Fun Post - What Kind of Collector Are You?

 Hello everyone!

I wanted to do a fun post today! Last night, I had this idea (why does this always happen when I'm trying to sleep?) "What type of collector are you based on how you organize your displays?" Or something catchier than that, haha! Some of you might identify with one "type", others might be a bit of a mix! I wonder if there will be anyone out there who's been all of these at some point during their lives? :D 

So let's dive in!

"The Curator": This type of collector is set apart from the others in both their display style and their collection size. Often being a custom, resin, china, or high end OF collector, these folks value quality over quantity, and want each piece to be displayed to be appreciated individually. These are the people you see who have their models displayed not super close together, often facing a diagonal so that more of each model can be seen. They may put them on glass shelves and/or in glass cabinets and might have lighting to accompany the display. They may also vary the scales that are displayed together in order to keep all the pieces on each shelf quite visible even if they are in the back. 

"The Conga Crewmate": We're all familiar with this one! The Conga enthusiast will make an effort to arrange their models with those of the same mold together. Since this tends to be a space saving measure, most folks that do this will keep the models straight on and grouped closely together, as long as the shelf depth allows. There are a couple of notable sub-types here!

• "The Artistic Conga Crewmate": These folks have an eye for the aesthetic, and craft the arrangement of their congas to be as visually appealing as possible. They are often interested in creating "rainbows" or color gradients within their congas, and may arrange certain congas next to others that will visually complement them. 
• "The Nerdy Conga Crewmate": For these people, color doesn't matter as much as facts and trivia! Congas may be arranged by things like "Oldest to newest", "special runs and regular runs together", or even the order in which they've acquired the models. There are many conditions that may govern how the congas are arranged! This category also includes those who may not arrange their individuals within congas a certain way, but may have a strategy for arranging their congas overall- like alphabetical by mold, similar breeds grouped together, oldest molds to newest molds, etc. 
• "The Variation Enthusiast": This one is specifically for those folks who collect multiple variations within one release. This tends to be more of a thing for vintage collectors, but it can apply to anyone! I see you, 12 Dapple Gray PAMs and 50 bay Fighting Stallions! ;) 

"The Stuffer": These folks have limited space to display their collection, but they'll determinedly play Tetris every time they get a new model to make everything fit! There may be some rhyme or reason, but space is the most important factor, so if something fits, there it goes! 

"The Theme Queen": While these folks might not be drawn to the look of congas, they do love a good theme! Whether it's color, sets/pairs, or series, these models get displayed together. Nothing like having all of your families or all of your Silver Filigrees together to make you smile! 

"The Literal Closet Collector": This also applies to people who don't have very much display space, but for these folks their collections tend to be tucked out of the way and aren't very visible in their homes, like in actual closets!  

"The (Home) Decorator": These folks will display a number of models outside of their typical hobby space around the home. This tends to be a smaller, limited display and may have a theme, either matching the decor of the room they are in, or they serve as some of the holiday decorations. And of course, you have folks who take every opportunity/season/holiday to display a new set of horses! This is also a common tactic for those who are limited in display space (it's a good way to rotate through the collection), provided they have a household that will be ok with the display and not damage the models (kids/pets/etc). 

"The Chaos Theorist": Those who follow the chaos method of display tend to not have any sort of rules for where things go, they may just put things where they fit or shuffle things around as models come in (or leave, if they aren't a black hole collector). Some may also be Stuffers, but others aren't interested in crowding, they just don't care for or don't have time to organize. 

"The (Storage) Box of Sadness": Ah, the place many of us have been at one point or another- having most or all of the collection in storage, unable to display. Not a fun place to be. 

"The Odd Ones Out": Aka, the minority in our hobby who prefer to keep most or all of their models inside their boxes. Not that y'all are odd, we just don't understand you very well! Most of us love the Breyer Smell, and being able to see our models from all angles and hold them, so we don't get the appeal (at least, for the common stuff) of keeping them cooped up. It's just a point where we differ from many other collectible hobbies! :) 

"The 'I'm Gonna Finish It Someday' Club": This one is for all my artists out there with your project shelves! :D 

"The 'Prop'er Display": For all my folks who have their tack, barn dioramas, or other accessories out in your hobby spaces! 

"The Engineer": These people are experts at creating more space for their models! They have a keen eye for re-arranging, and either are skilled at customizing existing shelving to better suit their needs, or curate shelving to give them just a little bit more space every time it seems like they're about to run out. 

"The Anti-Conga": These folks are into a more minimalist approach when it comes to their favorite molds! They may only have 1-3 of each mold they fancy, and sometimes even sell older pieces when getting new ones specifically to avoid having "congas". 

I hope you've enjoyed this list! Let me know, which of these categories do you identify with? Is there anything major I forgot? 

My personal category list includes: Conga Crewmate (including the Nerdy designation- if you notice in the picture at the top, my Clydesdale Stallions are currently arranged from oldest to newest release!), Variation Enthusiast (I have almost 10? original Saddlebred Weanlings now?), I do the Home Decorator thing around Halloween and Christmas, The Engineer (with my BF's help for the actual cutting of new shelving, since he's the engineer in real life!), and the Anti-Conga (sort of. There are a bunch of Stablemate molds I don't really collect or like, but I have 1-2 copies because they came in sets or in clubs. I tend to keep my favorite or two at any time and sell the rest). 

These Warmblood Foals are also arranged oldest (top left) to newest (bottom right). This conga is currently complete, as well!