Define "Collection"

[Thefeeder]

If you have a jar full of coins, are you a coin collector?

Is having a safe full of firearms a collection?

Your thoughts.

[bplvr]

I posted something close to this a few weeks ago.

General agreement, ref Cal gunners : It is a collection till you are on the 6:00news .Then you are a terrorist with a cache of weapons and live on a compound. If you have more than one weapon you have an arsenal.
Please get used to the Facist terminology,it will be a way of life next year.
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[sb_pete]

One time I was in a Big 5 checking out some Mosins and some guy looking at shotguns asks me,

"So, you collect guns or somethin'?"
I looked at him and said, "Nah man, I shoot guns...

[CHS]

If you have a jar full of coins, are you a coin collector?

It would depend on your personal mindset. Some people would consider themselves a coin collector. Some wouldn't consider themselves a coin collector unless they had a booklet of coins with logs and grading scales and detailed records and etc. etc. etc.

I've got a big jar of coins but don't consider myself a coin collector at all.

However, I do have what I would consider a small collection of semi-valuable coins. I have collected them because they are personally interesting to me (some silver dimes, all three steel WWII pennies, etc). While I do consider that a small collection, I don't actually consider myself a coin collector.

Is having a safe full of firearms a collection?

I sure have a ton of guns, but I don't consider myself a gun collector. Hell, I only have one truly interesting firearm that has never been fired. The rest are shooters.

I look at those crazy engraved 1911's in magazines that are sold as collectors pieces, but I could never see myself ever purchasing one. It would be pointless because I'd just ruin the collectors value by shooting it a whole lot. Plus, I find engraving and gold plating tacky. It's just not for me.

So no, I'm not a gun collector. I just have a lot of guns and love shooting

[Moonclip]

I accumulate guns, with specific accumulations in areas that interest me such as S&W pre lock DA revolvers.

Can you own huge amounts of guns and still not be a collector?

[Alan Block]

I see a collection as

A group of items that some knowlege can be obtained by virtue of their being together.
This applies to coins, guns, cameras, cars and lint.

[Thefeeder]

I accumulate guns, with specific accumulations in areas that interest me such as S&W pre lock DA revolvers.

Can you own huge amounts of guns and still not be a collector?

Moonclip has come to the true essance of this post.

I consider him a S&W revolver collector and the rest are just guns to him...But a M29-1 or a M25 in mint condtion will make his mouth water.

I would trade the same M29-1 for mint 20ga Browning Superposed in a heartbeat and jump up and down like a 5 year old on Christmas.

[Thefeeder]

It would depend on your personal mindset. Some people would consider themselves a coin collector. Some wouldn't consider themselves a coin collector unless they had a booklet of coins with logs and grading scales and detailed records and etc. etc. etc.

I've got a big jar of coins but don't consider myself a coin collector at all.

However, I do have what I would consider a small collection of semi-valuable coins. I have collected them because they are personally interesting to me (some silver dimes, all three steel WWII pennies, etc). While I do consider that a small collection, I don't actually consider myself a coin collector.



I sure have a ton of guns, but I don't consider myself a gun collector. Hell, I only have one truly interesting firearm that has never been fired. The rest are shooters.

I look at those crazy engraved 1911's in magazines that are sold as collectors pieces, but I could never see myself ever purchasing one. It would be pointless because I'd just ruin the collectors value by shooting it a whole lot. Plus, I find engraving and gold plating tacky. It's just not for me.

So no, I'm not a gun collector. I just have a lot of guns and love shooting

You are right ,the crazy 1911's in magazines are NOT collector pieces...they are after market gimics.

Ever hear of Franklin Mint coins? Its not a US mint made coin ...No collector value, so what if they only made a 1000 of them. Same deal with the " Vietnam collector edition 1911" made by Urasucker. Its not from the Colt factory.....That is a huge, huge, huge differance

The old hand engraving, hard to find guns in prime condition keep me broke

As for machine photo eched, acid eched engraving...."Tacky" is an understatement...Looks like S***

I would be interested in the story behind the "one interesting gun " you have and why is that one gun being preserved?

[Max-the-Silent]

The best explanation of "collecting" that I've run across is in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Guitar-Mania-Collecting-Collection/dp/0931759609

Old Guitar Mania By Bill Blackburn.

The author is a Ph.D with a bad case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and this book contains interviews with others that suffer with the same malady.

Specifically to firearms, it's entirely reasonable that a hunter could have a dozen rifles and not be a collector, but someone with three BPE double rifles could be a serious collector. I own several Glocks and in no way consider myself a collector of Glocks, but I'm a serious collector of S. & W wheelguns.

It all depends on intent.

[tow4dough]

to me collectible firearms are anything in original configuration from when they were manufactured-regardless of condition. of course the better shape they're in, the more money they're worth.

[sorensen440]

Being a collector to me would be buying guns for the purpose of owning them not for shooting them/.

[Moonclip]

Being a collector to me would be buying guns for the purpose of owning them not for shooting them/.

But how do you explain people like me that they have or will shoot 99%+ of their guns but have not shot some of them in over 5 years?

I am a sorta collector I suppose.

[AJAX22]

I like obscure stuff and one offs...

the rest are just guns.

[smle-man]

I'm a gun magnet. They just seem to stick to me...I buy what I find to be interesting. For awhile I made an effort to collect Swiss SR action rifles with an eye towards specific models and variations (thus a 'collection') and bayonets and kit but I got tired of it, sold some, kept some and then started buying other firearms that appealed to me. I 'collect' firearms in the sense that I gather them in but I do not have the 'collector' syndrome that will cause me to spend obscene amounts of money for a firearm that has just the right cartouche on the stock. I find that being a gatherer of firearms is a heck of a lot more fun than being a bona fide collector.

[Gunaria]

If you have a jar full of coins, are you a coin collector?

Is having a safe full of firearms a collection?

Your thoughts.

Having 3 or more safes full is a collection.