Sunday, May 29, 2011

Caveat Collector: Television Invitations and Collector Paranoia

It began with a comment entered under my “Mary, Mother of Mothers“ post. The Associate Producer for Treasure Hunters Roadshow, a national television show featuring collectors, asked if they could highlight my doll and action figure collection for their program.

My first response: okay … who’s pulling PhillyCollector’s leg? Hmmm? I mean nobody from TV – national TV no less – was reading my blog. Interested in my collection? Please.  Someone is laughing at my expense. So I checked for the existence of the show and the Producer online. Both existed so I responded - oh, I am flattered, yes, I would LOVE to be featured, etc. 

Then I started thinking: do I really want to do this? Want people to see me with my stuff? What will I do next? Wear one of those "I Collect Barbies" tee shirts and lead lurking bad guys to my home? Or maybe some architectural detail filmed will clue lurking bad guys into discovering where I live. Maybe lurking bad guys will see that big Treasure Hunters van outside my home. Maybe I am sending a flare up for Lurking Bad Guys United to make an unofficial visit to my home. Maybe they will relieve me of my collection - without paying me anything - because they are Lurking Bad Guys. Paper bag, please!

So, I procrastinated and missed the date. Then I felt guilty about that because I had agreed. A friend though thought the TV invitation seemed dodgy so I investigated a little more about the Show. Perhaps my subconscious had worked my latent collector paranoia to protect the gullible-show-off me. (That's not like the Three Faces of Eve ... really.) Maybe something felt too good to be true about national exposure of collectors. No offense intended to fans of Treasure Hunters Roadshow. My invitation was only to show my collection to the nation. What harm would there be in that? Aside from those lurking bad guys ... STOP!

Such was my fleeting, near brush with fame. If you have been televised or would like to be and you have positive or negative experiences, feel free to share them here.
Finally, I do not, repeat, NOT have any flamboyant clothes in my closet. 

No 1:1 scale ones anyway ....