I've always disliked the marketing of things as "collectibles" because I grew up thinking that amassing mounds of Stuph that you didn't have any use for except simply OWNING it was foolish, and the marketers thereof were crooks. So the "created needs" that result in the "victim collectors" you describe above tick me off, especially since the collectors tend to be people who really could use the money for something else (like not getting the utilities shut off).

Self-motivated collecting, though - mine's mineral specimens. Small, pretty mineral specimens. It's not "collecting" in the purest sense because I do occasionally come up with a brilliant idea for a jewelry piece for one or another of them, but I mostly just like looking at them!

Love, Columbine