Thank you Guwaya and Rasjid.
We seem to be getting into a more general discussion now, so I'm going to make a few remarks of my own.
My questions were directed at collecting in general, not specifically at keris.
I do not really identify myself as a collector of keris. I used to be, but these days I spend much more time, and money, on research and learning about the keris than I do on collecting, in fact I have begun to downsize my collection, whilst at the same time increasing my involvement in learning, not about the keris as such, but rather about all that is behind what we can see.
I collect other things:- pocket knives, paper weights, ivories, watches, small carvings, keris hilts (as distinct from keris). About these things that I only collect, rather than study, I know almost nothing:- I can classify them, name them, describe them, value them, but I know just about nothing apart from that. I wallow in ignorance, and I feel no need to learn more about these other things, I simply appreciate the object. The exception is of course keris hilts, which overlaps my interest in keris.
So possibly the collector is a person who just appreciates and understands what he can see, possibly he feels no need to delve into those matters associated with his collecting interest, which he cannot see.
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