Message #49322

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Frank,

     Being an addicted collector, I want the objects; but there is no question in my mind that an interesting story adds to the object's intrinsic value with another, less tangible but not less important value. It enriches the owner by reminding him or her of what was appealing in the piece in the first place, and makes for an entertaining story for someone just viewing it.

    There is definitely a place for these stories while posting them. I always try to add such personal historical and emotional context, but have occasionally been 'rapped on the knuckles' over it (a reference to the [thankfully outdated] practice of a teacher rapping a child on the knuckles with a ruler in class, for those who don't know the phrase's context), and told to 'keep to the topic'.

   I ignore such comments, and continue to 'do it my way' (by plagiarising a great singer's song  )
Best,
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey