The Philosophy of Collecting, Part One

Once you start collecting model horses, it's only a matter of time before you run out space to properly display all your pretty little horses.  At this point you have a decision to make.  You can:

1. Stop collecting (not really an option as most collectors are simply not wired this way);
2. Start rotating your "display herd," keeping the ones not currently on show packed away somewhere;
3. Expand your display space (by adding or adapting shelves, re-purposing a room, or even moving into a bigger place); or
4. Shrink your collection. 

Option #4 is the one most collectors choose.  Shrinking one's collection is often called "curating" a collection, and is accomplished by adopting what one might call a "collecting philosophy" and culling and adding pieces to your collection according to your own unwritten rules.

There are probably as many different collecting philosophies as there are collectors, and all have their appeal.  What works for you will depend largely on your own taste and the size of the space you want to devote to your collection. 

A collection of famous race horse ornaments

Let's take my own case as an example.  Although I had what you might term a "collection" of Marx Best of the West horses when I started to collect, I had never thought of these as collectable -- they were just my childhood toys.  And though I have yet to part with any of them, they are not on display and I have plans to sell most of them ... some day.  I'd like to save one or two to add to my greater model horse collection, but I have no desire to add any more or to collect the whole range.

Breyers and Hartlands were the first horses I began to assemble in a collection, and initially I decided to collect only one size of each -- classic size Breyers and the equivalent 7" series Hartlands.  That went out the window when my parents took a trip to the States and brought me back what they figured was a "special" horse because of the gold sticker on his box -- the Breyer Traditional Trakehner "Abdullah."  Well, who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?  I appreciated my parents' support of my hobby and welcomed the horse they brought home into my collection.  Size was now no object.

Like most novice collectors, once I got started I began to acquire Breyers and Hartlands of all kinds in rapid succession.  The collection grew and grew, and included customized horses as well as original finish ones.  I also had a few Beswick chinas which pre-dated the collection that I now began to photo show, although I did not at the time consider those to be a real part of the collection either.  All that was to change.

In the meantime, the more exposure I had to photo and live shows, the more I began to tailor my collection towards versatile show horses.  I wasn't looking for the specialists -- the barrel racers, the dressage horses, the racking saddlebreds, but rather some good all-rounders who could be entered in a wide variety of classes.

Even with this restriction, though, the collection continued to grow out of control.  I entertained thoughts of creating "congas" of some of my most versatile show horses so that they could all share the same tack, and I wouldn't end up showing the same old horse time after time.  I didn't get very far with that philosophy, however, as I am not a conga collector by nature and I don't particularly like the look of the same mold in different colours lined up against my walls.  In other words, I'm not really a model collector, I'm a mold collector.