There are as many reasons why people start collecting as there are collectors.  Scientists have even suggested that there’s a ‘hoarding gene’ and I identified myself as a pack rat from an early age.  I just love having ‘stuff’!  One of the troubles that I’ve found is that my interests have slowly evolved and changed and that I’ve ended up having one, two…five different collections.  That’s a problem on a number of levels.  Having a collection that includes anything will never give the satisfaction that comes from being a specialist.  You can never reach the level of knowledge and understanding that comes from concentrating on a specific thing and practically how can you ever acquire, store and protect a collection that doesn’t have boundaries?

So that’s rule number 1: establish boundaries.

Now I accept that’s easier said than done.  Many of us – myself included – started collecting as children being happy just to have a jumble of things loosely connected, such as ‘military’, ‘police’, ‘WW2’ and so on.  As we go on though it becomes important to focus and refocus.  The reason why I have Irish, German, British and ‘Other’ police memorabilia is because I failed to establish boundaries and keep them focused as my interests developed.

2: Be organised and keep your records

I have quite a few RIC and RUC whistles.  It’s partly because they come in slightly different styles, but it’s mostly because I could never remember what I had!  Cataloging is invaluable for a number of reasons.  It stops you wasting money on things you don’t need.  It provides an important record for insurance purposes and it means that if you’re looking at an item you can gauge it against the one you (potentially) already have to see if it would be a decent replacement / addition.  It also helps you keep track on your spending lest you collect yourself a summons to the divorce courts.  For that reason get yourself a decent camera, a tripod and a portable studio – you can pick them all up cheaply enough online.  This is essential for quality shots and you can see the difference for yourself as I upgrade my galleries, replacing old photos with ones properly posed and standardised.

3: Get rid of things that don’t fit and trade up

There’s nothing wrong with having a second grade item, or even a copy if the alternative is nothing.  Once you have more buying power though, keep rule number 1 in mind and start to specialise.  I now won’t take anything in my collection that’s second grade (unless it’s rare and I don’t have an example) and the feeling that you have the best example of a particular thing is great in itself, but also means a lot as time goes by and values change.  Like any commodity, the value of what you collect can go down as well as up.  By making sure that your collection is as ‘A’-grade as possible you protect yourself from losses and ensure that whatever the value of what you collect, your items will make the best prices possible should you decide to sell them.

4: Learn about your subject

One of the greatest pleasures I have as a collector is undertaking research into the forces whose uniforms and equipment I collect.  Sometimes this is widely available and well described, but more often than not there are things you come across that aren’t documented and which mean you have to put a bit of effort into finding out about them.  That’s part of the reason why I wanted to put this site together.  It won’t take long before you start to make contact with other people with similar interests, either over the web or in person and they represent a great opportunity to learn and, in time, to help out from what you know.  I have found that most collectors I have contacted were delighted to share information with me about a common interest and several have become good friends.  There’s a practical side to good research too – knowing what something is, knowing the grade, quality, rarity and value are essential tools to good buying decisions.  At the end of the day, knowledge is power.

5: Look after them!

Now this is just plain common sense, but it’s frightening how many people don’t look after their collections properly.  When handling items that are particularly rare or old use cotton gloves and use acid-free paper to store them.  Take advice on the preservation of old materials, keep packaging and maintain the correct temperature and humidity.  At the very least don’t let your very young kids play with it.  There’s a lot of information out on the web about the correct storage conditions for different types of item – use it!