Although his resources are evidently impressive, I think it's fair to say that he shows a great deal of enthusiasm and love for what he's collecting.

Predictable Matt wrote:

Although his resources are evidently impressive, I think it's fair to say that he shows a great deal of enthusiasm and love for what he's collecting.

Agreed with that ! Also Arnold shows enthusiasm and interest not only for himself, but also for the other collectors, whatever the size or value of their collections. It's a real quality

Emilien wrote:

Predictable Matt wrote:

Although his resources are evidently impressive, I think it's fair to say that he shows a great deal of enthusiasm and love for what he's collecting.

Agreed with that ! Also Arnold shows enthusiasm and interest not only for himself, but also for the other collectors, whatever the size or value of their collections. It's a real quality

He seems like a nice fella. But when I saw his post with like 8 1/1 DUNES, (probably like 50% of the best copies in the world) I had to shut my pc off.

Emilien wrote:

Predictable Matt wrote:

Although his resources are evidently impressive, I think it's fair to say that he shows a great deal of enthusiasm and love for what he's collecting.

Agreed with that ! Also Arnold shows enthusiasm and interest not only for himself, but also for the other collectors, whatever the size or value of their collections. It's a real quality

I find that a lot of members here do that...not to get too sentimental but this is a kind hearted community.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Emilien wrote:

Predictable Matt wrote:

Although his resources are evidently impressive, I think it's fair to say that he shows a great deal of enthusiasm and love for what he's collecting.

Agreed with that ! Also Arnold shows enthusiasm and interest not only for himself, but also for the other collectors, whatever the size or value of their collections. It's a real quality

I find that a lot of members here do that...not to get too sentimental but this is a kind hearted community.

Sure :)

I found his description of the item quite funny…

“This is the closest that it will ever get to the real One Ring, as envisioned by Tolkien himself.

Nope, this is not a replica of the One Ring from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, that Christopher Tolkien and the Tolkien Estate vocally loathed.”

Well, CT and the TE may have loathed PJ’s LOTR movies, but in what way is the Garrard Ring with ‘THE HOBBIT’ inscribed on it even close to what Tolkien envisioned? 😃

Good for him for acquiring this item, it’s rather cool. However, describing it like this almost sounds like someone trying to reassure themselves about the value of an expensive purchase once they’ve started to doubt its worth.

Eorl the Young wrote:

Good for him for acquiring this item, it’s rather cool. However, describing it like this almost sounds like someone trying to reassure themselves about the value of an expensive purchase once they’ve started to doubt its worth.

Eh, I just took it as an expression of how rare the item is. I agree that the “One Ring” comparison is odd, though many fans make similar mistakes, and it is a ring, hence the mental instinct for comparison. I doubt he’s trying to reassure himself about anything. The guy obviously has plenty of money and his collection is amazing, not just in the items themselves but in the custom clamshells he commissions to enclose almost every book. He also has a lot of social media fans, many (most?) of whom are not hardcore Tolkien fans, so he may just be trying to describe the item in a way casual folks might understand better.

Yeah ofc the dude is obviously loaded. I just found the statement comparing the Garrard Ring to how Tolkien envisioned the One Ring a bit overenthusiastic (never mind misleading to his non-Tolkien followers). But oh well!