There are many types of collections. Some are formed by purposefully collecting certain objects, such as stamps or coins. However, some collections are only a byproduct of an obsession, a quirk of mind. For example, Paul Brockmann got into the habit of buying his girlfriend and later his wife a dress every time they went ballroom dancing. It might seem excessive to some, but it was his way of showing his affection. Overtime, this collection grew to be enormous, counting 55,000 dresses in total. Basic math tells us that either they went ballroom dancing three times per day for every day of their lives, or he bought them in huge bundles every time.

A woman waits at a polio immunisation health centre, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, August 29, 2016. Nigeria's military has liberated large swathes of land from Boko Haram but a ride with an army convoy, all guns firing for fear of ambush, shows how far the northeast is from normality after a brutal Islamist insurgency that has displaced millions. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

A man dressed as one of the Three Kings greets people during the Epiphany parade in Gijon, Spain January 5, 2017. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

Indian women dressed in traditional attire drive motorcycles as they take part in a procession celebrating “Gudhi Padwa” or the Maharashtrian New Year in Mumbai on March 28, 2017. Gudhi Padwa is the Hindu New Year for people in India's Maharashtra state and marks the end of a harvest and the beginning of a new one. (Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP Photo)

The Pink Floyd inflatable pig floats next to Broadcasting House to promote their new exhibition at the V&A museum, in London, Britain May 10, 2017. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

The unromantic gypsies. Children boxing in a gypsy camp in Kent, England on July 1, 1951. Like all boys these gypsy lads like to try their hand at boxing. Encouraged by their friends they fight it out on Corke's Meadow. Few Romanies now live a life of wandering romance. Most are like the three hundred squatters of Corke's Meadow, Kent, which is part of a “gypsy problem” that involves about 100,000 today. Of those about 25,000 can be rightly called gypsies, the rest are Mumpers and Posh-rats and Hobos. Corke's Meadow has both kinds. “Picture Post” cameraman Bert Hardy photographs the Corke's Meadow gypsies in their encampment. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

Villagers wade through a flooded road following heavy rains after cyclone Remal's landfall at Singi Mari village of Nagaon district, in India's Assam state on May 29, 2024. A powerful cyclone that smashed into low-lying Bangladesh and India killed at least 65 people, including in torrential rain storms in its wake, state government officials and media said on May 29. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

Performers during the New Year's Day Parade in London on Monday, January 1, 2024. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)