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Introduction
The literature's dominant observation about older people and their possessions is that they place increasing value on the symbolic properties of their things. And so, when disposing of possessions, they make efforts to protect, conserve, and project these meanings. This conclusion proceeds largely from studies of cherished possessions - how they are kept and disposed. Approaching the question of possession management in later life from another direction, we feel that a rounder view is necessary, both about the care that older people take with things and what that says about the self.
Special, thoughtful, intentional placings of possessions with others have often been observed in consumption studies. This activity, we think, is aptly named by Roster's (2001) term 'safe passage'. Safe passage enunciates a goal for special dispositions, specifically the protection of the thing's physical and symbolic properties as it transfers to a new owner. In her study of adults, Roster's informants suggested certain strategies to accomplish safe passage, such as high price-barriers at sales to make sure that the item finds an appreciative buyer, and the exchange of stories by giver and receiver (or seller and buyer), one telling the object's history and the other relaying plans for the thing. When the new owner appears to appreciate the value and significance of the thing, safe passage seems assured.
The strategies noted by Roster (2001) are but two of a wider repertoire of safe-passage methods that people use to protect their belongings as they give, sell or donate them. For example, Herrmann (1997) saw people selectively lower prices at garage sales to entice the right buyer to adopt the treasure. At sales observed by Lastovicka and Fernandez (2005), sellers sometimes sought buyers with a congruity of values. Selling, however, is a minor placement strategy compared to gift giving. In their very thorough discussion of special dispositions, Price, Arnould and Curasi (2000) describe a complex, tactical decision process for gifts of cherished possessions that must address interlocking questions about the who, when and how of such transfers. However resolved, storytelling on behalf of possessions commonly conveys their histories. When passing cherished objects, Marx, Solomon and Miller (2004) see the essential problem as one of securing a value match...