[Den*nis O*Brien]

.... I would suggest that you not dismiss the "Collecting Gene" theory. I say this from the following personal experiences........
I was surrendered at birth for adoption in 1947 and had no knowledge of my biological family and no contact. I have been a life long collector, scrounger and salvager. I worked a route of neighborhood garbage pick up days with my coaster wagon in the mid 1950's I still have a great catchers mitt from those picks. And of course hoarded my wax pack treasures from the corner store. In the 1970's my wife and I survived by picking auctions, garage sales and etc. I found my birth mother and biological sister in the late 1980's. They were both avid and passionate garage sale, resale shop, alley trash can pickers that had an incredible "Radar" for valuable treasures. They each had a niche collection that they kept but made a tidy living on the balance. I was bowled over by some of the items they found in one dollar gallon zip lock bags at a few resale shops. They just had instincts and a love of hunting treasures. So make of that what you will but I firmly believe in "The Gene".