This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Steph Krim. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I had always been that weird kid whose family collected things.
My parents had a catalog toy auction business. This was before eBay existed. We’d travel all around the world, finding things — mainly toys — for our collection.
My mother would photograph the items and paste the photographs into the catalog, and my father would type the descriptions of each item using a typewriter. Then the catalog would be sent out to potential customers, along with a list of how much previous items had sold for. People would call up or send in their bids by mail.
We lived in a long, thin house in Massachusetts. Attached to our house was a three-story extension where we stored all the collectibles.
Collecting was my life as a child, and I think my parents would have carried on with the business forever if they could have.
But when I was about 13, eBay came around, and the industry completely changed.
They put the collectibles in storage units for years
Not selling as much as they had previously, my parents decided to move house and put the collection into storage units. It would be years before I ever saw the collection again.
Courtesy of Steph Krim
Eight months ago, my mother called me — I live in Chicago now — and told me: “It’s probably crazy, but if you could figure out a way to drive a truck across the country with this stuff, we would be willing to part with what we have here.”
I had mentioned to them that I would be interested in offering to buy the collection if they were going to sell, but I didn’t imagine that would be for a long time (probably every). I knew it meant too much to them.
But when they offered, I jumped at the chance.
I had no idea what was in the boxes
In July, I flew to Massachusetts with my family and loaded up a 26-foot truck with boxes from three huge storage units. I had no idea what was in the boxes. I genuinely didn’t think we would get everything in the truck — there was so much.
Then we drove 1,000 miles back to Chicago, unloaded the boxes into a storage unit, and, one by one, I’ve been unpacking each box.
Countless wind-up toys, models, Pokémon, robots, tin toys, dolls, action figures, and so much Disney. Everything from Batman to Cabbage Patch to ET to Star Wars, and tons of stuff from Japan in the 90s. Pop culture everything.
Courtesy of Steph Krim
I never know what’s going to be in each box. I get surprised every time.
It’s going to take me a very long time to get through every box, but I don’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff there is. I grew up around this stuff.
Collections are a way we put on display what we think is beautiful, what we are attracted to. It’s intimate and personal — a way to connect with ourselves, but then show that part of ourselves to the world.
I love collecting.
Although I may not feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff to sort through, I do feel overwhelmed by a personal sense of responsibility to make sure I don’t waste this opportunity. It’s my family’s history. Their life’s work.
The contents of those storage units could have remained untouched, but instead, my parents gave them to me as an early inheritance. It’s a chance to extend our family history of collecting.
My parents used to call their business Krim’s World. I’m calling this business Krim’s Clubhouse in honor of their work and this little universe of toys we’ve created and get to play in.
More than ever, I’m in contact with my parents. My phone is full of messages with both of them — a constant whirlwind of joyful energy and excitement as we discover what’s inside.
I want to break a world record
As a child, I was teased by other kids when I told them we had the world’s largest plastic wind-up toy collection, because I didn’t have proof to back up the claim.
I plan to create the proof.
While I’m selling off duplicates of the wind-up toys, I’m keeping at least one of each and attempting to get the collection into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Seven-year-old me would have lived to beat this record, so I just have to.
And maybe, after all these years, I’m finally going to prove that weird kid right.
