Narrow minded vs. Narrow focus

Kevin Jones said:
I was fishing for examples to start discussion, since most think "successful collector" needs to be defined before diving into Lorien's broader question.

So Roger, since I seem to be wrong most of the time in your eyes ;) :D, in interest of defining a "successful collector", do you have any behaviors examples that would support such other than is content with their collection?
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Kevin,

I don't think you're wrong most of the time. I think we see a good number of issues differently. That isn't to say that your views aren't evey bit as valid. Most of the time. ;)

I try to make it clear in my posts that there is no one "right" approach, whether it be mine or yours or anyone else's. That's why I have repeated my assertion that claiming a single approach to be the only path to "success" is narrow minded. Hopefully that adds some clarification.

A collector who dabbles in this genre and that, buying and selling just as fast always at a loss, bailing out of the whole deal after a couple of years probably isn't that successful.

A collector who focusses on a particular maker to the exclusion of all others, only to realize after a couple years that he has become disenchanted with that maker for whatever reason and can't be bothered to start all over again with a different maker and dumps his collection and bails out of the whole deal isn't that successful either.

The absence of success in these examples is not due to either a lack or excess of "focus" but rather to each collector failing to figure out two simple questions BEFORE spending a ton of dough: what do they like and more importantly, why. The problem with externalizing the measure of success (whether it be described as community view, perspective, consensus or what have you) is that it does tend to divert the collector along one of the surest paths to "failure": buying knives to please someone else.

The "simple" measure of success advanced by STeven above is actually a pretty good one, IMHO:

"A simple definition of a "successful" collector is one who takes enjoyment from knife collecting and stays with it for an extended period of time...always enjoying it."

Roger
 
;);););););)
Kohai999 said:
IF he REALLY enjoys it, I'd say he is very successful, if it is just "another" thing to him, I say he is just another asshole with too much money. The makers probably don't care either way.:D

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Just curious Steven, as to what qualifies Mr. X an asshole. Is it the too much money or not enjoying the collection or some other factor???????
Keep in mind this was just a curious question and nothing else and no motive should be read into it.;)

Paul
 
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I don't know how I missed this quote from STeven's post, but I did, and it defines succinctly, in my opinion, what to me is a successful collector:

A simple definition of a "successful" collector is one who takes enjoyment from knife collecting and stays with it for an extended period of time...always enjoying it.

STeven, thank you for reading my mind.
 
sheathmaker said:
;);););););)

Just curious Steven, as to what qualifies Mr. X an asshole. Is it the too much money or not enjoying the collection or some other factor???????

Paul
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'Cause that is just the kind of guy he is, Paul....he sort of enjoys being a bit of an asshole.....the money just helps to facilitate it.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
RogerP said:
Kevin,

I don't think you're wrong most of the time. I think we see a good number of issues differently. That isn't to say that your views aren't evey bit as valid. Most of the time. ;)
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If everyone had the same opinions it wouldn't be very fun around here. ;)
 
in my original post, I was going to parenthesize the word successful. I can see now that I made the right choice by not doing that.
I love this forum because it is full of smart people, often with good ideas.:thumbup:

So let's get the 'success' thing out of the way and get to the meat and potatoes. For the sake of this discussion, can we agree that a Successful Collector is one which proves their enthusiasm and commitment in the fullness of time, by maintaining that interest using several strategies and sticking with it over a lifetime? In other words, would a Successful Collector be a person who was looked at as an enthusiastic collector of knives once they shed this mortal coil?

Now, what about the focus thing... followers, leaders, some of both?
 
Lorien said:
In other words, would a Successful Collector be a person who was looked at as an enthusiastic collector of knives once they shed this mortal coil?

Now, what about the focus thing... followers, leaders, some of both?
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The semantics of "successful" become gelatinous when you add focus as a condition.

The first question that must be answered is "What am I doing, and why?"

If the object is to make a profit, "successful" collectors tend to employ a different approach and mindset than those that "simply" buy for the love of the knife.

And then....how does it fit together. Some collectors have a clearly defined sense of taste, and some are more "free-thinking". An art knife by Paul Jarvis might be a very weird fit in tactical knife collection...but that is really for the individual collector to decide.

"Successful" collectors that I know, and who have been doing it for a long time frequently have a primary collection....and subsets, some many, some few...Phil Lobred-focuses on San Francisco knives, but has many her styles, including the Tut Dagger, Coop collects Hill Pearce knives, but has so much other stuff that to me it is accumulation, Kevin Jones goes for mostly forged stuff by big names, Bob Betzner is deep into Curt Erikson knives........I have 2 knives from 50 makers ranging from A-Z....most, but not all of them initially purchased for less than $1,000/per and documented, from makers for reasons that I am STILL trying to figure out. One of my subsets being worked on is a decade of production from Burt Foster, a new one each year....5 years down, 5 to go.

I have a good time with it.

Looking at a knife, and judging it without trying to understand what it is about is "Narrow Minded", IMO.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I collect what I like. My focus changes from narrow to broad, and then back to narrow again. Enjoyment is why I collect, and if I want to collect different kinds of knives, made in different ways, by different makers, that is what I am going to do. If I want to collect only knives forged under the full moon by one eyed makers that are under five foot tall, that's also what I am going to do. My focus is not on ROI, so I can go about my collecting without worrying about that consideration.

It doesn't matter to me how someone else goes about deciding on what knives they want to collect. Whatever makes them happy.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I collect what I like. My focus changes from narrow to broad, and then back to narrow again. Enjoyment is why I collect, and if I want to collect different kinds of knives, made in different ways, by different makers, that is what I am going to do. If I want to collect only knives forged under the full moon by one eyed makers that are under five foot tall, that's also what I am going to do. My focus is not on ROI, so I can go about my collecting without worrying about that consideration.

It doesn't matter to me how someone else goes about deciding on what knives they want to collect. Whatever makes them happy.
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Amen!
 
I buy what I like, but the way its done is selective. I always buy a knife that I would eventually own, either now or down the road. But I buy based on how I am feeling at that time. Sometimes, I feel like buying a Tactical. Or, I may buy a knife that has a certain handle material or blade design. Sometimes this lasts for one, two or many knives back to back. The last run I went on was Hunters with better to exotic handle woods and that lasted 7 knives. Now, I am looking at the 9+ chopper/hackers. After I purchase my first one, I may or may not feel I need another. I will just have to see. If not, I move on. Maybe autos or custom folders.
 
Kevin Jones said:
Just for example and discussion sake, suppose a collector had a reputation of buying custom knives on impulse only to sell then a few months latter at a substantial loss, thus negatively effecting the maker's price structure and other collector's knife values. Would the or should the custom knife community then view this collector as "un-successful"?

Sorry Lorien if I'm getting too far off your initial subject.
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I just wanted to address Kevin's post here because he really dug up a kernel.

Kevin- as for your concern over veering off topic, it's all good!:thumbup:

I'm referring primarily to Kevin's description of a person who, in the fullness of time, would probably drop out of the Collecting scene due to burnout, financial un-sustainability, loss of interest or whatever. It is the dropping out of the scene, the supernova of their interest, which determines their anti-success in the fullness of time.

A successful Collector, (or any person in any area of endeavour) is one whose interests grow, who experiences difficulty but flourishes anyway. Someone whose tastes evolve and develop with newfound knowledge and either in connection with a community, or in private, or a trillion combinations of the two.

I think it's reasonable to assume that one who practises their Collecting in private might be more true to their own true goals and tastes, but who may suffer from isolation and loneliness, whilst another who's active within a community may be exposed to more input and gain more education, but who may suffer from compromising their own true goals and tastes in order to fit into the community. Growth is available in either and all formats.

If you are Successful in Collecting, I would think that you could come at it from a multitude of directions, but your interest must not wane, as it is the waning of interest which ultimately will determine one's anti-success.

I say 'anti-success' back in reference to Kevin's post which I found so interesting. There can be a net negative effect from a person losing interest in knife Collecting, especially if they are active participants in a community. Kevin mentioned a few of these negative repercussions, and I can think of several more, but I don't want to go there.

This is about fun, after all:)!
(for me, anyway, that's how I hope to find Success:D)
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I collect what I like. My focus changes from narrow to broad, and then back to narrow again. Enjoyment is why I collect, and if I want to collect different kinds of knives, made in different ways, by different makers, that is what I am going to do. If I want to collect only knives forged under the full moon by one eyed makers that are under five foot tall, that's also what I am going to do. My focus is not on ROI, so I can go about my collecting without worrying about that consideration.

It doesn't matter to me how someone else goes about deciding on what knives they want to collect. Whatever makes them happy.
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Amen and allelujah!:thumbup:

If the OP question was "Is it better to have a narrow focus or a broad focus for a collection" then "whatever works for you" is my answer. Success, like beauty, is in the eye and mind of the beholder. You are a successful as a collector (or anything else in life) if you consider yourself to be successful - everyone else's opinion is just that and if you go through life trying to live up to other people's concept of 'success' you may need to do a re-think.
 
My collection is more "broadband" than "narrow focus". Actually I collect mammoth/damascus folders, but I keep ending up with all this other stuff as well::confused:
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But then again - maybe I'm not a collector? Maybe I'm an "accumulator"?;)
 
I sort of have a narrow focus that developed over the past few years.

I consider myself a pretty filework collector, and a colorful mammoth ivory accumulator.

I am happy with my knives but I have that problem where I always want more, not matter what I walk away with.

filework1.jpg

mammoth5folders-1.jpg
 
Collection and accumulation mean almost the same thing and are often used to mean the same thing (because English is such a flakey language) but there is a subtle difference to their meanings

BTW Nice collection Jos
 
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