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Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
Picasso was an artist, this chaps work from what I can see is only competent, on par with many others. I can not see the equation to art, only things like collecting beany babies.
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Tim,
It pains me to tell you that I fully agree with you and that our shared opinions are irrelevant.
In collecting one pays mainly for a myth be it a signature (often forged), a printing error (" Look, it is labelled US M
eil!") the rarity ( "This here Beanie Baby Li'l Lavender was disconnected 6 months ago!"), the technique (wootz, after all, is mechanically inferior to Solingen steel) or an attribution (no matter how vague) to a given person.
A sword inscribed " To Lt. Joe "The Long Dong" Schmo from his homies in Calcutta" will fetch twice the price. No matter that nobody knows who the hell this Joe was, perhaps a Deputy Mule Supervisor in the sanitation unit.
Of course, without the signature and the aura, this hunting knife would have been sold for $4.99 with the box, and the box alone would fetch $5.99.
This is an example of the craziness of collecting: a totally irrational business, a Luftgescheft (dealing in air) and a very addictive narcotic.
I am sure that many visitors here look at Mark's Dhas and Erlikhan's Kilijes and just shrug shoulders in total incomprehension.
All and each of us is not one iota better or saner than this crazy jerk who paid $17K for a knife when he could get a better one at K-Mart.