A collection is a highly personal affair, to be enjoyed in private between oneself and one's initial enthusiasms and growing interests, with the gradual acquisition of intimate and particular knowledge giving an added and lasting savour. There are, nevertheless, a number of general rules to keep in mind, lest, like all such things, it end in tears.

The first, and if it comes down to an absolute choice, the only rule, is simple:

Rule 1 - NEVER collect for investment. This is not at all the same thing as having an eye for a good thing or snapping up a bargain when one sees one. The point, rather, is that it is the object that should be sought and cherished, not any potential profit. And the great fun and paradox of collecting is that what you buy for love so often turns itself, in time, at a handsome if purely notional profit - for as a true collector you would never sell - would you? No: of course not.

So, rule la - cast your bread upon the waters: sell off, if you must, but only to improve, refine and expand upon what you have: remember, your investment may go down as well as up.

Rule 2, then - NEVER buy what you do not actively like and want, and wish to live with. You will inevitably make mistakes, through ignorance, over-enthusiasm, that extra glass of wine at the private view, or have them revealed indeed through your own growing discretion and discernment, but these can always be corrected - see la above.

Rule 3 - study your subject, and keep a clear head.

Rule 4 - keep some sensible limits in mind, of both the scope of the collection as such, and of the money at hand to serve it. But what you can afford.

BUT - rule 4a - keep them flexible. It is not a question of being improvident. Don't re-mortgage the house. But long experience tells us what we regret most as collectors are not our mistakes as such so much as the treasures we let slip away, for being too careful, for not being prepared to spend that little bit more, for not having had that extra glass at the private view.

AND rule 4b - let one thing lead to another, for collecting is not necessarily a business of merely completing the set, and things of all kinds may sit happily and stimulatingly together, so long as the quality is there. As much as it is anything, to collect is to discover.

PS - should you wish to turn yourself into a dealer, that is quite another thing and a different temperament altogether.

 

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