 |
| Second-generation collector Chong Zhou, 25, compares his method of collecting with that of his parents, who run a large pharmaceutical company. “They bought on instinct,” he says, “and later, when the market took off, on investment.” |
Did
you recently discovered there is another voice in collection circle regarding to
call on everyone make a look back to the beginning enthusiasm in collection?
The slogan sounds like a pair of old couple commemorate their old loving story
which was always nourished with the passion and pleasure. That must be sweet memories of everyone, I remember my first came into contact with collections,
although I just bought an ordinary coin, it may spend my few days just to
admire it, and you won’t feel tired to explore the origin of the currency, the
story behind the coin and the collectors’ reviews. You may have a long story to
tell off if you saw anyone who have the similar enthusiasm with you. Few days ago, I talked about the same matter
with my companion, she replied me with an unwelcomely tone that: hello, you
have no any changes of your craziness, don't talk with a tone sound like you have
changed a lot!! Haha, I believe there should be a large number of collectors
should also have the same experience as me, are you still hold that origin passion?
It
is a very encouraging campaign to ask a review on the original passion in
collection. However, if you would like to further elaborate this topic to "purely-for-collection", perhaps we may need more exploration about it. What is
"purely-for-collection", simple to say it is regardless of the cost to acquire a
collection, no value appreciation concerns or it is merely driven by your
demand-to-own it. Basically, this topic is highly debatable if you are
seriously involved to argue it, it always ended up without any valid
conclusions. So, if you stick to the "right" or "wrong" standing in this topic, it is probably never get to the right answer.
Personally,
I tend to elaborate this issue in human terms. If you advocate on the purely-in-collection principle, how to handle the dilemma such as you bought a collection about 10 years ago, you just spent hundreds of dollars in that time, it is valued about tens of thousands nowadays. Would you transfer the possession without concern the market value to the
next owners who may similarly advocate the pure-in-collection? If true, your extraordinarily cultivation is always our deeply admiration. Perhaps you will have the opportunity to
meet similar people few decades ago, in that time the capital gain of collection was not
as good as today, and most people were still struggling for their life spends. Some
of the aged and senior collectors notified the next generations has no interest
to inherit their collections, it was not surprising they may choose to make a cheap transfer to you. However, in the materialistic society as today, if you still given chance
to meet such person, it may more difficult than you are striking a jackpot.
Sometimes, we can easily find many people who advocate the purely-in-collection spirit,
however when he has a something good ,it maybe another matter, so in other words his
purely-in-collection spirit is "selective" indeed, which only probably confined in
the zone of low-tier collection.
"Collection of investment" is a pleasure hobby, you do
not require to make it complicated. What we may need to pay attention to is
"collection of speculation". Sometimes, we earn some extra money in
collections transfer does not necessarily represent we are depriving it as
our life cost. The most joyful moment is the feeling of your vision was
affirmed and rewarded. I believe most of the collectors agree to it.
I do not intend to write on this subject with a conclusion, why
not we take our predecessor, Mr Wan Thiam Teik’s quote as a reference?
"That is another way to contemplate this debates. In the time when prices are modest, that is no issue at all to collect for pure pleasure, this was a common perception only a decade ago. However, came to the time as today, price of collections are mostly escalated significantly, it is no longer easy to collect as pure hobby. Why? The cost for hobby is not modest anymore. While we contemplate to spend tens of thousands or higher for quality materials, why not we take this money to improve the quality of our life, do something for the family such as home decoration, or have a trip for family vacation, or buy a better car, or repay part of the mortgage, and so on. It is absolutely no wise to use our saving on hobby without any appraisal of the investment potential. Whether we like it or not, collector mindset is bound to change, the perception of solely for the interest has slowly become a history. Today we're at the genesis of a new way of looking at these collectible banknotes and coins — from an investment perspective instead of a collecting perspective. "
Have a nice reading!
Numis Galleries House
05/06/2015
