A story … maybe an urban legend has been circulating in the antique community for as long as I have been involved in collecting.

The was a man who kept/hoarded everything. His stash included baseball cards, toys, magazines, cereal boxes, flour sacks, bottles, free give-a-ways, postcards, clothes, etc. Stuff that others thought was just junk he thought was treasure. One day when the man was very old, he lost his job. He looked at his treasures and decided that it was time to sell them so that he could survive. He called up a reputable auction house and they helped him sell his “junk”. When all of his “junk” had been sold, he was a very wealthy man. He had made enough money to buy himself a mansion, a luxury car and enough money to live comfortably through retirement. Of course, as the story goes, he still missed his junk

I think we can all relate.  We can all remember that comic, baseball card, or toy that we had as a child that got tossed in the dumpster.  If only I had kept it … then I would be rich!

Once you decide to collect, my advice is to collect something that really interests you.  Make it something that you want to keep until you are ready for retirement.  I collect things related to the Craftsman era.  When I first started collecting, I bought a ton of less expensive items.  Now, when I buy for my collection, I will save up to buy a single rare item.  I think all collectors go through this phase, eventually selling off the more common pieces and keeping rare treasures.

Learn as much as you can about the genre you are collecting.  Make sure that you don’t get caught up in the moment and waste your money.  Whether you are collecting pieces from an era in history or trying to collect an entire line of pottery, collections should be viewed as a long term investment in both time and money.