I don't really get the point of trying to define what a collector is or should be. We all have different life circumstances and budgets so the things we accumulate are going to be different. If you always dreamed of owning a '52 Mantle, and now you can afford it and justify it, you have to consider the value and leave it in a graded holder.
I'm not going to make this argument because I don't think any of us are more true collectors than anyone else, but the argument could be made that the guy who owns a bunch of high value slabbed cards is "more of a collector" than the guy who has a shoebox full of $5 cards. You could argue the guy with all the big time cards actually loves cards more because he's willing to take the risk involved with spending a larger % of his money than the shoebox guy on cards because he loves them that much.
Now, I think what I just wrote is asinine, but so is inferring that the shoebox guy is more of a collector than the slabbed guy. It would be great to focus on what unites us rather than our differences.
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