It's clear that within the past two hundredish years, people have had the opportunity to own or come into contact with enough objects for this to become a real issue. I know that looking for historical examples of some mental illnesses as we know them now can be problematic, but are there any historical anecdotes of people hoarding junk or an excess of specific objects?
It's very true that in the pre-industrial world things would be more expensive, generally, and a lot of stuff would be recycled: broken iron strap hinges and dull steel files cut up and re-forged into hatchets, chisels; rags collected and made into paper, broken brass candlesticks melted and re-cast into more candlesticks. But there were still objects that had gone out of style, become obsolete or were simply useless that some people would obstinately hang onto, and some people more than others. The Comedia del Arte standard character of Pantelon was a miser, and, for anecdotes, there's Molière's miser Harpagon, in The Miser (1668), loading a lot of junk into a loan and inflating the value. The list of obsolete and unfashionable things must have seemed somewhat familiar to the audience:
"Of the fifteen thousand francs which are demanded, the lender will only be able to count down twelve thousand in hard cash; instead of the remaining three thousand, the borrower will have to take the chattels, clothing, and jewels, contained in the following catalogue, and which the said lender has put in all good faith at the lowest possible figure."
CLE. What is the meaning of all that?
LA FL. I'll go through the catalogue:--
"Firstly:--A fourpost bedstead, with hangings of Hungary lace very elegantly trimmed with olive-coloured cloth, and six chairs and a counterpane to match; the whole in very good condition, and lined with soft red and blue shot-silk. Item:--the tester of good pale pink Aumale serge, with the small and the large fringes of silk."
CLE. What does he want me to do with all this?
LA FL. Wait.
"Item:--Tapestry hangings representing the loves of Gombaud and Macee. [Footnote: An old comic pastoral.] Item:--A large walnut table with twelve columns or turned legs, which draws out at both ends, and is provided beneath with six stools "[this would be a typical style of the 1500's].
CLE. Hang it all! What am I to do with all this?
LA FL. Have patience.
"Item:--Three large matchlocks inlaid with mother-of-pearl, with rests to correspond [ likely 16th c., perhaps even late 15th.c.]. Item:--A brick furnace with two retorts and three receivers, very useful to those who have any taste for distilling" [ easy to imagine them being used by the 16th c. alchemist, satirized by Bruegel ].
CLE. You will drive me crazy.
LA FL. Gently!
"Item:--A Bologna lute with all its strings, or nearly all [ lutes were notoriously fragile and prone to damage, and not only was this one clearly in bad shape, but likely old- the 7-string Renaissance lute had been superseded in France by the larger baroque lute] Item:--A pigeon-hole table and a draught-board, and a game of mother goose, restored from the Greeks, most useful to pass the time when one has nothing to do. Item:--A lizard's skin, three feet and a half in length, stuffed with hay, a pleasing curiosity to hang on the ceiling of a room. The whole of the above-mentioned articles are really worth more than four thousand five hundred francs, and are reduced to the value of a thousand crowns through the considerateness of the lender."