Collecting For Collectings Sake.
Having spent 2 years away from the hobby other than occasionally opening a box to see what was in it has changed my perspective dramatically. Aside from the obvious need for more space that having a kid brings i have come to the conclusion that most of the models, books and games i owned are junk.... well to me at least.
I had a large collection, small in comparison with a lot of collectors i know but to me it was a good effort. Most of the collection however was gathered on impulse.
"I should own that!" essentially drove my collection in an attempt to purchase my youth through miniatures i had or my friends had when i was 14 years old. Now there is nothing wrong with this at all and if i had the space and the money i would never really have stopped but the fate of the collection was always to sit on a box for years untouched and unused. I spent 2 years not taking much interest in the hobby and in that relativity short time i totally forgot what the vast bulk of my collection was made of. Like a plastic and lead fantasy version of Schroedinger cat i couldn't actually tell you what was in and what wasn't in the boxes piled high in my utility room and this undermined the importance i had placed on the models in the first place. What was the point of collecting something that i cared so little for that i had forgotten i owned?
So i sold a lot.... and i mean ALOT!. Some of the things i sold i was really gutted to see go but although they were awesome items, i knew they would never be truly used by me. Other items i was stunned i had actually paid money for. At one point i bought a copy of the 3rd edition Talisman box game that was only 25% complete. I have never played or will play Talisman, i have no real love for the minis or the box art.... but i paid someone money for it and it then took up space in my closet rather than the previous owners. I have since sold it on and hopefully its new owner finds a better use for it than i did.
Anyway the main point i am making is that all those miniatures and box games were actually holding me back. The dumb need and pressure to build an army of this or collect all of that meant i had a projects list that was unlimited in terms of what a single person could get through whilst still maintaining love for the hobby and not come to resent it all. The weight of all those unstarted projects was causing me to digress from starting any of them.
I still have a decent diluted collection that contains the miniatures that are truly from my youth or that i just love to look at and since i cut the numbers its now all achievable, one at a time. I should also say that my collection is not finished, i got rid of lots of stuff that i had no want for but there are miniatures not in my collection that will still be bought but they will be bought to be painted and to be displayed and all within a realistic time scale.
All of this is what works for me. I understand most collectors are much more focused than i am and find pleasure in a wider variety of items than i do but if you find yourself staring at your collection and wondering what to do with it, where to put it or even just discover you are losing your drive but dont know why, maybe you need to have a clear out too.
Having spent 2 years away from the hobby other than occasionally opening a box to see what was in it has changed my perspective dramatically. Aside from the obvious need for more space that having a kid brings i have come to the conclusion that most of the models, books and games i owned are junk.... well to me at least.
I had a large collection, small in comparison with a lot of collectors i know but to me it was a good effort. Most of the collection however was gathered on impulse.
"I should own that!" essentially drove my collection in an attempt to purchase my youth through miniatures i had or my friends had when i was 14 years old. Now there is nothing wrong with this at all and if i had the space and the money i would never really have stopped but the fate of the collection was always to sit on a box for years untouched and unused. I spent 2 years not taking much interest in the hobby and in that relativity short time i totally forgot what the vast bulk of my collection was made of. Like a plastic and lead fantasy version of Schroedinger cat i couldn't actually tell you what was in and what wasn't in the boxes piled high in my utility room and this undermined the importance i had placed on the models in the first place. What was the point of collecting something that i cared so little for that i had forgotten i owned?
 |
| Sold - I was gutted to sell this but i was never going to use it. |
So i sold a lot.... and i mean ALOT!. Some of the things i sold i was really gutted to see go but although they were awesome items, i knew they would never be truly used by me. Other items i was stunned i had actually paid money for. At one point i bought a copy of the 3rd edition Talisman box game that was only 25% complete. I have never played or will play Talisman, i have no real love for the minis or the box art.... but i paid someone money for it and it then took up space in my closet rather than the previous owners. I have since sold it on and hopefully its new owner finds a better use for it than i did.
 |
| Sold - They may be old but they are awful |
I still have a decent diluted collection that contains the miniatures that are truly from my youth or that i just love to look at and since i cut the numbers its now all achievable, one at a time. I should also say that my collection is not finished, i got rid of lots of stuff that i had no want for but there are miniatures not in my collection that will still be bought but they will be bought to be painted and to be displayed and all within a realistic time scale.
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| Totally 'Armless. |
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