Collecting:- opinions sought

GIO · 26th April 2013, 04:47 PM

Q 1 : yes
Q 2 : yes, but only to a certain extent. I collect Western, Indonesian and Japanese (very few) weapons, and have an idea of the general cultural and historical background of the Countries concerned, but I find that a full knowledge of what stays behind is very difficult, complicated and far from our culture and tradition. I am referring mainly to Indonesia, as you can immagine. In my opinion the understanding of Javanese thinking would take an entire life, and "even more" if one could not have the possibilty of living in Indonesia, in contact with all categories of people, and for rather long periods of time. The alternative is to read books, but this is by far insufficient.
To conclude, a collector should do his best to understand other cultures as much as he can, but the main appeal for the items he collects will always consist in their artistic and technical aspect

26th April 2013, 04:47 PM	#5
GIO Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 328	Q 1 : yes Q 2 : yes, but only to a certain extent. I collect Western, Indonesian and Japanese (very few) weapons, and have an idea of the general cultural and historical background of the Countries concerned, but I find that a full knowledge of what stays behind is very difficult, complicated and far from our culture and tradition. I am referring mainly to Indonesia, as you can immagine. In my opinion the understanding of Javanese thinking would take an entire life, and "even more" if one could not have the possibilty of living in Indonesia, in contact with all categories of people, and for rather long periods of time. The alternative is to read books, but this is by far insufficient. To conclude, a collector should do his best to understand other cultures as much as he can, but the main appeal for the items he collects will always consist in their artistic and technical aspect