Our path to an Object feature for the September/October 2025 issue of the Magazine ANTIQUES was a journey. It was fitting, then, that the topic we finally landed on was, in fact, a journey, too. Or, rather, a type of journey. Ben and I have long been fascinated by the things people collect to remember places. Sure, there are the memento key chains, mugs, and tshirts, but you can keep those. We're more interested in sculptures found at a surprise estate sale on the side of the road, post cards mailed back home in advance of our return, and ephemera we collect in labeled jars. 'Rehoboth Beach 2023,' one reads. Another, 'Friendship Long Island 2019.'
Call us magpies, and you wouldn't be far off. We pick up little things here and there — some precious but most worthless to anyone but ourselves. It makes getting rocks out of the house hard when decisions must be made by committee. "Does anyone here want to vouch for the memories imbedded in this rounded river stone?"
As we prepare to move into our new house at Eden Hill — the house we've been working on for years — these conversations have gained a new fervency. Do we really need the rooster I painted as a 'paint-your-own-pottery' spot in 8th grade, but that reminds me of my mom's short-lived rooster statue collection? I don't, but maybe I do. So perhaps I should keep it just in case? You can run circles around yourself chasing the logic of holding onto a small object.
For the magazine, we looked at this same tendency through a particular lens: The Grand Tour.
