family

a collection of keys

By pak ⋅ September 7, 2008 ⋅ ⋅ Post a comment

Philippe, my father-in-law collects keys.  He can’t tell you why exactly he started, but just that he was drawn to them.  He moved to New York City in 1946, and has been collecting them ever since.

The collection takes up an entire wall in the apartment — he now has more than 400 of them.  Some are 5000 years old, others look like something I have in my pocket right now.  Some were deliberately collected, but just as many were gifts or were found.  Some are very very expensive, others very very cheap.  One is from the ruins of Pompeii, one opens a Samsonite suitcase.  One is from a medieval monastery, one is for a sardine tin.

I interviewed Philippe this afternoon on video, and I’m working on putting the whole collection online with some of his commentary for everyone to see.  It really is amazing.

Here’s a little sneak peak: