Espoused and unconscious motivations for collecting African “antiques”
By Gary Croft, Snohomish, WA, USA

-- to preserve artifacts originating from “traditional cultures” that, if left “in situ,” would (allegedly) be at risk of neglect that could lead to damage or destruction;

-- to appreciate these collectables as superior forms of aesthetic / artistic expression: works of art (whether by self-conscious intention, in the Western sense, or not); examples of superb craftsmanship;

--because of their ethnographic / ethnological / ethnohistorical / art historical interest;

-- for their perceived transcendent or mystical qualities (“aura”);

--for their symbolic and ceremonial meanings (e.g., “primordial couple”);

-- for their investment potential (“appreciation”);

-- for decorative purposes (home or office), or, taken to an extreme, ostentatious display;

-- for home exhibition purposes (as opposed to strictly decorative intent);

-- as an expression of national or ethnic identification and pride;

-- for exhibition revenue (museology);

-- for retail sales revenue (profit motive / global market commoditization);

--as a catalyst for pursuing knowledge of the collected objects and their original cultural contexts (and concomitant collecting of related reference books & periodicals);

--for the pleasure of discerning ethnic attribution (arbitrary, as that may be), cross-“tribal” influences (e.g., Luba-Hemba);

--for the feeling of “mastery” one achieves by focusing one’s attention on a relatively narrow field of interest;

-- for the pleasure of displaying expertise / knowledge in the pursuit of admiration;

-- for the pleasure of sensory exploration and stimulation, be it tactile, olfactory, or visual;

--as a medium for social interaction with like-minded individuals, including group (“tribal” :-) affiliation, e.g., the “africanantiques” e-group alias;

--for the “aha” discoveries made upon closer examination of an object (observational “forensics”), e.g., the Hemba warrior figure seated on a caryatid stool consisting of a female figure facing backward displaying a bipartite oval-shaped coiffure positioned such that when you view the warrior straight on, the coiffure clearly represents testes; or the wear and patination patterns concentrated on and around “erogenous zones” suggesting that an object was used for fetishist purposes;

-- for the pride and pleasure of having possession / ownership of objects deemed rare, valuable, or “museum quality”;

--for the sensation of being transported backward in time by association with objects of a certain apparent age (as evidenced by wear, erosion, patination, etc.);

--for the mystery and power evoked by “alien” / exotic objects;

--for the pleasure of researching and determining “authenticity”;

--for the pleasure of documenting, photographing, archiving text and images related to the collected objects;

--for the fear an object can elicit, as if channeling primal powers (e.g., the Baule gebekre figure that seems to give an observer with a heated up imagination the >“evil eye”);

--for the thrill of “the hunt” (treasure hunting);

--as a symbolic marker of presumed sophistication and advanced learning (e.g., Yuppie posturing, ala “Frazier”);

-- for the competitive aspect (“My collection is bigger / better / more valuable than yours.”; “My knowledge is deeper / more extensive than yours.”);

--for the pleasure of engaging in debate on controversial issues like “authenticity,” the pillaging of objects for the marketplace, the logical fallacy of ethnographic metonymy, the concept of “tribes,” etc.;

--as the manifestation of an obsessive-compulsive disorder;

--for the masochistic pleasure of having one’s pieces critiqued by self-proclaimed (rarely credentialed) experts;

-- to resolve feelings of anxiety and insecurity by attaching to objects instead of people, as a form of psychological displacement (ref. Werner Muensterberger, Collecting: An Unruly Passion)

--for the learning of preservation techniques to protect objects from insect, mold, and other damage;

--for the learning of a new vocabulary of technical terms and concepts;

--as a political statement suggesting the collector’s liberal leanings with regard to ethnic and racial tolerance;

--    for the appreciation that, with respect to advancing one’s knowledge of African antiques, one can never do more than just scratch the surface, therefore making it a rich endeavor that is increasingly fulfilling over time—potentially a lifetime;

-- because it’s the “in thing” to do;

--  as an inheritance and legacy to leave one’s progeny;

--    for providing one with obsessive-compulsive tendencies the opportunity to make a list of motivations for collecting African "antiques;"

-- a combination of any or all of the above.

It turns out that the motivations—whether conscious, or not—for collecting African antiques are very complex, indeed.

Regards to all!

To see some fine examples of African Art and other related items please visit our eBay store Africa Direct