What Will Happen

[Lee]

A noted antique arms dealer once told me that he was considering offering a collection dispersal service oriented around publishing a very high quality catalogue of a collection that would serve not only as a record of the collection, but as a sales tool for its dispersal. Of course, single owner auction sales have also generated such catalogs.

Perhaps, as a collector does approach 'end stage' in collecting activities, the publication of such a catalogue - showing the collection at its zenith - is a way of documenting the transient and also very importantly sharing with future collectors where the objects have been and also perhaps some stories about what the present collector learned from or went through acquiring the artifact (as in some of Ewart Oakeshott's writings.) Perhaps this may be a useful, productive and rewarding route when the times of building a collection do come to an end.

Such a catalogue does not have to be associated with a sale, of course, and at worst, the executor of the collector's estate might find it very useful.

[Will M]

Originally Posted by Lee

A noted antique arms dealer once told me that he was considering offering a collection dispersal service oriented around publishing a very high quality catalogue of a collection that would serve not only as a record of the collection, but as a sales tool for its dispersal. Of course, single owner auction sales have also generated such catalogs.

Perhaps, as a collector does approach 'end stage' in collecting activities, the publication of such a catalogue - showing the collection at its zenith - is a way of documenting the transient and also very importantly sharing with future collectors where the objects have been and also perhaps some stories about what the present collector learned from or went through acquiring the artifact (as in some of Ewart Oakeshott's writings.) Perhaps this may be a useful, productive and rewarding route when the times of building a collection do come to an end.

Such a catalogue does not have to be associated with a sale, of course, and at worst, the executor of the collector's estate might find it very useful.

A catalogue is a great idea and you can add the stories behind the weapons. We know that stories sell the items and at higher prices then without. A simple study on eBay in where two identical items were listed, one with a story behind it. The one with the story sold for considerably more.

[Tim Simmons]

I am selling most of mine this September.

[Ian]

This is an interesting and timely discussion--thanks Rick for setting up this topic.

In two months I will be 70 and my wife keeps saying things like, "What am I going to do with all these things if you up and die on me?" So cataloging has been the task for the last couple of months--cleaning, taking pics, writing little stories about the interesting ones, where I collected them and any other provenance (if known). This takes time, but long cold months in the Upper Midwest by an open fire are a perfect setting for it!

As part of the cataloging process, I have come to understand a few more things about what I have. I'll be using pictures of my collection, and other items from the archives here and elsewhere, to write a few short essays on some of my main areas of collecting.

Later this year I will start to cull the herd. Many of my items will appear here on Swap to give the members here an opportunity to pick them over first. Then off to other venues if there is no interest here. None of my kids are interested in them, so back into the market they go (they were always going to fund part of my retirement anyway)!

BTW, part of the provenance of weapons is where they have been displayed. For those of us who contributed parts of our collections to the History of Steel Exhibition in Macau, we should definitely reference that exhibition as part of those weapons' provenance. Every little bit helps in establishing the identity, quality, and legitimacy of an item--and those qualities affect an item's value.

I have promised a few interesting/valuable items to friends, and the rest of the top quality pieces--maybe 30 or so--I have documented as fully as I can and the wife can send them off to one of the prominent auction houses.

I also have a substantial and eclectic library on edged weapons. Some of the stuff is promised to friends and colleagues, but the rest will be handled in the same manner as the weapons themselves. There are some rare and hard to find items on my shelves, and the members here will get first dibs on them too.

Ian.