit” lithograph 173/275 by Jacques Petit, born
1925-10-13.
“Bridge over river with tree” lithograph 173/275 by Edouard Righetti, born 1924.
“Pitcher with oranges and blossoms” lithograph 228/275 by Yves Ganne, born
1931-07-13.
These artists can be found online, but they don’t seem to have much following.
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I was stationed in Germany while in the US Army in 1958-60. I
was befriended by a German family and spent quite a bit of time with them.
Opa, the father/grandfather of the family, gave me this badge from the
National-Sozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (D.A.P.). He
said men came to his village and “recruited” all men to the party and made them
members. I believe he was happy to give the badge to an
American.
Opa’s son Ludwig was our initial contact with the family.
When I said goodbye to him before returning to the US he felt the need to give
me something and was carrying this hymnal, so he insisted that I take it. |
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Who remembers this gadget? A genuine hot air corn popper.
I can’t remember the last time I used it, but I used it a lot in its
time.
I believe this desk name plaque originated at System Development Corporation in
Santa Monica when I was assigned an office and started my first task after
programmer training in 1963. Then later on when I used the
plaque at Abacus, I was involved in the company blood drive and acquired the
heart to augment the holder. |
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AFTERWORD
It’s nearing a year since I started this “wondercondo” series (and for you who
are sick of it, it’s nearing the end), but I am personally delighted that I did
it! I have resurrected many great memories.
I have identified and characterized things that just existed before.
I have sorted and categorized lots of stuff and gathered subsets into
more reasonable sets. I have inventoried lots of stuff (which
should make it a bit easier for my heirs). I have digitized
and photographed many items for sharing and for long term storage.
I have cleaned treasures and the corners they were hiding in and they
really needed it. I have purged a bunch of no-longer-valuable
stuff (why have I been keeping it?). And I have spent some
time on introspection.
Clearly I am a collector, and clearly I have “the urge to possess”.
The question is, how old do I need to be to recognize that I will never
get around to reading all those letters I wrote to my parents when I was in the
Army, or to reviewing tests and homework from the religion course I took my last
year of college? I guess 80 is not old enough – I have
labelled and inventoried these things for ……. later.