It's not long since I understand I'm a collector too. I've started looking around the house, pantry, and attic much more closely and have found that I've still made a few collections without thinking about it.
I don't think I'm a real collector. A true collector is, in my opinion, one who builds a collection with dedication and knowledge. That is, he is clear about what he is going to collect. Objects that he likes have objects that have a certain value that can increase over time.
I am a messy collector with no particular dedication. I collect several things I like. More for decorative purposes. I put them in various places around the house, then switch places, and if I get bored of them, some I give away, some I throw away, and some I store in the pantry or attic until I forget about them.
Saying "some I throw away" I disqualify myself from being a collector. I think a collector never throws anything away!
I may not be a true collector but I know I love the items I collect. Today I will show some of my pots...
From fairs, from the market, from trips and gifts received. This is the source of my pots, more of my wife's, but I have a few myself.
Most of the pots stay in the kitchen. Put them on shelves, in the cupboard, or on top. They are not functional pots, they are strictly decorative.
Some are useful, coffee and tea cups, mixed in with flower pots or water mugs.
Objects are bought from different places and put together. The only criterion is the material they are made of.
Most of the pots are bought from fairs and are peasant pots, initially used in peasant households and then became decorative objects. These are vessels in which wine was kept. The one on the left is from Bulgaria, and the one in the middle is from Transylvania, made by the Hungarians, the famous Korund vases. The one on the right I don't know where it is from. I think it is an old vessel and I think it was also used to hold wine in it or, more likely, it is some kind of carafe.
These are pots for cooking food in the oven and are traditional Bulgarian pots. These are the ones I use for cooking.
I also have a preference. It's an old water or wine mug, over a hundred years old.
I like it very much. Both shape and color, the drawing, the flowers carved on the mug.
Other pots from the "collection"...
Larger pots are placed all over the house where I found a space. Their place is usually changed after every cleaning we do.
Some of them no longer have a place in the house, not in terms of space, they just don't fit in with the environment... so they're "exiled" to the backyard.
Finally, I want to show you a clay pot which is a copy made after some famous pots, over seven to eight thousand years old. The famous Cucuteni culture. Made by prehistoric people who inhabited a large area where Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova are now.
It seems incredible that people who lived several thousand years before the ancient Greeks could make such shapes and designs.
These pots are copies far from the originals I have seen in museums. Those are gorgeous!
Once again I found that I have gathered a few items in the same category and can be assimilated with a modest collection.
A modest collection of a modest collector.
