[Phil2M]

So rather than being a collector, you are a researcher?

Buying, researching and then selling on, that isn't collecting. Not in my opinion anyway.

Buying, researching and then presenting items or storing them in a fitting manner. Thats collecting. Safeguarding of a small piece of history.

To have bought items including 'holy grails', done a little bit of research and then sold them on a bit further down the road......what has been collected? In these cases, I do not believe that there was ever an intent to collect. Funding the next fad is the name of the game there.

This thread title is inaccurate at best, given that collecting and what is truly collecting is a personal thing. Whether its eclectic, area specific or even to an extent hoarded. Whether that's for investment (to fund retirement) or to be buried with you, or handed on to the next generation, makes no odds. There is a collection physically there, with a true intent to grow it.

Does any collector, really, truly, want to sell any part of their collection? Trading or selling spare (duplicate items) to acquire the next sought after item, maybe. I'm sure no true collector wants to sell their 'holy grails'.

There is always the thrill of the hunt, the thrill of the find and then of course the thrill of owning something and treasuring it.