chapter 2
The Object’s Voice
Early Collections ★ Dixie Lids ★ The Purest Collecting ★ Needing to Collect ★ Why Are Dixie Lids Scarce? ★ Loving the Unloved
Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz Dixie Lid, 1953. Printed waxed card stock, 2 3/4" diameter. USA
The Object’s Voice speaks to seduction by the object. Why does anyone save or seek anything out? I still have all my marbles, literally. Since childhood I have kept bottle caps, skate keys, cigar rings, license plate key chain tags, Dixie lids and bubble gum cards. Some children need to collect things, others don’t. Children are the purest collectors; they are unselfconscious about loving the unloved. Confounding issues of cultural value, pride or competition do not apply to these children. However, the reasons that children collect apply to Lorenzo de’ Medici, Malcolm Forbes, Silas Marner, Tom Sawyer and any collector that ever needed a thing. This chapter also discusses the allure of the object of no apparent value and why any of these enchanted things remain. Never mind scarce, why are there any left? The substance of this book celebrates this class of objects. (ex: bottle caps, Dixie lids, bubble gum cards, decals, childrens’ eccentric collections).
