Title: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 01, 2015, 01:59:36 am Hello All
I thought to share something which may strike a few chords both with past and current collectors . It seems that the "collecting" urge is something embedded in many - if not most - of us (I read somewhere that even some animals and birds "collect" things) As kid I collected matchboxes (a very inexpensive hobby by comparison to snuff bottles!) and wherever I was in the UK - even when my parents stopped the car for petrol - I would run off to every tobacconist and grocer shop within 5 minutes radius and ask "what brand of matches do you sell?" It even came down to "what is the average contents in the box - label ?" ( 40, 39, 38, 37..... 36 !) So it was when I started collecting VMIPBs (that's Very Modern Inside Painted (snuff) Bottles" for newbies on the Forum) I ran anywhere and everywhere in China where I worked every week seeking out shops that sold premium genuine-artist-painted VMIPBs. Just like a kid ! Eventually I tracked down the mother lode of VMIPBs - a little city about 300 km south of Beijing called Hengshui and got to meet the top artists face-to-face. By then my collecting "habit" had become very expensive : I was "sniffing" at US$1 K per month, which was the limit of my disposable income for spending on trivialities (i.e. things my wife would "pretend" not to notice when we reckoned up from time to time and I equally "pretended" not to notice her spending on cosmetics and shoes , thus both our "spending habits" were kept below the overall family budget radar horizon ..... ) But finally my collection grew to over 300 bottles - some very cheaply acquired , but others very expensively (the most I ever paid was US$ 5 K for one supreme modern bottle) And then, suddenly, just as it was when I was a kid collecting matchboxes, I realised that I could never "collect the world" . So I settled down with my collection, grew to love every bottle more and more, and very rarely bought new bottles . Does that strike a few chords out there ? When I tot up the total amount I paid for my 300 + bottles it comes to a "horrifying" US$250K + sum (I never confessed that to my wife !) But actually, when I value just my few dozen or so prime bottles, they alone would sell for US$1 million in total, and 25 years later probably at least twice that. Meanwhile my vintage matchbox collection which was built up in the 1950s will fetch only a few US$ hundreds on e-bay My conclusion is that collecting is a passion that goes through several phases : 1. Initial interest 2. Sporadic collecting 3. Research ... intensely ! 4. Intense collecting 5. Even more intense collecting.... 6. STILL more intense collecting............ ! 7. Common sense and/or Wife (and/or bank manager) intervenes 8. Consolidation 9. Satisfaction with what one has collected 10. The URGE TO COLLECT MORE subsides Cheers Peter Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Pat - 查尚杰 on December 01, 2015, 02:05:42 am Peter
Agree with your conclusion... been through the cycle 2 times and surely will a 3rd time 1. women 2. antique cylinder phonographs 3. snuff bottles.... pending ;D :D ;) Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 01, 2015, 02:12:55 am Hi Pat
;D Re 1. Women.... My collection topped out at two The first was a supreme person, whose lifelong friendship I will always treasure The second was SO wonderful (but SO expensive !) that I'm broke* ;D Cheers Peter PS: Seriously - you have met 冰冰 so you know what I mean : Matthew 13:46 *PPS : Well maybe... depends on when I can next go to Hengshui and what prime bottles there are for sale and how much RMB I can filch from the the retirement funds without my wife noticing....... :-* Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Pat - 查尚杰 on December 01, 2015, 02:30:58 am I was talking about gf's not wives :P
What can I say... must be the Scandinavian and Greek blood,... bad mix. At least I outgrew it haha Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 01, 2015, 02:32:03 am Same Same :D
HEY .... this a million miles from the "Art" of Collecting Art ! Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Wattana on December 01, 2015, 03:23:55 am Peter,
I agree with most of your comments, except for item 10. The urge doesn't subside. ;) Pat, That 'first' category is in my experience far more expensive that ANY type of collecting which may come later! Tom Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Pat - 查尚杰 on December 01, 2015, 03:36:28 am Tom
Haha Agree... that's why it came first, when I could least afford it and got over it quicker (or my wallet). Peter Who says women aren't art? Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 01, 2015, 03:38:18 am Hi Pat and Tom
I must agree with Tom re category 1 ........* ! :( Cheers Peter * PS: But it's worth it ! :D PPS: Item 10 is self-fulfilling as soon as one retires and there's no more money coming in :( Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Wattana on December 01, 2015, 03:49:53 am PPS: Item 10 is self-fulfilling as soon as one retires and there's no more money coming in :( Peter, I wouldn't call that 'subsiding' - it's more like when a junkie goes cold turkey! Tom Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: George on December 01, 2015, 04:43:10 pm My conclusion is that collecting is a passion that goes through several phases : 1. Initial interest 2. Sporadic collecting 3. Research ... intensely ! 4. Intense collecting 5. Even more intense collecting.... 6. STILL more intense collecting............ ! 7. Common sense and/or Wife (and/or bank manager) intervenes 8. Consolidation 9. Satisfaction with what one has collected 10. The URGE TO COLLECT MORE subsides Another for me is collecting with champagne taste on a beer budget, and agree with Tom that the urge never subsides .. ! Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: seadancer1 on December 01, 2015, 09:34:40 pm I'm up to number 8. ;D
Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Wattana on December 01, 2015, 10:31:48 pm Satisfaction yet to come.....? :)
Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: seadancer1 on December 03, 2015, 02:19:32 am Too many ' if only's' Tom! :D
Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Wattana on December 03, 2015, 02:34:23 am Reading Peter's number 9 brings that Rolling Stones classic to mind....
I Can't Get No......Satisfaction! ;) Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 03, 2015, 02:37:37 am Hello All
Seriously: there is really - and must be - step 8 , which is followed logically by 9 and 10 Unless one has unlimited financial resources and/or is a "professional" collector who sells only to buy again , and thus continually trades up his/her collection, there must come a point when one feels "enough is enough = Step 9 -ish, followed by Step 10 Also seriously : retirement is a deciding factor (at least it was in my case). When one has a continual flow of monthly income, part of which one spends for daily living, part of which one saves (and part of which one smuggles out beyond the far-reaching eyes of "she-who-must-be-obeyed" to buy snuff bottles !) one feels one can spend freely But when the monthly income flow suddenly stops it sobers one up very quickly ! Yes - I can sell sell many, if not most of my bottles for a mark-up of between 2 x - 10 x what I originally paid. The average "market price tracker" guidelines prove that, albeit it's still a buyers' market overall. Snuff bottles (especially VMIPBs) don't (yet) sell for ridiculous prices like this : ____________________ Modigliani's "Reclining Nude" fetches second-highest ever art auction price Painting sells for $170m in New York, $9m less than Picasso’s Women of Algiers, in New York auction ________________ I would not display such an awful painting in my home even if you paid me that much ! (OK - if I could afford US$170 million for such an ugly painting I could also afford a second home in which to display such "awful" art , but that's an academic point !) But now I honestly don't wish to part with any of my bottles. I love them too much :D Cheers Peter PS : Tom ..... Rolling Stones / "Satisfaction" .... Man that dates you (and me !) ;D Good Bye Ruby Tuesday .......... ? 8) Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: OIB on December 08, 2015, 08:33:30 am Peter,
For me, no.10 is ' a renewed capacity to appreciate better and more exquisite bottles ' , whether that includes the desire to own them or not. Inn Bok Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: YT on December 08, 2015, 09:14:20 am Dear Inn Bok,
Welcome back!! I agree with your no.10 and hope to achieve that freedom to appreciate. Cheers, YT Title: Re: The "Art" of Collecting Art Post by: Peter Bentley 彭达理 on December 08, 2015, 05:49:49 pm Hi Inn Bok
I am seriously worried about going back from step 10 to step 6 Fortunately my retirement finances don't permit me to do so But if I DID have the finances I would end up as George Bentley Cheers Simple Peter |