Ben, I agree completely with everything you wrote. There is an overwhelming amount of material out there these days, but only a tiny percentage of it is the true "cream." I admire your restraint in limiting your focus to the key pieces that you have managed to accumulate.
Me, I'm a "mudder" and have always been more of a quantity guy, slogging it out with bunches of mid- to low-end photos. Partly because I've always been more comfortable surrounded with "stuff" than with a safe deposit box somewhere with a few key items, but mostly because my interests are so varied and my eyes so much bigger than my wallet that when an opportunity for a key piece comes along, I'm flat broke
Maybe one of these days I'll learn that it's much easier to move a few key pieces than to process a huge collection, but until then, I'm sure I can come up with another research project to justify the next round of mediocre purchases
P.S. You're writing this in the middle of church?!
