Golf Collectibles – Quality As Opposed To Quantity For Any New Collector
When it comes to purchasing antiques, the collector textbook would make it obvious that you should usually follow the rule of thumb which asserts,”purchase the highest quality piece that your financial position will permit for”. While often sound advice, the new collector, especially in the field of vintage golf clubs, will more than likely suffer at the hands of this approach.
For example, a greenhorn collector may stumble across the opportunity to procure a rare antique club, perhaps of the hickory fashion, from the early-mid 1800′s. Given how difficult it is stumble across such finds, the club commands a sizeable premium, which could exhaust the entire purchase budget of a new collector. There isn’t any question that a club like this, like most higher end golf collectibles, would hold its value or perhaps go up in value.
The argument of quality vs quantity starts here. In all possibility, the purchaser of this single rare club could have actually, for the same investment, bought a large group of old golf clubs. The group of clubs would possibly not be as old or as rare as the single club, but they definitely would be collectible nonetheless. So, under what eventuality does the second technique make a lot more sense. According to the pros, and I agree, it makes particular sense to the more modern collector. The option of purchasing many clubs rather than just one really special club gives the collector first hand exposure to a spread of antique golf clubs. When it comes to golf collectibles, the real data is in the details and the ability to touch and fell, and study a selection of clubs permits the new collector to accelerate their information regarding the manufacturing, details, and stories which make one club more valuable than another. While its good to own that one prize piece, it limits the amount that one can find out about antique golf club collecting.
The other advantage to the technique of buying many clubs instead of a single is that your possibility of a bad investment is lessened. With one club, you better make sure that you know your stuff and are getting acceptable price in return for your serious investment, particularly since most new collectors are much more liberal in their spending early on, anxious to get going and make a splash. With a multi-club purchase, you can make a boo boo or two and not have it be considered ruinous.
One last thought on quality vs quantity as it is related to antique golf clubs. The old saying,”beauty is in the eye of the beholder” sometimes applies here. Beyond the accepted wisdom of what makes a club valuable or rare are those things that make a club special, and thus collectible to different people. Examples are pieces related to certain people, or certain geographic areas, or attributable to certain club-makers. In all cases, you will find that golf collectibles are one of the most addictive and gratifying hobbies one can do, filled with intrigue and neat surprises now and then.
Andrew Shea has been concerned in Antique Golf, both on a personal level, and in a professional capacity for years. If you’ve a query or are interested in hickory golf clubs generally, you are always welcome at his site.
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