Dear Lee,

Collectors like to talk about their collections and some of the unexpected conversations they have had about collecting. The strangest reason we ever heard for not wanting something “old” came up in conversation at a party. A couple wanted to find an apartment and we suggested an old building that had been remodeled. “Oh,” said the wife, “we would never move into a used apartment.” We never did invite her to our house, which is not only old, but also has almost no new furnishings. It took us years to find just the right antiques for our home, and she would probably scorn them as “used” furniture.

The most unusual reason we’ve heard for not buying an antique was told to us by a dealer. He sold a set of Victorian Haviland dishes as a wedding gift. The bride’s mother returned them because the family kept kosher and had no way of knowing if non-kosher food had ever touched the dishes. There is a religious method to treat dishes with this problem, but the bride’s mother wasn’t convinced it would be OK.

We know people who go to house sales but won’t buy anything that can be traced back to an unhappy home—a divorce, a death or another trauma. They believe luck and emotions live on in furnishings. But some collectors don’t mind if an antique they bought is haunted. They are sure only friendly ghosts travel with antiques. Clocks seem to be the most likely to be haunted—they’ll ring at odd hours, keep poor time or lose the winding key.

We even have one friend who insists she remembers an antique from her past life in the 19th century. Why does everyone who remembers a past existence always recall living in a well-furnished home with a rich spouse and gifted children?

Our view of living with antiques is the easiest: We buy what we like when we see it, even if it costs a little more than we expected. An advertising collector once told us, “You never pay too much for an antique—you just buy it too soon.”