Quote:
Originally Posted by Frozen in Time
I realize that it may be slightly easier for me (because of my limited and rather narrow collecting focus) but even in my case I have had to put in a great deal of time doing the necessary "homework" to feel confident in my purchases. At least for me, slowly acquiring this knowledge has enhanced my appreciation of what I have obtained and is an essential component of my total enjoyment of what I collect.
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I'm bored and have some time on my hands, so here are some thoughts I've had for a long time:
There could be other reasons that it is easier for you. I learned about early card lithography by acquiring and studying lots of cheap examples. Same with early 20th century photos, and with 19th century albumens. I'm convinced that this is the best approach to 'affordably' gaining enough knowledge to work toward becoming an expert in almost any hobby. It's not 'years spent in the hobby' as much as it is 'number of items handled', and of course, how interested you actually are in learning about what you are handling.
'Years' counts a great deal, but I've seen very old collectors who confounded me with their inability to accurately assess an item. I had one such friend once ask me whether or not a T205 was real. This stunned me, as T205's are pretty simple to identify. I became more keyed in on other collectors who asked what seemed to be 'dumb' questions about id'ing cards, and, realizing that they were intelligent people, I figured there must be something more to it.
I started thinking about something I had read by Carl Jung that discussed self-individuation and a process he used to bring up unconscious elements of the psyche. It is very similar to meditation and involves clearing out thoughts. He said that while doing this, the unconscious elements make themselves evident in one of three ways: seemingly meaningless bits of sentences, dialogues, and visually. It depends on the type of person you are. I realized that for me it is almost completely visual. I tested that revelation through puzzle-solving and a few other things, and validated it. I believe that 'visual' people have an innate ability to see things in art, photos, etc., that simply don't register as well for others. It's no flaw on their part - just different. There are probably other very important things that 'visual' people can't do, that these non-visual people find very easy.
Just my thinking. Time for lunch.