Absolutely has to be innate. I've been collecting something since I was a kid and am always seeing new stuff I'd not mind collecting. Neither parent has it, though, so it must be a recessive gene. My father in particular could never see the value in any of it. He used to work for a company that did entertainment public relations, and nearly 40 years ago ordered me to spend one spring break clearing files and moving about 50 file cabinets. The drudgery became a monumental pick when I realized that the stuff they were junking was a treasure trove of entertainment memorabilia. i asked him if i could keep the contents and he said sure. He had no idea that there was value in there because he never collected anything. I think I got paid about $30 for my work but hauled away five figures in entertainment memorabilia that he was just gonna throw away. I took that stuff to shows, started a wholesale business to the souvenir shops in Hollywood, made thousands in extra income as a student, all from that pick. I've still got stuff I picked that day, and some vintage baseball cards I bought with the proceeds. It even got me into the 1991 Anaheim National on a dealer's pass. I waited in line five hours day 1 to get in then found a dealer who had entertainment stuff and was interested in a trade for some T202s. I came back the next day and had him walk me in as part of the deal. Here is a card from that trade (i subbed to SGC later on):
