[Phil G4SPZ]

I've been following this debate with some interest.

Looking at it from a slightly different and personal angle, I prefer to keep 'competition' out of all my hobbies. Life is competitive enough without introducing competition into our leisure pursuits, in my opinion. However, I am clearly out of kilter with the millions of people who happily pursue competitive interests, be it sport (in which I have no interest whatsoever), cookery contests, amateur radio contests and the whole raft of other activities which humans tend to make into competitive pastimes.

My problem with competitions is that, by definition, there can only be one 'winner'. This means that all the other participants are deemed to be 'losers' and are hence left disappointed. For every delighted winner, there are a great many disappointed losers.

People who class themselves as 'collectors' face the dilemma of being left as losers in the bidding war for desirable items. To be a winner, you need a deep pocket. Dealers exploit this and are clever enough to recognise and snap up (at the dealer's own risk) those items which other people will desire and pay a premium to own. Private enterprise has been ever thus.

The trick (in my personal opinion) is to restrict your interest to repair and restoration, and limit yourself to collecting either whatever happens to come along cheaply, or items that no-one else sees as desirable or collectable! Things go in and out of fashion over time, which does cause prices to rise and fall.