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247 posts tagged collecting
Starting an art collection
Buy what you want to look at. Attribution is the expensive way to learn you were wrong.
Starting a saree collection
Pick one weave and buy several. The hand of the fabric is the lesson, and it cannot be read.
Starting a cinema memorabilia collection
Lobby cards and stills before posters. Smaller, cheaper, and they teach you the paper.
Starting a cricket memorabilia collection
Programmes, tickets and scorecards first. Signatures are the expensive part of the education.
Starting a sports memorabilia collection
Begin with programmes and tickets. They are cheap, dateable, and nobody has to take your word for them.
Starting a mineral collection
Buy labelled specimens. An unlabelled mineral loses most of its value the day you forget.
Starting an antique collection
Buy small objects, handle many, and never refinish anything.
Starting a bag collection
Learn leather on unbranded pieces. Brand prices without provenance are the expensive lesson.
Starting a jewellery or watch collection
Start with silver and honest unhallmarked pieces. Stones are where beginners lose money.
Starting a book collection
Collect a subject, an author or a publisher. Not "first editions" in the abstract.
Starting a manga collection
One series, in order, in one edition. Mixed editions are the mistake you cannot undo cheaply.
Starting a toy and collectible collection
Pick one line. Decide early whether you are a boxed collector or a loose one.
Starting a video game collection
Pick one console and buy complete. Loose is cheaper and never becomes complete.
Starting a sports card collection
Pick a player or a set. The parallel is where the money and the confusion both live.
Starting a record collection
Buy records you want to hear. The pressing matters later; the playing matters now.
Starting a comic collection
Buy a run you want to read. Keys in poor grade at key prices are the trap.
Starting a coin collection
Pick one series and try to complete it. Age is not the thing you are collecting.
Starting a trading card collection
Buy one set in commons until you can see centring without thinking about it.
Starting a sneaker collection
Buy pairs you will wear, in your size, until you can read a sole at a glance.
How saree condition is described
No scale, and three places that decide it: the folds, the zari and the borders.
How furniture condition is described
Measurements, material, surfaces, repairs. There is no scale and no need for one.
How baby and child items are assessed
Three checks that come before any condition word, and one that can stop the sale.
How outdoor gear is graded
By whether it still performs — and storage counts for more than use.
How sports equipment is graded
By what it can still do. Match condition, practice condition, worn.
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