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Originally Posted by Dajak
Hi Bill I am collecting more than 30 years
have a lot off books that I am study
see a lot off weapons did visit a lot off museums
but that does not make me an expert.
But someone that can recognise weapons even it is an mandau an pakayun
or an moro kris or an dajak shield .
And that is where the forum is for if you not sure you can ask the forum members.
And not to get upsett if it is something different about what you think about
it is .
Even I make mistakes in buying weapons.
Regards, Ben
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Ben,
I appreciate your calm comments and you are right about this Forum! This is why I always ask for comments.
As I said, it is fine with me if I post a piece and someone says it is something else. It may be! This is one of the ways I learn. I like learning. Making mistakes and learning from them is one of the ways we learn!
Comments from Forum members may be right and they may be wrong. The books may be right and they may be wrong. Even curators of Museums may be right and they may be wrong. The fun is in the interchange. Getting to know people. Talking openly and freely --- AND respecting other peoples' viewpoints.
I am offended when other people's viewpoints are not respected.
But on experts. For example I know a woman who grew up in Burkina Faso. She was well educated in the artifacts, the religions, the politics, the art, the history of Burkina Faso. She, to me is an expert in pieces from BF. She has multiple degrees and a well-known depth of knowledge about Burkina Faso. She is the Curator of African Art at a well-known Museum.
I saw a marvelous crocodile mask from Burkina Faso. I really liked it though it was very expensive. She looked at it for me and said it was one of the finest examples of their art she had seen. She said that the price was good. I bought it. It is about five feet long.
I showed her another Burkina Faso mask from another dealer. He wanted about 1/20th the cost of the crocodile mask. She looked at it and said it was recent, but a fair represntation of how this type of mask should look.
My first criteria is that I like something. If it is an expensive piece, I have people who know the field look at it and then decide if I want to commit the money.
This is how I use experts. And I check out the "experts" before I consider them worth trusting. Through my busiiness contacts I can check credentials on almost anyone.
One of the great frustrations in email communication is that it is easy to misunderstand the other person. The majority of our human interpersonal communications is body language, tonality and tempo. The actual words make up less than 10% of our communication and that 10% is all we have here in emails. Well maybe capital letters and smilies!
Add to the above, there are a lot of people here from other countries for whom English is not their usual language of communication. I greatly respect these people for coming here and sharing. I would not even try to go to one of their Forums and try to post in their language.
The key word to me is "respect."
While I love the pieces we collect on this Forum, well most of them, the important thing to me is the people here. through this Forum I am developing relationships all over the world.
Yourself for example. You have been collecting 30 years! This is marvelous! I will make it a priority to come visit you someday.
I also greatly value your respectful manner.
I have seen some of your pieces and, personally, I would consider you an expert, Ben. You really know your area. You have some great pieces! You have spent the time to learn. That is obvious even to a neophyte like me! If I had a chance to buy a pakayun, I might ask your opinion.
I will send you a private email to discuss another issue.
Thanking you for your consideration in these matters,
Bill