I recently picked up a 1941 practical guide to antique collecting at a garage sale, written by Geoffrey Wills. I liked his foreword. "Collecting anything, antique or modern, is limited by two factors: the money available and the space to be filled. Having determined these basic essentials, it is then a personal matter. The taste of the collector may lead to watches, or clocks, china teapots, or innumerable other things. (Such as postal history, or documents or other paper items.) The lucky acquisition of an admired piece may lead to a determination to get more of the same, or at least to find out what the admiration is all about."
Whatever your current resources, I hope they multiple for you over time. Today I am focusing on the idea of having the "Space." for the author, his primary interest appeared to be furniture. In addition to paying good prices for quality furniture pieces one needs to buy a big enough house to fit the accumulation. Those of us who collect paper items have a somewhat smaller problem. An yet its important to discuss how we store and house our collections. I have my ways and recommendations that I will outline in a future entry. In the meanwhile if you would like to comment on how you store materials please feel free to contribute.
Today I want to take the concept of space in another direction. A stamp collector with a stamp album of empty spaces can choose to let that album define his or her space for stamp collecting, and work toward completion. Finding a stamp to fill every blank. There is no such album for cover collecting. There are however various references and knowable limited runs of times that can permit a focus, and a confined challenge. Its taken me most of my life to recognize the need to concentrate on a limited set of challenges. And then to do them well.
Naval Cover collecting is but one possible cover collecting interest. And it too can be a gargantuan space in which to work. Subdividing the space is probably a good idea. And particularly at first. From my perspective you have initially two valid choices. The first is to decide on a core area up front and to then build out from there. Such an approach may eventually lead you to many permutations over time.
The alternative is to start with perhaps three or four areas. This allows you a better chance of success in finding material, since much of the desirable material is not readily available...that's what make it worth having. My disposition is of the latter variety. I like variety. But I sacrifice the benefits of concentrated attention as a result.
The next phrase in Wills foreword is then the most instructive of all...it is then a personal matter. There is no correct way to collect. It's up to you. But to help set some workable boundaries, I will be putting some ideas up on my www.shipcovers.com web site. I am new at all this, so it will be slower going at first, but as we plunge I develop the site into a significant reference.
One of my first elements will be a listing of all the ships that were at or near Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. This is public information, that you could find now if you wished. I hope to accumulate this list and many more to help people looking to define some "Space" for their collection to develop within.
One final ramble.. for those of you who decide to focus, God Bless, but bend a little and allow yourself a personal collection on the side, one that is just about you. I for example have covers from my ships, covers from towns named Earl or some variation there of etc. I haven't found a birthday cover yet, I was born on a Sunday. This fun side collection will give you a lot of joy.
