mctaggart67
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2010
- Messages
- 663
- Reaction score
- 69
- Points
- 28
Mike:
You bring up some important issues. Unfortunately, they do not have easy or instant resolutions:
1] Being a young collector and wanting greater respect for your knowledge
I’ve been there, too, and, as someone has already mentioned, accomplishing things over time is the only way you can build a reputation in any field. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be okay. I have an important piece of cautionary advice for you, though. Always keep in mind that knowledge is far from being absolute, and thinking that you know more than the next guy, as you say, might give you a bit of trouble.
The best lesson I ever learned in university was, that as much as you may know about a given topic, there will always be limits on what you know. In our hobby, you may well know more about a type of bottle from a specific place – and enjoy a good reputation for that – but your knowledge has its limits. Say, for example, you’ve got a drugstore bottle. Based on your research, you know when the store operated, who operated it, when the bottle was made, where it was made, and so on. However, the key phrase here is “based on your research.†Somebody else could conduct his/her own research, using sources you have not consulted, and thus acquire knowledge you don’t have. If you’re not open to listening to what others have to offer – and I don’t think you’re obtuse like this – you’ll lose out on two levels: 1) you’ll miss out on learning, which is one of the greatest joys in our hobby, and 2) you’ll miss out on the socially engaging positive of sharing information, which is another of the greatest joys in our hobby.
All of this being said, by coming off as none-too-modest in this forum – which I submit you’ve done – others may not even bother sharing with you, because few want to deal with arrogance. Make sure you don’t lose out on this point.
2] Pricing bottles for others and then getting “burnedâ€
My best guess is that every bottle collector has suffered this. It’s a tough call. You want a bottle, but its owner wants you to appraise it. What do you do? Low-ball the owner and you might insult him/her out of selling the bottle to you. Make a high offer and you might be faced with the owner’s suspicion that you’ve low-balled, so they ask for much more than your appraisal amount, thus putting the bottle out of range.
There’s no failsafe solution to this type of misery, but a way to minimize your suffering is to gauge your sellers before even talking price. If a seller is an inherently suspicious type, then you may not do any better than leaving him/her with your appraisal and offer and then inviting the seller to get back to you if the bottle doesn’t sell to someone else at a higher price. Don’t embarrass the seller while doing this. So missives in the vein of “Well, your price expectation is, frankly, moronic, so when you finally figure this out, get back to me.†are not called for. Try instead, “Well, I feel I’ve given you a fair offer, but I appreciate that you wish to try at a higher price. If things don’t work out elsewhere, I’d be happy to stand by my offer in future.â€
3] Wanting to go on digs with others and joining clubs
Diggers can be very protective of their turf, so don’t push it – they’ll only shut down on you. Give it time, deal with them honourably and mannerly, and eventually you may get an invitation. Another route is to use your research skills, find your own dig sites, and then be the first to invite others, with the polite insistence on future reciprocation.
If a club bars you from joining, for whatever reason, then you don’t want to belong. Enough said.
4] Condition
It’s not easy putting stock in others’ assessments about condition, especially the one called “mint.†I’ve bought bottles described online as “mint†and received bottles with chips and cracks (not pictured, of course). When faced with this, I ask for a partial refund and then make a note to myself to avoid the seller in future. When it comes to selling online, describe, describe, describe, photograph, photograph, photograph. Be clear and hold nothing back. You may lose a sale or two or may sell at a lower than hoped for price, but this is all for the short-term. However, by describing accurately, you’re building a strong reputation over the long-term (see #1 above), and this has definite selling advantages, since you’ll be known as an honest dealer, which will greatly widen your pool of buyers. If you don’t believe this, then examine the histories of auction houses that sell well online. The ones that describe accurately are the ones that last, and the only way to last in business is through sales.
To return directly back to condition, I think the only way to overcome miscommunications is to buy/sell/trade in person. Of course, this brings us back to enjoying positive social interaction, too.
5] Inviting others to discuss their collecting pet peeves
The collecting world is filled with all sorts of niggling problems. For me, one rises to the top, and this is the tendency to overestimate the age of the bottles we collect. I know this has already been mentioned, but it drives me nuts when people define BIM as pre-1900. Up here in Canada, a great deal of our collectible BIM drugstore and poison bottles are identified with the various trademarks of Toronto’s Richards Glass Company Limited, “RIGO†being the most prominent of these trademarks. This company was chartered in 1912, so, unless the realm of logic has changed in paranormal ways, nothing bearing this firm’s trademarks can be from before 1912. Yet, people routinely date RIGO bottles from the 1880s or 1890s. Grrrrr!!!
But I don’t want to end on this sour note, because I’ve found that the positives in our wonderful hobby far outweigh the negatives.
Stay collecting, my friends!
You bring up some important issues. Unfortunately, they do not have easy or instant resolutions:
1] Being a young collector and wanting greater respect for your knowledge
I’ve been there, too, and, as someone has already mentioned, accomplishing things over time is the only way you can build a reputation in any field. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be okay. I have an important piece of cautionary advice for you, though. Always keep in mind that knowledge is far from being absolute, and thinking that you know more than the next guy, as you say, might give you a bit of trouble.
The best lesson I ever learned in university was, that as much as you may know about a given topic, there will always be limits on what you know. In our hobby, you may well know more about a type of bottle from a specific place – and enjoy a good reputation for that – but your knowledge has its limits. Say, for example, you’ve got a drugstore bottle. Based on your research, you know when the store operated, who operated it, when the bottle was made, where it was made, and so on. However, the key phrase here is “based on your research.†Somebody else could conduct his/her own research, using sources you have not consulted, and thus acquire knowledge you don’t have. If you’re not open to listening to what others have to offer – and I don’t think you’re obtuse like this – you’ll lose out on two levels: 1) you’ll miss out on learning, which is one of the greatest joys in our hobby, and 2) you’ll miss out on the socially engaging positive of sharing information, which is another of the greatest joys in our hobby.
All of this being said, by coming off as none-too-modest in this forum – which I submit you’ve done – others may not even bother sharing with you, because few want to deal with arrogance. Make sure you don’t lose out on this point.
2] Pricing bottles for others and then getting “burnedâ€
My best guess is that every bottle collector has suffered this. It’s a tough call. You want a bottle, but its owner wants you to appraise it. What do you do? Low-ball the owner and you might insult him/her out of selling the bottle to you. Make a high offer and you might be faced with the owner’s suspicion that you’ve low-balled, so they ask for much more than your appraisal amount, thus putting the bottle out of range.
There’s no failsafe solution to this type of misery, but a way to minimize your suffering is to gauge your sellers before even talking price. If a seller is an inherently suspicious type, then you may not do any better than leaving him/her with your appraisal and offer and then inviting the seller to get back to you if the bottle doesn’t sell to someone else at a higher price. Don’t embarrass the seller while doing this. So missives in the vein of “Well, your price expectation is, frankly, moronic, so when you finally figure this out, get back to me.†are not called for. Try instead, “Well, I feel I’ve given you a fair offer, but I appreciate that you wish to try at a higher price. If things don’t work out elsewhere, I’d be happy to stand by my offer in future.â€
3] Wanting to go on digs with others and joining clubs
Diggers can be very protective of their turf, so don’t push it – they’ll only shut down on you. Give it time, deal with them honourably and mannerly, and eventually you may get an invitation. Another route is to use your research skills, find your own dig sites, and then be the first to invite others, with the polite insistence on future reciprocation.
If a club bars you from joining, for whatever reason, then you don’t want to belong. Enough said.
4] Condition
It’s not easy putting stock in others’ assessments about condition, especially the one called “mint.†I’ve bought bottles described online as “mint†and received bottles with chips and cracks (not pictured, of course). When faced with this, I ask for a partial refund and then make a note to myself to avoid the seller in future. When it comes to selling online, describe, describe, describe, photograph, photograph, photograph. Be clear and hold nothing back. You may lose a sale or two or may sell at a lower than hoped for price, but this is all for the short-term. However, by describing accurately, you’re building a strong reputation over the long-term (see #1 above), and this has definite selling advantages, since you’ll be known as an honest dealer, which will greatly widen your pool of buyers. If you don’t believe this, then examine the histories of auction houses that sell well online. The ones that describe accurately are the ones that last, and the only way to last in business is through sales.
To return directly back to condition, I think the only way to overcome miscommunications is to buy/sell/trade in person. Of course, this brings us back to enjoying positive social interaction, too.
5] Inviting others to discuss their collecting pet peeves
The collecting world is filled with all sorts of niggling problems. For me, one rises to the top, and this is the tendency to overestimate the age of the bottles we collect. I know this has already been mentioned, but it drives me nuts when people define BIM as pre-1900. Up here in Canada, a great deal of our collectible BIM drugstore and poison bottles are identified with the various trademarks of Toronto’s Richards Glass Company Limited, “RIGO†being the most prominent of these trademarks. This company was chartered in 1912, so, unless the realm of logic has changed in paranormal ways, nothing bearing this firm’s trademarks can be from before 1912. Yet, people routinely date RIGO bottles from the 1880s or 1890s. Grrrrr!!!
But I don’t want to end on this sour note, because I’ve found that the positives in our wonderful hobby far outweigh the negatives.
Stay collecting, my friends!
