Modern Eclecticism: One man’s claim to the largest collection of miscellaneous objects.

Nev Patel grew up in a house of curative hobbiests, admiring his dads model car collection and mothers spoon collection as a young child in their small Adelaide home.
“My grandpa collected coins too. He must of had about 50 or so all from different eras.” While many people would accuse Nev’s grandpa of being a boring old bitty, it was this that created the spark that would become his lifelong passion.
“His collection was nice, but nothing could stop me from thinking, he could have such a bigger collection if he didn’t limit himself to old coins. Why not have some old notes as well?”
His Grandpa loved this suggestion, but Nev wasn’t done yet. “In fact,why do they have to be new? Let’s chuck some new coins in and some new notes while we’re at it. That’ll make it much bigger!” And this is exactly what Nev did. When his Grandpa passed away, care of the coin collection was left to Nev at only eight years old.
While other kids his age were obsessed with Power Rangers and Pokemon, caring for and curating the collection became Nevs number one passion. “I used to ask my mates for their canteen change and run home to add it to the collection.”
This led to Nev’s parents being contacted by the school several times to be informed that their son had left school during lunch time without permission. “I got in trouble from the school and my parents, I was up against it. (It was) really a case of me and my collection against the world.”
However this did not deter Nev who, by the time he was nine successfully tripled the amount of coins in the collection by adding normal Australian currency to his grandpas old shoebox of coins.
“It was looking so great! My father would ask me, “What are you saving for son?” and I would say “For fun dad! I’m saving for fun!”” It was around this time Nev started adding other items to the collection such as Tazos, Marbles and stationary. “I saw how the other kids at school traded these items and thought, ‘Hey, that’s kind of like money when you think about it?’ I was a modern day Mark Bouris.”
Over the next eighteen years Nev’s grandpas coins became only a small addition in the massive collection which grew to include toys, school assignments, bottle caps, text books, cables, CDs, jars, utensils and batteries both new and used. “I have a few things to push numbers up,” Nev said whilst holding a cumbersome zip-lock bag of individual pine needles.
I wandered Nev’s house for what seemed like hours in awe of all his carefully procured items. In Nev’s home you seem to feel surrounded by the items in his collection and in much of it you literally are. There is so much love and care put into the storage of his treasured items, from the neatly stacked gum packets to the plastic bags spun tightly together like penguins.
On the front of the house there is a hand painted sign which reads “Nev’s Marvellous Collection Museum.” “I love sharing my life’s work with people,” Nev said grinning, who opened his home/museum to the public in 2007 so that people may be inspired to start their own collection. “Why else do you think I charge only $37.00 for concessions?”
Resting against a rare space of wall not covered by a Disney Adventures poster I ask Nev about the inconvenient aspects of living in his somewhat claustrophobic collection spanning every room of his fibro home. Nev claims his lifestyle is about convenience. “I rarely contribute to landfill, like, if I get a Christmas present I don’t like I just add it to the collection. If I run out of space I add a new table to increase storage space and then the table becomes part of the collection itself.”
Critics accuse Nev of ‘hoarding’ and purists say he’s ‘not a real collector.’ When I asked Nev about whether his multitude of objects could count as a collection he became defensive. “One of the biggest problems we face in society is giving things labels. People say things like “I have a rare vinyl collection” and I think that’s really sad. I have rare vinyls in my collection I’m just not a dick about it.”
When hoarding was addressed Nev (thankfully) laughed off the very notion. “I get that a lot, mostly from haters.” Due to Nev’s restrictions on what can become part of his collection he maintains he is not a hoarder. “Hoarding is when you can’t throw anything away ever,” he proclaims holding one of the many dictionaries he has on display. “My collection is kept in order and intact. Plus I have standards of what can stay in my house. Why do you think my parents left to live in a nursing home?” Yep, Nev is one passionate guy.
Stepping out of Nev’s front door, over a large stack of welcome matts and about 40 garden knomes, I reflect on Nev’s status as a collector. Part of me feels that one must collect something in a specific category; surely that is what makes a collector? Then I remember something Nev said in our brief but powerful time together: “You see people (who) have biggest Teddy Bear collection or biggest Potato Chip collection in the World Records books and I think “What’s the point in that?” A shop gets that many chips all the time. Having a big chip collection doesn’t make you cool, it makes you Coles.”