Hobby or Obsession

[paul40uk]

I think whoever owned this lot had the bug! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rvaq...eature=related

[dave walsh]

Wow. Is this Aladdins cave or "A Lad Insane" [as Bowie has it]. Thanks for posting. I wonder who bought it all and for how much? The pleasure would be in just going through it and cleaning sets up-some choice items there. I love the bit were he says I'm up a 12' ladder and then pans around to prove it. Thanks for the heads up on this Dave W

[Peter.N.]

Makes you feel kind of insignificant doesn' it. Does anyone know how much it went for?

Peter

[mark pirate]

WOW, even gerry wells does'nt have that many sets, lets hope they found a good home

Mark

[Mike-repairman]

I think it's very easy to move from a hobby to an obsession.

Among things I collect (yes too many) are vintage guitars. If someone was to say to me 'I'm selling my guitar' it would be very hard for me not to buy it. I already have around 15-20, and as my wife says 'you can't play them all at once'.
The hardest part is parting with any of them. Fortunately prices have dropped over the past few years so that's a very good excuse for not selling any, LOL.

Boot sales are the worst temptation for collectors, as things are sold so cheap you just can't resist buying them; and I go to one most weeks in the Summer.

I did just about manage to resist a nice 1950's valve radio with a near perfect wooden case last Sunday, but if it's there this week I fear I may falter; have very little willpower these days.

I also collect ant old scientific instruments, etc. and can't resist these at boot sales. Also projectors and films. The list goes on and on.

I've an 8x16ft garage that I can just about get from end to end of, and a 10x6ft shed that I can just get my push-bike and the mowers in.

I get moaned at if I bring my 'junk' into the house. Strange how women don't see the beauty of 1930-1960 vintage microphone collections. Just can't understand it.

Mike.

[Peter.N.]

We went to an amateur radio rally at Longleat a few years ago, on display was a very old test meter in a beautiful polished wooden case, for very little money, even my wife (who is also licensed) liked the look of of it and while walking round decided that we ought to go back and buy it, she was quite dissapointed when we found it had been sold - so you can convert them.

Peter

[Mike-repairman]

You may have trouble trying to convert them with this that was sold on ebay last night for £163.00, LOL...
(No connection with seller or buyer)

[RogerWalker]

Glad to know I am not alone! I am green with envy for QQVO6/40's 72 square metres of space - AND a mezzanine! Everything's big in Oz I guess.

My main problem is storing all the 000s of components, valves, transistors etc that I have accumulated, in such a way as to be able to "put my hand on" a particular component needed for a repair or restoration. All too often I KNOW I have one - the computer SAYS I have one - but I cannot for the life of me find it. So I have to buy 5 more to make the postage costs worthwhile!.

I blame the fact that an accountant friend once advised me to "keep all similar items together so as to facilitate finding them". That of course meant a monumental amount of consolidation work ensuring that, when you lose one - you lose them all!

I have spent £££s on multi compartment organisers for capacitors resistors etc but lack the space to store them in a way that's easy to see what's in what. Any chance some of the forum's veteran experts could part with some guidelines on how to store things for max visibility and min space takeup please?

[Lucien Nunes]

Max visibility does not go well with max storage density, unless you have highly customised container systems to match every type of item you want to store. I tried this for a while and found it of marginal benefit. This is mainly because I am currently sorting & consolidating my collection ready for display soon.

So I have taken the plunge and reduced visibility to zero by packing everything tight into boxes identified only by a number. I work totally blind, going by room, shelf and box codes. It requires wholehearted commitment to meticulous database management because if a record is wrong, the item is (for most practical purposes) lost. To avoid opening every single box in this event, I put a very abbreviated description on the side as a go/no-go cross check, along with handling instructions for fragile / hazardous / heat sensitive items etc.

To date the results have been very good. Out of about 750 records there are perhaps a dozen with question marks over them at any one time, most of which get resolved easily. The biggest trouble lies in boxes of as-yet unsorted small items. E.g. I can find four entries for octal sockets in the database and retrieve each box in minutes, but the exact octal socket I want might instead be in a box referenced only as 'Misc radio / TV parts' and there are rather more of those.

The trick lies in getting just the right amount of info into the record. Some items are simple - 'Wearite Mk.5 deck works OK less heads' says almost everything you need to know about that box. By contrast boxes containing shunts and multipliers for specific lab instruments seem to need a huge essay written about them. All in all though it has been well worth the effort - YMMV!

Lucien

[Kat Manton]

Originally Posted by Mike-repairman

Strange how women don't see the beauty of 1930-1960 vintage microphone collections. Just can't understand it.

There's the odd one who does. (OK, maybe with the emphasis on 'odd'...)

[RogerWalker]

Lucien must have an iron will to maintain his system. Again taking my accountant friend's advice, I did what Lucien suggests with my valves a while back, just keyed them into the computer at random and put them in numbered boxes, in several layers.
I can usually find a particular box, but when I do, the valve I want is ALWAYS on the bottom layer so I have to pull out 50 valves or so to find the one I want. Being a mixture of random different shapes and sized valve boxes, I then have the task of putting them all back so I can close the box . . .this task sometimes [usually] gets deferred because of the pressing need to fit the valve I found and see whether it fixes the problem. So I end up with one or more boxes open with valves strewn around awaiting closure. Inevitably there is a need to close up the boxes so as to be able to move around the shed in which they are stored. THAT's when the wrong valves get stuffed back willy nilly, wrecking the whole system.
Now I am contemplating consolidating the [for example] 25 6V6Gs, GTs and Ms I possess so that they are all in one box [instead of spread randomly over 15 different boxes]. With about 14,000 valves, this represents an enormous undertaking and may or may not be the answer. I am beginning to understand why there are so many job lots of valves offered on e-Bay perhaps?
Roger

[Lucien Nunes]

Valves might be something of an exception. They pack quite well in a rapid-access system, in a way that bags of assorted bits and bobs don't. They are small and light enough to sort fairly rapidly (although 14,000 takes some doing). I have so far resisted putting any valves into the catalogue system; as my stock is fairly small and the turnover relatively high I am usually au fait with what's on the shelves. I box and seal anything I don't expect to need within one year.

Lucien

[threeseven]

My problem is diversity of interests !
Here goes:-
Old test equipment, old Hi-Fi, tools, motorcycles, cars ( I can't collect them due to lack of money & space), automobilia (in lieu of cars !), car, bike & military tank models, camera's, books, magazines, stationary engines, oh and the odd air compressor!

Recently I realised I have to relinquish some of my stuff so the plastic model kits are going as I now Know I will never build them, some of my diecast collection in scales less than 1/18 are going, a few of my motorcycles have gone.

From being a small child I've been fascinated by anything mechanical, electrical, electronic, etc. As an adult I can indulge in whatever takes my fancy and I find that hard to resist, hence the eclectic nature of my hoard!

[RogerWalker]

My wife indulges me because she is aware that if I pop off this mortal coil, she will be left with a mountain of valves, components and boat anchors to dispose of before she could move on to an idyllic cottage by the sea [in Cyprus no doubt].

My "retirement project" has taken on a new dimension - half of me wanting to sell it on shed load by shed load and the other half wanting to keep the collection whole.

My wife has developed a "thousand mile stare" whenever I extol the virtues of KT66s versus EL34s but nevertheless realises that she would be left with a major problem if I exited before the bulk of the collection was sold. Maybe the forum ought to have a mall where goods could be sold fairly to like-minded souls without fear of being ripped off?

Roger

[ppppenguin]

By the time I'm approaching the end I hope I will have passed on most of my treasures to others who will appreciate them. Whether this is by sale, auction, donation or any mixture is another matter. I don't like the feeling of my stuff owning me rather than the other way round.

Just occasionally a person's collection develops into something more than that. Gerry Wells is the obvious example and that collection is now a charitable trust. Lucien is developing his collection into a musuem and I think he will succeed. But look at the fate of Douglas Byrne's collection on the Isle of Wight. I never saw it but the reports of its demise are not good to read.

[dave walsh]

There are a number of threads like this and I was just about to add some comments to the latest "Collecting" one Jeffrey, based on the old article about G Wells. Strangely those comments were almost exactly the same as yours here in the second paragraph. The recent BBC Museum series showed that the professionals have their problems as well and the very sad
I of Wight experience, that a plan is essential. Thanks for mentioning Mr Nunes venture. Didn't know about that one but it looks fascinating.
Dave W

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks for the support chaps, so much to do for Electrokinetica over this summer I feel exhausted just looking at the list. Does that officially make it an obsession?

Yes, an emergency plan is essential. I have made a basic one, to help people out if I accidentally cop the wrong end of the transformer before Electrokinetica is running under its own steam. Of course if the project goes ahead anyway, that would be great. If it doesn't, then the plan will help with rehoming and dispersing the collection in an efficient and stress-free manner.

It outlines how to use the inventory and marry up paper records, archives etc. Contact details are included for the EK team and other friends and experts who would be able to assist with certain 'departments'. Some preferred destinations are proposed for particular items, general suggestions made about the rest. Finally the plan addresses practical issues such as proper handling and transport methods for fragile, outsize and hazardous items.

The aim is for people to enjoy 'stuff' which as Jeffrey rightly says is only possible if the people are in command. If the 'stuff' takes over there is little fun to be had!

Lucien

[dave walsh]

Hi Lucien. I actually meant a plan for the continuance of the collection per se rather than the,unexpected, sudden demise of the founder but I suppose it's all the same thing really. Dave W