10 Tips for Beginning Collectors

The following quidelines for collectors may be helpful for collecting crafts, collectibles, and ethnic artifacts. Collecting different categories of artifacts can be very exciting; for example, combining antique quilts with contemporary art quilts or with ethnic crafts.

1. Go for the challenge. The fun is in the hunt. Collecting on a budget can be more fun than working with unlimited funds.

2. Do the collecting yourself. You’ll learn in the doing and it’s much more fun than getting someone to do it for you.

3. Explore what it is you really like. Learn before you spend your money by reading and talking to collectors and dealers, and look, look, look.

4. Buy for the love of the work, never for appreciation or investment.

5. Evolve. Know that your taste will change as you grow and learn. At some point in time, you may edit, trade, give away, or change your collecting focus.

6. Try to specialize. You can specialize in a medium or a style. Specialization will enable you to more fully explore and learn. But, don’t lose the sense of fun.

7. Learn how to care for and store the artwork. Remember, we don’t own anything; we are merely caretakers for the next generation.

8. Don’t fret if you can’t afford works by established, nationally known artists. Forge your own territory. It’s OK to begin with small pieces. You’ll develop experience.

9. Be willing to look outside the usual venues for yet undiscovered values and unknowns.

10. Collecting is a long term process, so relax and enjoy every step.

Adapted from a presentation by Bruce W. Pepich, at a Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Pepich is Executive Director and Curator of Collections at the Art Museum, a sister museum of the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts in Racine, WI, where, since 1981, he has nurtured the contemporary craft collection at the museums.