I need to downsize a few things

[Gerontius]

I have got to get to downsizing. I have far too many things in the collection here and it's out of hand--started out as "I'm going to collect because I'm stressed out & know how to do this," and it turned into a bizarre habit of acquisition.

Need a kerosene lamp? I gotchu fam. I have kerosene lamps from the 1800s that smell like death when burning, and I have some high-end 1930s ones that have to be fiddled with for five or ten minutes before they start--and then still smell bad. How about a radio? Got those too, and they're the old tin-can-sounding things from the 1930s and maybe a trifle earlier. Need a handgun? Try this .44 muzzle loader that was old by the time the Civil War started.

I have fountain pens from the 1940s, a rotary phone that looks like it could've been in Stranger Things and which I used to keep on the wall here. Came in real handy during a power-outage. Typewriters? Loaded with them. There is even a working record player, restored to a condition where you could use it daily--from 1909. I know, because I did the work. This one took me two and a half years to get right because I'm picky, picky, picky about record players.
Anyway that's what I want to start doing--Whether or not I have the gumption to, I don't know.
But I want to.

Anyway.
Crap tends to build up because I'm really good at trawling antiques dealers, digging through junk piles and what-not, getting a chance to rummage. I've rummaged in old buildings while the demolition crew was tearing down the other end of the house with a backhoe. I've climbed trash piles in old barns & come home with (another) windup gramophone. If it looked like something I could restore, I've probably tried to, at one point or another, but at this point I'd just as soon like to bail out and not have to deal with it.

I should sell a bunch of this stuff.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Yes. I would love a kerosene lamp. I used them at my old house. I gave them all to my dad, as I live in a downtown high rise now. He has them in storage. I miss them. The fireplace too.

Literally everything you listed is sort of on my wish list. lol.

You've got quite the collection. Have you considered renting a stall at an antique mall? I have a friend that does that. She makes a nice side income.

 

[Rodafina]

Sounds like a very very fascinating museum at your place. I would purchase a ticket just to tour it.

 

[Outdated]

Crap tends to build up because I'm really good at trawling antiques dealers....

Perhaps become a dealer, you could keep pursuing your passion and make a few dollars while you're at it.

 

[Sherlock77]

As a fellow collector I can relate... Even with just my vintage photo collection, which doesn't take up that much physical space, I still have lots!

And there is a sense in which it's hard to stop "digging" for more of them, even when I have lots of them, and I have thought of doing some selling, but my problem is that I don't really have the time to do that as I keep quite busy as it is...

 

[Gerontius]

@Yeshuasdaughter oil lamps are pretty cool for sure.

I think I'm going to see about trying eBay. That might be my best outlet to get rid of stuff that's maybe partial or "a project" but I don't have time to make perfect.

 

[AspieGamer91]

As others have said, try selling the items to collectors or maybe even smaller upcycling businesses. If that fails try online, or donate/sell to museums that focus on what you have in your possession currently. Who knows, you might have some rare antique item laying around collecting dust.

Once you've sold of all that, you've got more storage to go dig for new stuff. Because if that's what makes you happy, having space for more stuff would be amazing.

(I could use a downsize on my collection of random cables as well. Any of you in need of a few chargers for old phones like Nokia 3210, old antenna phones and the like? Or maybe I can interest you with cables that are used for electronics that hasn't been sold for at least 20 years?)

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I love oil lamps. I have pared down to just two. One had an unusual trim around the top of the chimney, but it broke. It does not look the same with a standard chimney.

I used to have a typewriter. Not sure what happened to it. A non-working Mont Blanc pen.

The trouble with getting this stuff is, I bet you can’t sell it either. I couldn’t.

 

[Gerontius]

So! this all is working nicely. I am starting to do better regarding executive function, depression, & that sort of thing. Nothing works overnight but I'm surprised how rapidly it's changing my mind.

The collection is being split into 2 parts--that which stays and that which goes away. I have listed one of my old open-horn phonographs on eBay and it went up to over $570 with a day or so more left on the auction. I'd been offered $600 by a trader but I think I can get more than that in the next 2 days if it keeps rising in price. The other one next to it in the shed, I've found a buyer for and we've been negotiating the shipping of it--He's looking for that particular model because he started his collection with one & thinks they are neat.

I decided to sell one of my "permanent" pieces as well--a 1920s radio in a metal case. It is cool looking and the parts are in superior condition but I think I'm going to turn it loose as literally every other radio out there is more reliable. Now that I've figured out how to get eBay working again I can throw it up on there too with everything else going. Also the lamps are going.

There are a few other things going as well. I even sold a handful of spare parts, get those out of my desk & out of my life in general. So far so good.

 

[Gerontius]

It's still going.

Everything is worth $0 until it sells. Potential value is not the same as what it will actually fetch; the value of all this old stuff is subjective.

Here's the thoughts on how I got myself to turn loose of the idea of hoarding this stuff:

This is a Columbia Graphophone, took me 2 years to get it this nice & it's running like a little sewing machine. I sold it for $570, because to some people it's a rare antique whereas to other people it's just a really cool old record player. $15 brand new in 1909 and it's being replaced by a small tabletop Victrola, $15 in 1917, out of my "dead" shelf of stuff that doesn't work. $30 in spare parts & that Victrola will definitely run again. Better yet--as it cost me $0 to acquire, and is every bit as fun as a $570 Columbia, I'll have $540 left over and still have a nice little lightweight record player.

I'd been hanging onto too much out of a desire to "keep the good stuff" but in reality, if you take price out of the equation the "good stuff" can be whatever you like it to be.

 

[Aspychata]

Somebody will be moving in with me in January. I need to get an idea of what they are bringing. I hope they unload somethings. We can be packrats.