“We are homesick most for the places we have never known.”
― Carson McCullers
I'm the nostalgic type. I think I always have been, it was just hidden a bit when I was younger. It really emerged in the late 90's though when I started collecting.....stuff. Like with any habit, or leaning, collection or hobby, it can be messy, broad, varied and somewhat patchy. At least from the outside, or looking back.
I always loved history more than math, English and social studies more than science. It really defined me from a very young age that I could appreciate and regurgitate historic events of interest and note back to Roman days. Adults referred to me as an 'old soul'. I guess hearing a 10 year old talk about the goings-on during the 'Belle Epoque' was probably more than a little unnerving, that being called an 'old soul' was the only response.
Now although I had always appreciated the 'old days' (we'll just refer to to old days as anything prior to when we were around, or we were kids and don't remember much), the thing that really kicked it off was an old Winchester Model 1894 SRC (saddle ring carbine) that I bought from a gun shop around when I was 23. I got it for cheap, it had been used hard, as was evidenced by a wood stock that was cracked, dented, dinged and shrunken. The fore-stock was likewise cracked and looked like a grisly piece of dried flotsam. The finish was all gone and the magazine tube has a noticeable dent in it. It was made in 1912 and was what you would call a beater.
At that time of the world, the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. was still making the 1894 (by this time more modernly being referred to as 'the 94') in New Haven, Connecticut. They had made over 6 million of just this model! So they were neither collectible nor much money. Perfect for the young worker making little money and with barely any extra to spend.
I took that rifle and replaced the dented magazine tube with an orphan from a friends parts bin, bought new wood and then sanded and fit and finished it by hand. The whole time I was doing this I wondered, where had it been?, what had it done? I thought about all of the events of the world. It was around when WWI started, the fall of the European monarchies, the rise of the west, the atom bomb, Korea, colour movies, the moon landings, the cold war! My god how this thing had traveled! And I could still take it out to the range and shoot it as well as it probably did 90 years ago.
Needless to say that triggered two further problems that is common among those of us who like the old stuff. The first was the growing belief that nothing made today could match up to the longevity of these old products. The second was a desire to have more of them.
Now there is probably some merit to this (although there will likewise be many in disagreement). Look around you today and try to name something you have that will still be around in 100 years. Something that could still fulfill its original purpose. I try to all the time, but all I generally see are disposable things. This belief is further reinforced by the amazement I have for things that weren't built with computers or CNC machining, but people with tools and gauges.
To the second point, I was introduced through my fascination with the 'gun of the old west' to many other people who shared that appreciation, through the internet forums and websites. Once you're in similar company.....well that just helps to feed the addiction, knowledge and desire to seek out new acquisitions.
From here this collection further fed an expansion, into typewriters, watches (both pocket and vintage wrist), Coleman lanterns, clothes irons, vacuum tube radios, rotary telephones, fans and the pinnacle of them all, the antique or classic car. Is it a disease? Who knows, who cares, you can always find a Doctor to diagnose one way or the other. Live life and have fun doing it.
So I am a Nostalgist, unabashed and proud.
But it just started here, grew from here and boy its not over........
