Is this an "old man's hobby"?

[Iain]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

I reckon that we collectors are perhaps a part of why the hobby is not so wide spread, ofcourse that can be good and bad at the same time, but wouldnt the fact that we as 'private' collectors are a reason of holding historical items from the public? museums from what I read here seem to have an effect on alot of us which drove us to collect but as time passes and the more we collect, the more of history goes private for decades with only a selected (or overly interested) minority gets to view it.

Some people I know who tried to pick up the hobby felt crushed by the amount of fakes around. They never recovered from their mistakes and simply gave up on the hobby all together. Its their mistake though :-)

Museums are a double edged sword in this regard - yes some exhibit ethnographic arms and do it very well. Unfortunately most museums do not have the space to exhibit all their collections and a great many objects are never available for the public to view.

On subject of fakes - I think it very much depends on the area one collects in. Personally my area of interest doesn't have fakes per say - just things that are less old.

While there are many expensive cultures and types to collect there remain quite a few areas where things are still pretty cheap. To be totally honest that's one of the main reasons I got into takouba in the first place - it didn't require a huge investment to acquire a few examples.