A friend recently theorized to me that my love of antiques comes not from the value of an object but from the story I get from them. His statement instantly rang true for me although it was not something I had pondered before. Since that conversation I have given a lot of thought to how I select the antiques I keep and love.
Many of the antiques I own have found me, that is, to say that I have inherited quite a few. Most of these treasures are not monetarily valuable but are priceless to me. I have a chest of drawers from my great-grandmother Elsie that she kept dolls in at the top of her multi-colored carpeted stairs. I have some of her old costume jewelry and a couple blouses that I wear. She and I were kindred spirits and surrounding myself with her things makes me feel a connection to her. It stands to reason I’d love and value something given to me by someone I loved and valued.
How then do I explain the other random pieces I’ve ended up with? I’m always drawn to the most dilapidated objects, the older and more in need of TLC the better. I find things no one else would want and I take joy in bringing them back to life. I feel a sense of sadness when I come across something that has survived for a 100 or more years and looks neglected. I imagine the life of the person who once owned it and what they were like. I feel like loving those pieces gives a value to the item and the person who once owned the item.
There are also pieces that I am instantly repelled by, for no obvious reason. I was once in a little antique shop in Murphy’s, CA and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I was with a group and being the antique addict that I am you can imagine the shock of my companions by my necessity to leave the building. It was the oddest, hair on the back of your neck kind of feeling. It was made even odder to me by the fact that only one of my companions seemed to feel anything amiss.
So, what does all of this mean? It means that I believe objects can retain the energy of their previous owners whether it, be positive or negative. There has been much debate over this subject and lots of research.
Joseph R. Buchanan in 1842 came up with the word Psychometry. It comes from the Greek words psyche, meaning "soul," and metron, meaning "measure." He was an American physiologist and professor who conducted experiments on his students by handing them flasks with different liquids and having them blindly determine the contents by feel alone. The results were greater than random luck. To explain the phenomenon he’d observed he wrote a book, Journal of Man. In his writing Buchanan hypothesized, that all objects have "souls" that keep a memory.
Many researchers have continued with the studies of Buchanan. Science is stating that everything is made up of moving energy and even though it appears as a solid it is still a dense moving energy. That being said……I’m going to tune in and make sure that those items I bring home fill me with joy and delight, I’ll leave the creepy, dark, heebie-jeebie inspiring stuff for someone either braver or with less psychometric skills then myself.
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