The price of rarity…
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I am sure I have told this one before. I still giggle every time I think of it.
I am fishing crazy and one of the things I love about fishing is the gear you can buy. (As an aside here Q. What is the definition of an unsporting angler? A. One whose goal it is to catch fish rather than accumulate tackle!)
I had been after a particular fly fishing reel for years. It is called a Charlton 8550C Offshore. It is a thing of stunning technical beauty and has a price to match (I've just googled it, there's one for sale for USD5,000). One popped up for sale about 10 years ago at a "reasonable" price on a fishing tackle website I had not used before. I kept on looking at it with a feeling of lust and guilt. Lust obviously, but guilt because it was a lot of money to spend on a reel that you could argue does the job no better than a USD100 one (completely and utterly wrong by the way, uh oh no way, honest….).
I shared an office with Paula and we had desks that butted up together, so she could see me but not my computer screen. I eventually broke down (it was always going to happen), popped the thing in my cart and checked out. As soon as I successfully checked out, the bloody computer shouted out at high volume "Congratulations, and thank you for shopping with Tackle Direct".
Damn......
I still have the reel, I love it and use it whenever I am after something large in the tropics....
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I don't get the allure of rarity and collectibles like not even close. I feel the want for rare is a manufactured emotion.
If I love my Model T I love my Model T I don't care if there were millions made or not.
If you have a rare expensive item (car, watch, whatever) I have seen in my experience the item isn't enjoyed.
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I suppose if someone just is not into collecting something then it wouldn't make any sense to them why a collector would own 100 pairs of jeans, for example. But I can say that how a collection is enjoyed is highly dependent on the item or item(s). I can assure you that many art collector's very rare pieces are not only enjoyed by them but millions of people who view them in galleries.
Often times I think the people that don't enjoy the rare items they have most likely have a number of other similar collectibles and would fall more in line with a hoarder than a collector.
I definitely agree that if you like something the amount you enjoy it should not depend on its rarity. I would argue that in this day and age often times the amount of enjoyment a person can get out of something when it comes to an object falls in line with the quality of the object. And more often than not higher quality equals lower quantity.
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….......more often than not higher quality equals lower quantity.
I just picked up an amazing item a few weeks ago, not knowing how "rare" or scarce it is. I ordered the IHA-03 C-3 sheerling vest from Rebirth & Craft (I live in Japan), and as I'm bragging an another forum about my epic pick-up, and how I hadn't seen ANY pics of someone wearing one aside from the website fit pics, @Giles drops in with a pic of him wearing one, and lets me know it's 1 of only 15 made. Score! I was already in love with the quality and look of it, but finding out that tidbit of info has driven up my adoration for it so much more.
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I drove to central PA to have a full length shearling bomber custom made to protect me from NYC winters. It was based on a description my grandfather gave of a few custom coats that he saw gunners wearing during WWII. He was a Navy Pilot and flew a PB4Y and earned a distinguished flying cross for service. He said that he wanted to see one of those coats before he died, so I had one made. It took me a long time to find someone that would do it and to get to them for measurements. When I finally had it made and showed it to him it brought a tear to his eye, and when he tried it on it was too heavy for him to even wear - it weighs about 15 lbs. When I've got it and my White's smoke jumpers on, I am like 25lbs heavier. I feel like Mad Max/Bane, but I now live somewhere super warm. I don't get to wear it but like twice a year, but I feel like it saved my life in NYC. When I wear it there I will get stopped on the street by people asking me where I got it. It always seems that Russian men are the only ones that ever ask to try it on, and I usually oblige.
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a charlton 8550c offshore you say i wish i had have known i threw two of them out the other day
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My grandfather flew out of Natal, Brazil. He said the local seamstresses would disassemble one jacket, maybe one that was falling apart / torn and stitch it to the bottom of another. So that's effectively what I had done. He said the coats he saw had interior pockets so He said this was a perfect example of what he saw during the war. I've never heard of another example. Never seen another example. These were not B7s because they were made in Brazil, had different detail elements and were from before 1945. By 45 my grandfather had already flown enough missions to get to go home, so he was seeing these in 43-44. Not during the 45 B7 contract. I assume now that he was seeing B6s converted or even bootleg shearlings made in Brazil spliced to other Brazilian bootleg shearling replicas. Whatever. What I had made was not an attempt at a government contract replica, rather an attempt to recreate a coat my grandfather described as "the greatest coat" he'd ever seen.
If anyone is interested in more or better pics let me know.
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Amazing story and awesome jacket, thanks.
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Thanks @Giles and @organisys!
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THE guitar i wanted from the time i was about 14. My lovely wife gifted it to me for our 10th anniversary. She means the world to me still. And the guitar as a gift from her makes it most special
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I've got a couple of one off pieces of art that are über special (lesser than the above but still).
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& yes. I'm a damascus whore. [emoji16]
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As good a reason as any to revive this thread…..
I just successfully ordered this beaut! Seems there were only one or 2 in each size
IHV-26, Indigo dyed horsehide leather vest
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/rebirth/10000985/
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Looks great. Please post some fit pics when it arrives.
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