Knowledge + Experience + Work = Advanced Collector
Knowledge: anyone can pick up a Standard Catalog or log into Old Cardboard and ID a card, but knowing enough about the issues to differentiate a fake from the real deal, or to spot a rare variation, that's the trick.
Experience: there is a school of thought that real expertise in a field requires about 10,000 hours of work in it. I'd say that goes for collecting too. You gotta handle a lot of cards in person. I'd not be surprised if many 'advanced collectors' have looked at millions of cards over their collecting lives.
Work: I learn new stuff about what I collect nearly every day. Heck, the guys who wrote the books still learn new stuff. Look at the Lemke blog, for example.
|