Why I Think Collecting is About More Than Ownership

Why do we collect anything at all? On the surface, it doesn’t make much sense. Why hold on to little slips of cardboard, binders of stamps, or a stack of vinyl records when they take up space, lose value, or sometimes never leave their box? Yet we do it anyway, generation after generation, with an enthusiasm that borders on obsession.

The truth is that collecting has never really been about the thing itself. It’s about the meaning we attach to it.

Collectibles as Stories

When I think about why people collect, the common thread isn’t price or rarity — it’s storytelling. A baseball card isn’t just a picture of a player. It’s the memory of summer afternoons, trading with friends, or idolizing a hero on the field. A comic book is more than pulp and ink; it’s the first time you entered a universe that shaped your imagination. Even something like stamps — often dismissed as quaint — are little time capsules of history, politics, and culture.

Collectibles tell us who we are. They carry personal stories and connect us to bigger ones. That’s why people are willing to chase them, protect them, and share them.

In my case I enjoyed collecting sports cards, mostly baseball, but some basketball and football cards as well. I remember the excitement of opening a new pack, curious to see what was inside, and then attempting to chew the hard, dry, and brittle stick of gum that was inside. There was also the joy in comparing, and sometimes trading cards with friends.

Of course there are those memorable stories as well. One of my football cards was a 1986 Topps Jerry Rice rookie card. One of my little brothers stole it from he and put it in a paper bag which he left outside. It rained. The card was soak and he tried trading it to one of my friends before I found out. The card, if in good condition, is currently worth $150.

Digital collectibles, for all their futuristic technology, follow the same pattern. A Bored Ape might look silly at first glance, but to its owner it’s a story: the day they bought in, the community they joined, the events it unlocked. A Pudgy Penguin isn’t just a cartoon bird — it’s proof of belonging to a group that weathered hype cycles and found ways to reinvent itself through toys, licensing, and storytelling. A CryptoKitty, one of the earliest NFT experiments, is a reminder of when digital scarcity was a radical new idea.

The Double Edge of Digital Collecting

Of course, speculation plays its part. The NFT boom of 2021 looked a lot like Beanie Babies in the 1990s or baseball cards in the 1980s: inflated prices, rapid flipping, and a frenzy of FOMO. Critics weren’t wrong to point out that much of it felt unsustainable. Many people got burned chasing quick profits.

But dismissing the entire movement as speculation misses the point. Just as baseball cards weren’t ruined by the bubble years, NFTs as a category aren’t defined by the crash. The lasting takeaway is how people used them.

Early adopters didn’t just buy digital pictures — they experimented with new models of ownership and community. Bored Apes doubled as membership passes to private clubs and exclusive events. Pudgy Penguins turned into a multimedia brand that bridged the digital and physical. CryptoKitties introduced the very idea of breeding and customizing digital collectibles. For the people who participated, these weren’t just “investments.” They were experiments in identity, belonging, and connection.

Beyond the Object

One of the fascinating differences between traditional and digital collecting is visibility. A shoebox of cards under your bed is private. A digital collectible, on the other hand, is inherently public. It can be your profile picture, your event ticket, or your proof of membership in a community. Collectibles are no longer only about what you own — they’re about how you show up in the world.

That makes them more like expressions than objects. Owning a rare sneaker used to mean flashing it on the street. Owning a digital collectible today might mean carrying it with you across online spaces, games, or even metaverses. The collectible becomes an extension of your identity, instantly recognizable to others who know its story.

Collecting as Connection

At its core, collecting has always been social. Nobody collects entirely alone. There’s trading, swapping, showing off, or at least the sense of joining a community of like-minded people. A vinyl collection connects you to other music lovers; a shelf of comic books puts you in conversation with fellow fans.

Digital collecting takes that social layer and supercharges it. With Web3, a collectible isn’t just a memento — it can also be a key. It might unlock a Discord server, grant voting rights in a decentralized community, or give you access to exclusive content and events. Collecting becomes not only a statement of taste, but a passport into new forms of belonging.

What Really Matters

So yes, speculation will always swirl around collectibles, digital or physical. There will be bubbles, hype cycles, and winners and losers. But the deeper truth doesn’t change: people collect because it connects them to something bigger than themselves.

Whether that connection is to a childhood hero, a favorite artist, a cultural moment, or a global community, collecting gives people meaning. The blockchain doesn’t replace that impulse; it extends it into new formats and new frontiers.

In the end, the real value of a collection is never the shelf it sits on — whether made of cardboard boxes or smart contracts. The real value is the stories those collectibles carry, the memories they hold, and the connections they create.

And that’s why I believe collecting has always been, and will always be, about more than ownership.

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Other Articles In This Issue:

• From Cards to Coins: Collecting is Going Digital

• Bonus Section- Digital Collectibles 101: How to Start Your Own Collection

• CHECK OUT OUR PREVIOUS EDITIONS