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.

Seals dressed in military uniforms swim during a show marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at an aquatic park in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Russia, May 9, 2015. (Photo by Evgeny Kozyrev/Reuters)

The graffiti against the war in Ukraine of the street artist ChemiS in Prague, Czech Republic, March 19, 2022. (Photo by Amos Chapple/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

A boy shoots a World War II ages machine gun with blanks at a weapon exhibition during a military show in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, July 10, 2022. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A team of female cadets takes part in a tug-of-war competition at Budyonny Military Academy of the Signal Corps in St Petersburg, Russia on March 7, 2021. (Photo by Peter Kovalev/TASS/Profimedia)

A woman walks past a graffiti mural, showing a child protecting with a Ukrainian flag against the war, made by artist ChemiS, on March 19, 2022 in Prague. (Photo by Michal Cizek/AFP Photo)

World War II reenactors gather ahead of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Normandy region, France, on June 2, 2024. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

Fire and smoke erupt from a building just after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern Shayah neighbourhood on November 22, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)