Collecting isn't the same for everyone, but there are some common steps in almost every collector’s evolution. When you first start collecting, you're looking for whatever it is that has chosen to interest you and you're looking for every single collectible thing you can find that fits your collection. But, at some point you decide you've got a lot of things and then you become more selective. Regardless, the hunt is always on. Sometimes you're working really hard and find nothing. Other times you're sitting at the kitchen table and somebody calls you and offers you something out of the blue. Every once in a great while you find something that belongs in your collection that you didn't even know existed. In fact, you know you’re a serious collector when you realize anything can happen at any time.
Then there is the cost of acquisition. Sometimes you have to pay big money and step up to get that thing that absolutely has to be included in your collection. It seems like that happens most often when you've been looking the hardest for it. Other times something you didn't even know you were looking for shows up and a fellow collector says, “oh, I thought you might be interested in this.” But by far the best scenario is when somebody unexpectedly calls and is looking to trade. Frequently, these trade situations don’t end up being all that equitable. However, when they have something you want and you have something they want - and you don’t want it anymore, that's an icing on top of the cake kind of thing and life just doesn’t get much better.
For a responsible collector, space is the final frontier. Collectors should want to preserve and protect what they've collected. That means considering the space requirements for the collection. Space is eventually a problem regardless if your collection is a fleet of Farmalls or a plethora of plumb bobs. It doesn't matter if you live in town or are if you live on a farm with a bunch of big old barns. To respect your collection and/or everyone and everything around it, you have to think about how to carefully house all the stuff you will inevitably accumulate. One of the most respectful requirements should be the thoughtful display of the collection so it at least has the potential to be interesting to other people. There’s only one earth and it ain’t getting any bigger. You may as well make it as nice as possible for yourself and everyone else.
I think the secret to collecting is efficiency. The trick is to sneak your collection interests into as much conversation as possible. Collectors talk to collectors all the time and each collector’s collection evolves to meet their preferences at any particular time. Preferences and opinions around collections can be strong, so expect to cross a line and get uninvited to dinner occasionally. However, things will eventually appear from some of the strangest places - places where you never would’ve thought to have looked. So perhaps the secret isn’t efficiency. Perhaps it is balance. Because if you talk about what you collect for more than an hour and a half without being asked, you’re not being efficient, you’re being ignored.