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Reference Archive

• Coin Collectors World Apart. Editorial
• How One Organization Assists New Collectors
• 200 Million Collectors in America. Part 1 of a series.
• 200 Million Collectors in America. Part 2 of a series.
• Kennedy Collecting and the Aging Process
• Getting Younger People to Collect
• Memories Made in Adolescence Fuel Collecting

Memories Made in Adolescence Fuel Collecting

I asked Dana Morykan, senior researcher on my staff, to review one of my recent television appearances. She cast a quizzical glance when she heard me say, "20-something and 30-something collectors grew up in the 1950s and 1960s."

"Harry, do the math," Dana exclaimed.

I did. The results made me feel old -- really, really old. Today's 20-something and 30-something collectors grew up on the 1970s and 1980s. They missed the initial telecasts of The Monkees (1966-1968) and The Munsters (1964-1966). Only the 30-somethings could remember watching Charlie's Angels (1976-1981) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978). Their knowledge of the 1950s, 1960s and much of the 1970s comes from history books.

The problem with growing up in the late 1940s and early 1950s is that one thinks of anything occurring after that time as recent. The assassination of President Kennedy occurred yesterday, not over 38 years ago. Age adjustment is extremely difficult.

This point was driven home even more by the March 25-27 "Zits" cartoon strips. The Monday strip shows Jeremy talking with his mother:

Jeremy begins, "Wow. Look at the Moon."

Mom replies, "I remember where I was during the first lunar landing."

"You were alive when they landed on the moon?"

"Alive? I was 14! We watched it on my family's black-and-white television."

"You had a black-and-white TV?"

"If you're trying to make me feel old, it's working."

"Would you consider speaking to my American history class?"

The theme continued on Tuesday:

Jeremy states, "I can't believe that you were alive back when they landed on the moon!"

"Jeremy, the first moon landing was in 1969! That was only..."

The next panel shows Jeremy's mother using her fingers to count. "...Thirty-three years ago."

"That's what I'm saying! You're an historical artifact!"

Wednesday's strip concludes the theme:

Jeremy asks his mother, "(Gasp!) You were alive when Woodstock happened! Did you go?

"No."

"Gaaa! Why not?"

"Jeremy, I was only 14!" "I didn't even know it was happening until I heard about it on Walter Chronkite."

"You were alive when Walter Chronkite --"

"Oh stop it. You never even heard of Walter Chronkite!"

Starting to feel old yourself?

What I found especially significant in the "Zits" strip was the choice of the moon landing and Woodstock rather than the Kennedy assassination as the pivotal date in the strip. Mathematically there is little difference between 1963 and 1969. Generation wise, the difference is astronomical.

The mid- to late-1960s was America's psychedelic period -- the Beatnik and Hippie era, the social cause period from Civil Rights and Women's Liberation to Ban the Bomb and Save the Whales. The mid-1960s drew a clear line of distinction between the first generation of Baby Boomers and their reincarnation as Yuppies and Dinks.

Over time, events condense. Memories become clouded. This is why people use defining events, from personal events such as graduation, marriage, or the birth of a child to national events such as the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, or 9/11, as reference points to determining occurrences within their own lives. As the "Zits" cartoons strips show, even this is not foolproof.

Your response to key questions reveals your age and generation. Name two or three key television news anchors. If someone asked me this question, I probably would reply John Cameron Swayze, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. I strongly suspect the majority of my readers have never heard of them.

I have not given the matter a great deal of thought, but suppose one clear indication of old age is when most of your personality memories are associated more with the dead than the living. If asked to list major movie stars, the first names on my list would be Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe. They are dead, and they did not die yesterday.

What interpretation should be assigned to the above? Is it possible that a disproportionate share of one's memories is formed during one's juvenile period, i.e., between ages six and 20? The answer is yes.

Further, these memories become even more intense as a person grows older. It's little wonder gaps occur between generations. Most individuals are not able to assign an equivalent memory importance to recent experiences compared to that assigned earlier childhood memories.

This explains the growing collecting gap between what appeals to 20-something and 30-something collectors versus what appeals to 50-something and 60-something collectors. While the love of collecting passes from generation to generation, the love of a specific collecting category does not. This is why many traditional antique collecting categories and even some post-1945 collecting categories have fallen on hard times. The next generation of collectors simply does not care. As old collectors die off, new collectors are not replacing them.

collecting is driven by memory. No one is going to buy a John Cameron Swayze, Chet Huntley or David Brinkley collectible if they do not remember watching these men on television. The same holds true for Charlie's Angels and The Six Million Dollar Man collectibles.

It is easy to watch memories fade. It takes time, work and intense effort to keep up with the times. It is even more difficult during this first decade of the 21st century when one not only has to keep memory current but also adjust to a wealth of new technologies.

There are days when I feel that I have simply reached memory and technological overload. It is impossible to be an antiques and collectibles generalist, i.e., have a competent level of knowledge in all collecting categories. The 21st century is an age of specialization. Specialize and survive. Generalize and die.

If it makes Jeremy's mother feel any better, I was 27 when Woodstock occurred, and I did not go either. I did not learn about it until I read about it in Life magazine. I was deeply entrenched in my museum career track.

By the way, where were you when you watched the moon landing? If you can answer this, do not ell anyone unless you want them to know that "39" is your fictional age. 200205