Stop buying all that Ancient Art! Item Number: 100009 $0.00

DescriptionNo, I have not lost my mind… at least not yet! Let’s face it, if you love ancient art, you love to buy, buy, buy, but here three little secrets I’d like to share with you: 1. You do NOT get brownie points from us, from other dealers or your family for buying the most pieces of ancient art; 2. You do not “win the race” by having the most pieces in your collection when your race is done; and 3. Your friends and family are NOT going to be any more impressed with you, or your collection because you have a thousand so-so pieces instead of 36 killer pieces! Let me explain why…

In the 20 or so years Artemis Gallery has been involved in buying and selling ancient art, as much as I hate to admit it, we’ve been enablers. If you ever lived in a dysfunctional household, you may have heard of the term “enablers.” These are people who encourage or allow specific types of counter-productive/bad behaviors. Perhaps I should blame my wife, Teresa, who initially played the enabler to my addictive personality when she let me fill our house with too much musty old pottery. I was so in awe of the pieces I could buy, that I simply could not stop myself from buying more. Every time a new antiquities catalog came around, I just HAD to buy at least 1 or 2 new trinkets and my puppy-dog eyes always seemed to convince her that if I didn’t buy something I would never be the same. Call it what you will, this craziness that I developed early on led me to turn others into the antiquities junky I had become. To support my own addition, I turned this passion into a business, and in the process I made Artemis Gallery an enabler for others who were just like me! Certainly not by initial design, Artemis Gallery has made a living out of selling “affordable” examples of ancient art to those who were addicted to buying such things. We’ve have many a client who, just like me in the early days, would spend $200 once a week on a piece of pottery, but would never consider spending $1000 on any one piece. By selling to them, we were enabling bad collecting behavior - BUYING SIMPLY FOR THE SAKE OF BUYING!

If you are serious about collecting ancient art, you really do need to do so with some idea in your mind as to ‘what’ you want your collection to be. In my early days I bought literally ever little ancient trinket and doodad I could afford just because it was old. It didn’t matter that it was repaired, broken, of poor quality, exceedingly common – IT WAS OLD – AND THEREFORE I LIKED IT!! Not a good way to buy, trust me. But that collector/addictive buying behavior eventually led me to sell off much of these small pieces, which in turn led me to becoming a dealer, which in turn has led me to you. A good thing – don’t you think…?

My wife is probably the one who somehow pounded into my thick brain the need to focus my collecting interest. I can remember sitting down and creating my dream list of the antiquities that I wanted to have in my collection. In it, it included a fine Greek Attic Amphora – check; a Greek Corinthian Helmet – check; a fabulous example of Roman Glass – check; an Egyptian sarcophagus – check; a Cycladic marble idol – NO CHECK (I’m successful, but I’m not THAT successful –yet!) But by focusing my efforts, I quickly saw that my collection included a lot of pieces that simply did not fit into my vision. And that meant my dollars were being spent in the wrong way. It was at this point it became painfully obvious that I needed to come up with a set of guidelines that would help me focus on what I truly wanted my collection to be. And so now I will share these thoughts with you.

Bob’s Collecting Rules (I always seem to have rules)…

1. Visualize what the perfect collection is going to look like at least mentally – (I really do like the idea of writing my thoughts down and referring to it from time to time)
2. Be specific about what you want in your collection. Identify specific examples, cultures, types, conditions, materials, subject matter, etc.
3. Compare what you have to what you really want to have. Trade-up, trade around, sell-off - do whatever you can to get what you really want!
4. Discuss your collecting interests and objectives with your trusted dealer (Bob). Tell him what you would like to see and ask for his help!
5. Have a good idea where you will display your collection. Again be specific and understand that in closets and in drawers isn’t really “displaying”
6. Have an idea of how many pieces will feel right, and maybe even how many pieces will make it start to feel wrong. Remember the “forest from the trees” axiom - when you have too many pieces to look at your mind may not see anything but one big forest!
7. Set a budget - don’t feel like you have to be buying all the time, resist temptation. Buy when you find the piece that is right for you and your collection.
8. Recognize that collections can be living, breathing beasts with a life of their own, with the ability to change, and mature over time. Look at your collection with an objective eye to see if it needs a change – because YOU have changed.
9. Have fun with your collection, and if rules get in the way, throw out the rules! Be spontaneous and live life on the edge – if that’s what makes YOU happy! To hell with Bob and his damn rules!

I look forward to your comments and encourage you to submit ideas for future topics!

Happy collecting!
Bob Dodge