Collecting-Specific Regiments or Generally?

[bobblehat44]

I would be interested to hear opinions as to collecting preferences and their respective merits
.Many of us collect to specific regiments that we have served with or have a family association with. Others an interest in a specific Regiment for its history and deeds-Waterloo,Indian Mutiny,Crimea, WW1 or WW2 etc.
A narrow collecting field means you can have a really in depth knowledge of badges to the Regiment[s] you collect-though it does mean a smaller selection and choice.
That must be difficult though when you see the vast number of other genuine and stunning badges that are sometimes offered-it must be so tempting because don't we love all cap badges?

[Sapper795]

Hi bobblehat44.
When I first started collecting I bought anything. Now I have gone through my collection and found about 70% of it was duff.
So found most of my genuine stuff was infantry.
I read a thread on here about a member who was putting together sets as per K.K. So that’s one of my collecting goals. Infantry of the line set 1 Victorian.
Set 2 1902-1922 set 3 post 1922. As I said as per K.K. Set 3 just one badge to go.
I also collect my old regiment and my local regiment, and I have a real problem sticking to the above.
I like picking up the odd officer cap badge, have also got quite a nice collection of shoulder titles.
Plus all the other shiny stuff I can’t resist Victorian uniforms, home service helmets ETC ETC.
I decided collecting should be fun so don’t try and keep it down to a narrow field although this would be the wise thing to do.

[bobblehat44]

Thanks very much for that insight as to how your collecting evolved-very interesting. I think that it is probably true of most of us that we specialise gradually as our knowledge and preferences change-though you [and I]cannot resist sometimes items that are not directly connected to our main collections.
And as for your comment about realizing many our early purchases were rubbish-very very true!