It is that time of year when the auctions are quiet and many of us are housebound because of the weather. That certainly happened here in New Jersey, this past weekend as we had a substantial snowfall. I always chuckle at the folks who freak out and go buy bread, milk and eggs. No doubt to make tons of French toast, because a storm is coming. I do wonder when the last storm was that folks had to stay inside and then died of starvation before it could be shoveled or melted. Perhaps up in the Lake Erie snowbelt, but its not that common in the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and coastal East. So I decided to begin sorting out books from my library. Now I hate, and I mean I HATE, doing that. The library has come together following decades of sorting and culling. I have repurchased some books that I needed and tossed others in the great circular lending library. One of my biggest frustrations are oversize art and architectural books. They just suck shelving space! However, when you need a particular reference, well, you gotta have it. The other challenge that I decided to deal with was a stack of unframed watercolors, prints and drawings. Now I am a stickler about getting things framed right away. No painting ever got kicked hanging on a wall. And a work on paper needs to be up and shown. But framing is expensive, and I am out of wall space. So I decided to sort. Well, that lasted about five minutes, and the pile was pretty small. Oh, those Magnus prints of Harrisburg. I do want them framed, but there is one missing from the set. Oh, those books on architecture are lovely, but will you really ever care about Italianate architecture? Well, maybe I will. In the end, I decided to try the storage rule. I packed the oversize material and the prints in heavy grade rubber tubs and stored them. I made an inventory and dated it. If I get to this time next year and I have not cracked the tubs open, then I think it is time for the auctioneer. Okay, will I probably still not be able to resolve the dilemma? Nope, I will still have it, but maybe a year wiser will have taught me some kind of lesson. What the sorting did remind me is that I need to be judicious in my purchases for reading and dcor. Size and space are a challenge, and while I love woven jacquard coverlets, not having gotten any of them out in four years probably means that collection needs to find a new home. Regular readers know that I am a firm believer in evolving and growing a collection. I have collected some things over the years that I either outgrew or they became too popular to pursue. For example, I used to buy Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodge and Versammling souvenirs. Made by local lodges for their members, they were great fun to collect and routinely sold for $5 to $10. Now at $25 plus, I am out and sold the collection. However, I just began a new collection of Pacific Northwest tribal cornhusk bags. I am up to three, but the collection is growing strong. So this winter, it probably is a good time to step back and do a reassessment of your own collections and decide what is still important and what items it is time to send out into the wilds again! Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.