Questioning Value

val·u·a·ble
valy(əw)əb(ə)l/adjective: valuable

1. 1. worth a great deal of money."a valuable antique"
   • extremely useful or important."my time is valuable"synonyms:precious, costly, pricey, expensive, dear, high-priced, high-cost, high-end, upscale, big-ticket

When I was a kid, I collected dolls.  I don't recall a conscious decision to start this collection - rather, I was given some "nice" dolls (i.e., "not to play with") as a baby and toddler, and they stayed behind a glass door in the fancy antique dresser in my room.  As time passed, my mother added to this collection with Chinese dolls she ordered from Hong Kong.  Next were porcelain clowns, Effanbees, and eventually, Madame Alexanders made their way into the group with warnings to save the original boxes and pink tissues because, "They will be valuable some day." 

Valuable some day.  These words stuck with me for a long time.  I kept those dolls displayed throughout my teenaged years, and when I got my first apartment most of them made the cut there, too.  But over the years fewer and fewer of the dolls were left out as I began to feel they were just, well...a little bit creepy.  Too much, and too frilly, and not really in sync with my evolving tastes. Still, I carefully packed them away in their original boxes with the thought that I could sell them when I needed a little extra cash, or that maybe our daughter would want them.

The majority of those dolls traveled in big plastic bins all over this country as we moved. I never thought about them except when it came time to load up the bins and move again.  It hit me about four years ago that the dolls were never, EVER going to be displayed, and honestly were not being stored properly either.  I pulled some out to offer to our daughter, who accepted far fewer than I expected.  So I thought, "Now's the time.  Now I can sell these valuable dolls."

I listed them on Craigslist and contacted a few doll sellers via the Internet.  I checked on eBay to see what the going rate was for MAs, and was a little shocked to see that most were selling at or less than what we originally paid for them.  No bites from anywhere.  Undaunted, I decided that maybe participating in the neighborhood garage sale was the way to go.  I think you probably have guessed the ending to this story.  Very few sold, and those that did went for prices that would have made my mother sick if she were still around.  The rest...(sigh) I donated. 

So what is valuable?  I think it was on an episode of Antiques Roadshow that I heard one of the appraisers say, "Something is only valuable if someone else wants to buy it."  That can be a difficult lesson to learn.  I'm not saying all collections are worthless (or that they have to be worth money to have worth).  I'm saying that our perspectives and knowledge about collections may change, and that is o.k.  Are you perhaps hanging onto stuff for reasons that are illusory at best?  Do you still enjoy your collection, or is it stored in the attic or basement (or maybe, a storage unit)?  If it is stored, is it stored properly to avoid damage? 

I did keep a very few small dolls (7, to be exact) that reminded me of the person who gave them to me, or were unusual in some other way.  That kind of memory is what is important to me now, and I have no regrets. Hopefully the ones I let go are all now making someone else happy.  Maybe a wise child is actually playing with them.

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