Tolkien Collecting Research

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Greetings to all of our members here.

I am in the early stages of writing up an article on Tolkien collecting, specifically how collectors have acquired their items over time. I am interested in hearing from you and where you have gotten your Tolkien items from, the break down of specific percentages from certain areas. eBay, ABE, dealer websites, dealer shops, relationships within the community, etc...

I know that for most of us it is a combination of all, but I'm interested in what the rough % for each category would be.

I would like to conduct an informal poll here in this thread to give you all a chance to respond and contribute to my research. Please respond here after thinking on how the bulk of your items have been acquired over the years of your collecting.

I will give you six categories to consider:
1. eBay --> 55%
2. ABE/Biblio --> 15%
3. Dealer Websites --> 15%
4. Dealer Shops --> 0%
5. Relationships within the community --> 7,5%
6. other (please specify when responding) --> 7,5% (dealers in Oxonmoot and other similar events)

This is very much a rough estimate so your percentages don't have to be exact, I'm not asking you to do any hard math here (unless you want to ) I know that some of us keep more detailed records than others, so all I'm asking is to do a quick reflection about your collection and think about where more items came from and where less items came from and try your best to quantify it. Any info you can give would be very much appreciated!

Demis wrote:

Mr. Underhill wrote:

Greetings to all of our members here.

I am in the early stages of writing up an article on Tolkien collecting, specifically how collectors have acquired their items over time. I am interested in hearing from you and where you have gotten your Tolkien items from, the break down of specific percentages from certain areas. eBay, ABE, dealer websites, dealer shops, relationships within the community, etc...

I know that for most of us it is a combination of all, but I'm interested in what the rough % for each category would be.

I would like to conduct an informal poll here in this thread to give you all a chance to respond and contribute to my research. Please respond here after thinking on how the bulk of your items have been acquired over the years of your collecting.

I will give you six categories to consider:
1. eBay --> 50%
2. ABE/Biblio --> 10%
3. Dealer Websites --> 15%
4. Dealer Shops --> 0%
5. Relationships within the community --> 7,5%
6. other (please specify when responding) --> 17,5% (dealers in Oxonmoot and other similar events, Catawiki, other online auction sites or physical auctions)

This is very much a rough estimate so your percentages don't have to be exact, I'm not asking you to do any hard math here (unless you want to ) I know that some of us keep more detailed records than others, so all I'm asking is to do a quick reflection about your collection and think about where more items came from and where less items came from and try your best to quantify it. Any info you can give would be very much appreciated!

Above my percentages. I don't know if it matters for your research but the rarer the item I got usually the more I moved from the mainstream (ebay) the the less mainstream (relationship with community, etc etc)