Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. I have been having a similar discussion with my son. He likes status symbol objects rather than functional opjects. He is coming around.
Some people like to possess rare or historical things. It makes themselves feel superior. In reality, it locks away liquid assets on the hope the item will be worth more in the future. Sometimes it works, some times it doesn’t.
Art, wine, cars and jewels seem to be what people gravitate towards. One of the Koch brothers blew something like $4.5 million on 6 bottles of rare wine that turned out to be counterfeit. Art can have the same pitfalls.
I tend to lean towards the idea of buying quality stuff that has a functional aspect to it. For example, spending a lot of money on a kitchen table, in hopes, that will still work just as well, if taken care, 150 years from now. That’s an expense that can be passed down through generations that they don’t have to spend any money on.
That kind of buying treasures I can appreciate.