I went to a lecture last week given by Marc Allum, a consultant for Antiques Roadshow. He confessed to being a “Collectaholic” from an early age.

Inspired by a boyhood trip to Snowshill Manor, Marc’s most treasured item amongst his own collection is a suit of early 19th Century Samurai armour.

He regaled us with stories of what he amassed and why he was drawn to strange things. Completely coincidentally Museum of Brisbane has just opened “Precious”. A wonderful exhibition of some treasured collections from Brisbanites.

I loved the consideration and care of the displays as well as the collectors stories. Perhaps the oddest is this collection of axes.

Mickey Hilburger grew up speaking Czech to his immigrant parents until he went to school and learnt to speak English. He collected old Weber BBQs and in his quest to find a good axe to chop firewood met Steve Lehmann who had 2000 in his shed. Steve died, but not before sharing knowledge of axes with Mickey who now has 120. Mickey’s wife Lizzie collects beaded purses and both of them have stalls at Empire Revival in Paddington, an antique market.

Chris Delanoue collected tea tins and sample tins carried by travelling salesmen. They date from 1880 to 1950s and I found them utterly beautiful.

Remember Lizzie? She also collects “trench art” shoe horns made from artillery cases between 1914 and 1950. Birds and ladies legs feature widely.

There is more, perhaps for another time- my little collection is old glass bottles and here is a lovely example of what you can do with even the pieces you find.

When I was in South Australia in 2022 we visited an abandoned village called Farina. There were so much broken glass in the ground, beautifully coloured. I remember purples, turquoises and oranges. I collected bits and gave them to my announcer at Reading Radio who is also a gifted artist. It’s not often you can give bits of broken glass meaningfully to a friend.

One teenage boy of ours collected beer bottles, beer mats and labels. The youngest, car models. What is your collectomania ?