Shaun:

You have certainly made it easy and enticing, by giving us these fantastic quotes from the book. Of course, the title is brilliant . . . I met with a collector this morning, and I believe that I used that exact phrase (as I imagined a bigger, fatter price, at which I would have sold the watch in an instant).

I am looking forward to reading this book!!

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: I’ll post some watch pictures for #HeuerSummer2015 later, but I
: thought I’d start the Summer 2015 topic with my favourite
: summer read. The book is called “Do Not Sell at Any Price”
: by Amanda Petrusich, it is built from a series of interviews
: with noted collectors of super rare 78 records.

: The book is fascinating and well written, and struck a chord with
: me - there is so many similarities with Heuer collecting,
: because it is such a niche collecting sphere, with only a small
: number of very knowledgeable collectors - the ratio of 78
: collectors to LP collectors is probably the same as the ratio of
: Heuer collectors to Rolex collectors.

: Certainly the phrase "do not sell at any price” is some
: thing Heuer collectors know very well …..hello the 2446SN
: Autavias (to pick a topical one), any Chronomatic model, the
: Skipperera, the Dark Lord, and many more, which collectors are
: reluctant to sell because they know they may never get the
: chance to own another one.

: I picked out a few quotes which I just found so perfectly described
: Heuer collectors as well as 78 collectors.

: The book perfectly describes the maniacal obsession of the
: true WIS :

: “Let me say something: a collector is a nut, regardless of what
: he collects. And if he takes things too seriously, if he can’t
: laugh at it, if he doesn’t find it amusing, if he can’t see
: that he is a nut, then that’s about the time to put him behind
: bars.”

: The fear of new, less passionate, collectors skewing Heuer
: prices;

: "the fear that rare-record collecting could one day become
: analogous to fine-art collecting—the obligation of wealthy
: aristocrats whose consumption of art is more a statement of
: status than a function of love or even understanding. Collectors
: find that possibility legitimately horrifying”.

: The very male culture of collecting:

: "It’s dudes hanging out, relating to each other through
: objects….guys tend to gather and not talk about their actual
: lives, if they can avoid it, but instead refer to the engine of
: their car, or whatever third thing they can talk about. And then
: through the aesthetics of that, they’ll relate to one another
: and get a sense of whether somebody is trustworthy or not and if
: they can actually open up to them,”

: The singleminded pursuit of rarity which somewhat reverses
: the history of Heuer (e.g.: Skipperera is more important than a
: Viceroy):

: “By emphasizing obscurity as a virtue unto itself, they
: essentially turned the hierarchy of blues stardom upside down:
: the more records an artist had sold in 1928, the less he or she
: was valued in 1958,”

: But really, the main thing the book is emphasises is the
: noble collector; someone who researches and rescues historic
: artefacts for posterity:

: "For McKune, collecting was a sacred pursuit—a way of
: salvaging and anointing songs and artists that had been unjustly
: marginalized. It was about training yourself to act as a
: gatekeeper, a savior”
: ….or
: "crazy old John Tefteller saved that wild, miraculous song
: from rotting away in a trunk in Wisconsin”

: If you have any interest in music, and are reading this forum, you
: will love the book!

: #HeuerSummer2015