Why We Collect What We Collect

What’s your pleasure? To sit for hours staring at little discs of metal encased in slabs of plastic? If so, you know it brings an almost-unbelievable rush of adrenaline, however irrational. What separates you from being merely an accumulator of coins is that you hunt for specific finds. Turning pages in notebooks, holding up pieces under magnifying glasses, swapping discs of metal for other discs.

The observer sees only the object but the best thing they’re missing out on is the hunt. Psychologists would probably tell you that they are just victims of the ‘endowment effect’, which suggests that we over-value objects because we own them and some even propose evolutionary explanations, such as hunting for food and supplies. These might be valid but aren’t sufficient justification for collecting. It’s all about the hunt. For Coin Dealers UK, visit https://www.gmcoins.co.uk

In 1917, William James wrote that humans have an innate tendency to pursue goals, hunt and acquire things. Our forebears might have chased animals to feed their families but we hunt for the elusive coin hiding somewhere in a pile of loose change. Like them, however, we have a strong desire to track down something we don’t yet have.

There are three definitive steps on the trail of collecting. We might not deliberately experience all in a single transaction but each step corresponds directly to our evolutionary drive to hunt and acquire. These are: Anticipation, capture and curation. The first stage, anticipation, includes the excitement and thrill of getting close to catching the prey – or making a purchase. It’s scanning the local listings on a favourite coin auction website, looking for a diamond in the rough. It’s also going on a road trip, bound for the next coin show. And yet, this is the most thrilling stage.

This is what matches our instinctual drive to hunt and acquire resources. It’s fantasy. Just as our brains release dopamine when we fantasise about that special someone, it does the same for our special something. You know the feeling: every time you drive home with fresh eyes, every time you browse the websites of your local online dealers, every time you open your albums and sift through each page, you feel like you’re getting closer to that ultimate goal. This is why the anticipation makes us want to collect in the first place – and keeps us coming back.

The next step is to get to the meat of the matter, the stuff we’ve been fantasising about. Capture is when you finally make the purchase. You hear the gavel hit and you win the bidding war for a particularly prized coin. Suddenly, your most coveted find is in your hands. Your brain receives its long-awaited dopamine kick from what your mind perceives to be the prize you fought so hard for. At this point, it feels like your instincts have been fulfilled. This stage is the second-most exhilarating.