One of those facts I have no recollection of learning, but like to wheel out about once a year, is that octopuses have a habit of collecting shells. They often collect them to protect themselves, hiding under them when faced with danger from larger predators, or to hurl at their enemies in direct combat – an image that defies belief, but brings me unbridled joy.
These eight-limbed molluscs are not the only beings that gather objects. Humans can be devoted collectors too, of objects often meant not for combat, but for study, preservation, or sheer pleasure. Eggs, TY Beanie Babies, stamps, records, sci-fi figurines, and of course whisky are just some of the categories that have been recorded as collectors’ items. There are plenty of theories as to why we collect, among them to quieten existential anxieties, express loyalty, and as a result of the endowment effect (that things become more valuable to us when we own them).
But where some collectors can be viewed with derision, whisky collectors seem