Chatwin on buying an object as a Grail quest and a collector's calm view of things

The English journalist Bruce Chatwin on collecting:.

The acquisition of an object is in itself a quest for the Grail: the hunt for the prey, the moment of recognition, the decision to buy, the loss, the fear of financial catastrophe, the dark cloud of uncertainty ("Is it a fake?"), the wrapping, the journey home, the ecstasy of unwrapping, the object of desire stripped of its coverings, the night when you go to bed with no one, the vigil, when you gaze, caress, admire the new fetish: it is your companion, your lover, yet very soon it turns into a tiresome neighbour, it must be thrown out or sold, and meanwhile its place in the list of your attachments is taken by another, more desirable thing.

I do not know how it is with Chatwin, but I take a perfectly calm view of things and have never felt anything of the kind, though I own a rather large collection. What he describes sounds somehow unhealthy. And if one must turn to biblical themes in connection with collecting, the apt reference is not the Grail but "thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image".