Spotted Online – “Digital” Collecting?
Over at the Gangustars blog is a post that discusses the idea of collecting photos of toys instead of the actual toys. Identified as “digital” collecting, the post states:
“When I first heard of someone with a digital collection, I was caught off guard for a second, did they really mean as in only pics and files on electronics devices? Yep, they did. And they don’t actually buy things? Nope, not to the extant that many collectors do.”
I’ve never heard of it referred to as a “digital collection,” but I’ve met many toy collectors who grab and archive photos. Hell, we could argue that the entire battlegrip.com website is my very own digital collection; for almost six years now I’ve been posting almost daily and everything on the site is technically my collection.
But, personally, I find that second to physical toys for me come books about toys. Books feel so much more permanent and valuable than a “digital collection,” and ever since I had some hacking troubles at battlegrip.com I’ve been forced to accept that everything posted here could vanish one day. It kinda sucks, but that’s the way of things. And it is that realization that makes me wish I had time to create more books every single year; in a perfect world all of the energy I invest in the site would go to physical books. That’s not realistic.
Still, do any of you have digital collections? Have you ever even thought of that folder of photos on your computer as a collection? I know it’s an entirely new idea to me . . . even if I have been collecting toys digitally for years now.
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I’ve been thinking about this for awhile actually. When I first started Branded I invested a small chunk of money in procuring a bunch of 80s stickers to share and after I finished scanning in thousands of stickers it occurred to me that there was little reason to hang onto a huge chunk of those stickers. I had a virtual digital collection that was just as visceral to me.
Heck, even before that, before I started Branded back in 2000 I spent a year working a boring second job at night at Kinkos where I basically spent 8 hours scouring the internet for pictures over every single toy I had as a kid and no longer owned. I’ve had that digital archive collection follow me over 4 PCs and 14 years now. I do flip through it from time to time, and it’s kept me from feeling like I need to seek out some of these toys.
So I can definitely appreciate this idea of digital collecting. On the other hand I also do like the feel of a good book about toys in my hands. Been tempted to pick up the Funko Pop volumes in lieu of getting some of those vinyls… :p
I think sites like Pinterest prove that “digital collecting” is a real thing, but for me, I like to see the item on a shelf and hold it in my hands. Viewing photos online is fun, but there’s nothing better than a well-organized collection of rare toys on display in a well-lit, glass display cabinet.
Both are valid and viable — I like owning thr physical object in most cases, but for items like stickers, paintings, promotional images and other ephemera, I don’t feel it’s as necessary.
As for what you said about the collecting aspect of your own site, Phil, I think there’s something to that. I think of the LBC as something more like an archive — when it comes to toys (or any other pop culture items), it’s amazing how poorly documented some items can be, even if they were a big phenomenon in their day. The early history of TV is a classic example.
So I like being able to make a repository of information available not just for myself but theoretically for the next generation of collectors.
Does music count?
I still own my music collection, but I recently moved to S. Korea, so all my CDs are in a storage unit, while all the music is with me in an external HD. As much as I hate not having the physical copies next to me, it is also quite liberating not having them here.
I’m not sure this would work with toys however, as I can still “play” the digitized music, while you’ll never be able to handle a digitized toy. (At least until 3D printers become super cheap.)