Collections

Why do I collect? For me the answer to that question is easy – I collect things I love and things that evoke memories or people that I cherish. Collecting is not random or impulsive. It is gathering physical pieces that represent people, places and times in my life that are meaningful. The process itself often becomes a significant memory of time spent together and interests shared.

My love of blue and white began with a childhood fascination with the antique blue and white pieces my grandmother owned. I loved the story depicted on her blue willow transferware and fell in love with the old and storied rather than the new and shiny. I collect feather edged creamware, blue and white transferware and chinese export dishes. When my mother was 20 yrs old she got on a boat to Canton, China and a job at the US Consulate. I realized as an adult that my grandparents only allowed it because a much older Wise cousin was already there as a member of the Flying Tigers. The collection of mud men figures is in honor of the ones my mother brought home with her. Not all of them survived our childhood but a couple were still intact and I have added to the collection over time.

When we were finally empty nesters and our weekends belonged to us again, we started antiquing on the weekends in Charlottesville. Ran is generally a good sport about this and I reciprocate by attending an impressive number of UVA football, basketball and baseball games. At some point he began to hunt down really ugly or weird pitchers and we have an impressive collection. My favorite is the German lady with the fish and I still can’t think of anything I would want to drink that came out of that fish’s mouth.

I have a large collection of German smokers that my husband and sons gave me over the years for Christmas. Now that they are grown we gift them a different one each Christmas so that they have collections of their own.

At this stage of life I am refining my collections, paring them down to those pieces that hold the most special memories and only adding when I find something truly exceptional.

i come from a family of collectors and my older son and his wife have followed in this tradition so I know that those pieces that hold the most precious family memories will continue to be cherished by future generations.

In the end collections are really special pieces of your past that you can hold in your hand.