The Best of Collecting

 

The keepers from my well-used random lot

Several years back during the pandemic (when I had time to do most of my heavy-duty colored-pencil geeking – one of the few positive outcomes of that era!), I wrote a lengthy post about Canada-made Eagle and Berol Prismacolors. At the time, the only Canadian Prismacolors I owned were a heavily used, random lot I had purchased on eBay plus a few that were given to me. The lot was sort of a placeholder that I could use and test until I achieved my goal, which was to eventually find a reasonably priced, complete set made in Canada.

The full Canadian set

By the end of the pandemic, I did manage to find such a set – intact, unused and fully made in Canada. It’s a prize specimen that I cherish!

One of my main downsizing criteria has been to eliminate duplicates. It was time to offload the random lot I had enjoyed sketching with and had also used to make informative comparison tests with US-made Prismacolors of the same era. 

Before donating most of them, I took the time to appreciate each pencil and pick out a few favorite colors. I also picked out at least one each that had been self-ID’d by MB, Sylvie and Alex. I enjoy imagining these (probably) Canadian children or their parents diligently knifing off the paint on each pencil so that their names could be written (Alex seemed to prefer carving directly into the paint with a ballpoint pen). I sharpened up the handful and put them in a jar for display.

Hard work getting those names on!

One of many things my downsizing project has taught me is what “collecting” is about (at least for me). Early on, it was about my growing fascination with learning about vintage pencils, which rapidly developed into obsessive (and sometimes indiscriminate) acquisition. Eventually I learned what I wanted to collect, which made me more judicious, but by that time, the acquisition phase had gotten out of hand. Now I’ve come full circle to the best part of collecting: Letting go of the excess so that I can appreciate what I’ve chosen to keep.

I don’t feel guilty or regretful about any of it; it’s a process, and I enjoyed and learned from every stage while I was in it. Someday I’ll probably have to part with most (or all) of my collection, but until then, I can enjoy this best and final stage.