The house of Trijntje Koops (78) from Emmen is full of porcelain and other things. You can’t imagine anything crazy, or she collected it. But Trijntje is no longer there. She recently passed away at the age of 78. But what do you do with such a gigantic collection? Son Bert has decided to auction the collection.
Bert shuffles very carefully through his mother’s house. From the front door a narrow path runs to the toilet, bedroom, kitchen and to the sofa. The rest of the house is filled with things. It actually looks pretty neat. It’s just a lot. “Personally, I don’t mind it that much,” Bert admits, as he sits down on the couch. “But I’m actually proud that my mother did this. Because she did it with full passion.”
The place where Bert is sitting was his mother’s domain. “She lived here, in these few square meters,” he says. “She did embroidery, did puzzles, and she read a lot. Newspapers and magazines. She subscribed to all kinds of magazines.” And she collected. “She has saved all this together over forty years. The collection actually consists of all sub-collections. It is not just porcelain. They are personal pieces. Heirlooms. Pieces with a special story, like this jug that my grandfather stole from a train, at the end of the Second World War. But she also framed and hung my baby clothes.” Bert is silent for a moment. “My mother lived in memories.”
Where does this passion for collecting come from? Partly it runs in the family, says Bert. But he also sometimes thinks that it has something to do with her youth. “There used to be a lot of poverty in their family. I think that is where the mania for collecting has its origins.”
But what do you do with such a gigantic collection when someone is no longer there? Bert and his family have decided to auction the lot. At Veilinghuis Vinkleuk in Westerbork. “They do special collections. Well, they were amazed by this. So they certainly thought it was special.” They’ll be clearing the place soon.
For a while, Bert can enjoy everything his mother has collected. “I haven’t removed many things from here yet, but my daughter, for example, has. She looks a bit like her grandmother. I’m still processing what happened.”
Trijntje suffered from heart failure, among other things. And one day it just happened. “We found her in her bed.”
Trijntje’s favorite collector’s item was a small doll. In a newspaper article about her collection, she announced a year and a half ago that she would like to include it in the coffin. “Luckily she said that at the time, and I read it, because otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it at all.” And so it happened. The doll went with Trijntje.
Bert hopes that a nice place will also be found for the other items. “So the memories can live on.”