[luthien-elvenprincess]

"Mathom" is a hobbit term for an object of any value for which a use could not be found, but the owner didn't want to discard of it yet. Therefore, the general hobbit attitude toward these items wouldn't lend itself toward stealing any of the unwanted treatures in the mathom-house. What would they do with it anyway...if they thought it had a use, it wouldn't be a "mathom"! This type of thinking seems strange to our materialistic world, doesn't it! Apparently, hobbits didn't keep odd collections in their own homes, not wanting to waste any precious hobbit-space for things that couldn't be used in a practical manner in their daily lives. They just stored their odd belongings or mathoms in a museum-type setting so that any hobbits who cared to visit the mathom-house would be able to gain from viewing the object.