What Makes a Collector?

I'm not sure what number I would count as the minimum for a doll collection, but "several" would count for sure.

A doll collection definitely doesn't need to be in the hundreds I don't think. Though there are a few BJD collectors who have collections that range in the hundreds, it's not the norm by a long shot. There was a poll around here that asked about collection numbers. I don't fully remember the details, but most people only had 1-2 dolls. Maybe 5% of people had collections of 50 dolls or more? It might not have even been that many.

I personally wouldn't count 1-2 as a collection because collection to me implies a group at minimum. That said, everyone starts somewhere though, so as long as someone is seeking to eventually expand their dolls beyond 1-2, I would consider them to be a collector.

 

I just think it's a matter of mindset. I feel like most people are collectors of one kind of thing or more. You don't have to collect in excess to be a collector. If you have a category of thing that you think you would enjoy having more of for whatever reason and the act of obtaining more and having the collection brings satisfaction then I'd consider you a collector.
I have never been inclined to call myself a doll collector even in this hobby, because collecting wasn't my primary goal. The dolls are projects! It's a process, it's about what I do with them, etc etc. But yes, I'm also a collector because at the end of the day when I look at them in a row I feel good just having them, and I feel good imagining about when I will get another new one (even if it's in the abstract future).
I also don't really think you have to be actively seeking more of something to be a collector you just have to have a few of the thing and having several has to be part of what makes you feel good about them. You collected them; you are a collector.

 

If the average person is asking if I'm a doll collector, sure, why not! I don't actually like buying to obtain like a collector actually would, but that's not what the person is likely interested in knowing. They don't know the subtleties of the hobby and probably aren't interested in knowing. If the person asking is a doll collector, I will have a different answer. The general answer is "yes" though.

 

If you feel your item of choice needs a friend, then maybe those guys need a friend, then you don't want the fourth guy left out.... Might be collector territory

 

Someone told me that if you have three of any one thing, you have a collection. So yeah, I'm a collector of many sets of 3. I have lots of dolls, so yes I do collect dolls.

 

I don't really see myself as a doll collector because for me, too, dolls are more like projects I guess? I also somehow always aim to have less of them and that is sort of the opposite of collecting? but yeah, if someone asks for a simple y/n answer, I don't think I'll spend much time elaborating on the nuances of my perspective in this hobby - or maybe say that I have a collection of dolls but am not really a collector.

In a similar way, I could also say I'm an art collector (I have lots of works from friends on display), or a music collector (I have a couple of shelves of tapes and vinyl) or a plant collector (I have 5+ plants I have not killed yet), but they all also seem like accidentally having collections because just having them there is not the goal for me. I think the only time I was really a collector, was when I collected stickers or nice rocks as a kid probably

All in all, I think everyone can be what they want in this hobby, and if the collector label feels wrong, you don't have to embrace it. You can always think of an alternative term in situations like that also - people don't usually say they collect video games, so someone who plays with dolls or enjoys dolls should also be fair game.

 

Collectors come in all sorts of flavours.

I regard myself as a collector, but rather than acquiring all of a particular range of dolls, I buy the individual dolls that I like the look of.


Also I'm not a put-it-on-display-and-keep-it-pristine coleector. I'm a Mint-in-box-is-a-waste-of-resin collector. Dolls are toys. Toys are meant to be played with. I I don't play with a doll, it's taking up space that could be used for one that I do play with.

Teddy

 

I collect various things, dolls included (I am a big old-shameless-hoarder), but I don't consider myself a BJD collector. I don't feel there has to be a specific number, or specific condition to fit into a collector bracket. I feel there are various types of collectors, and types of collections. For example, and as I motioned already, I collect a lot of things. Some of those are OT figures and dolls, and most of those are always kept MISB. Rarely, I unbox those only if I get multiples of the same toy. Otherwise, they are kept intact in their boxes; I consider that side of me, a MISB collector (hoarder!).

I see these types of dolls as customizable, if I were to not touch them, not customize them in anyway just kept in their boxes forever, I would call myself an informal collector, because I don't own that many (less than ten). Despite knowing about them for more than two decades now. I decided early own, not to hoard these, and to customize them because that's what I liked about these particular dolls (the customizability). I also customize other types of toys, and dolls, but only if I own a second one to customize. The only exception to owning multiples to customize, are these dolls and 1:6 action figues, because I can dress and pose them as I feel like. The other types of dolls and figures, I can't really pose or redress (because I am a weirdo!), so I don't feel the need to customize them all the time. I just hoard those, to keep looking pretty (to me) in their sealed boxes. Having sealed things makes me feel happy on the inside, because I am a weird and a germaphobe, since I could barely speak. For some reason, I don't feel that way about things that were "created" to be customized. Perhaps because I am weird, or because of the nature of customizable toys, meant to be customized. Or just because I am a weirdo. I want to actually customize the toys I purchased for that purpose, and these dolls are that to me. So, I don't consider myself a formal collector of BJD, but I do in away collect them because I don't get rid of anything (I am a shameless hoarder!). (:

 

Not a weirdo - it's just that that's the way YOU enjoy them. It's not for me, but it's such an individual thing and there's absoolutely no need for everyone's approach to be the same.

As to the "hoarder" thing. I was recently told (by another doll collector here on DoA), that they thought (from seeing pictures of my craft/sewing room) that I had space to set up a bunch of large room-box/diaoramas for my SD sized dolls, if I "prioritised" the dolls. They have no idea that the rest of the house is so full of various "collections" (mine and my husbands) that there is literally NOWHERE else for the stuff that would be displaced to be moved to.

Teddy

 

i think it’s a complex matted. BJDs are expensive, i have six (technically nine but three aren’t home yet ) and i would class myself as a collector. i have friends who have just one or two who would like to class themselves as collectors. i think being a collector is less about how many you own and more about how you think, how involved you are in the community, etc. not many people can afford a huge amount of dolls, so let’s not discriminate about who is and isn’t a collector - we can all enjoy the hobby and have fun together!! if you love BJDs, if you’re active in the community, whether you own one or ten i’d class you as a collector

 

A collector, to me, is someone who cares about e.g. the first ever issue of a doll, or completing a series. They keep their dolls in boxes with the aim to resell for higher value.

I only care about playing with the random dolls I like, and crafting for them. So I don't consider myself a collector, although I have many dolls.

 

Ha! As I was reading OP I was literally thinking "well, you got to have at least 3, right?"

I do think there's a difference between "having a collection" and "being a collector". I could talk about "the collection of mugs in the cupboard" but that doesn't mean I'm intentionally seeking out new/interesting mugs. Even if we're talking about purely decorative objects, you can have e.g. four paintings hanging on your wall, those would be your "collection of paintings", but being an "art collector" is a whole different thing.

 

As some others have said, I think that to be a "collector" you need a certain mindset and a goal for your collection. Maybe you want all dolls from a certain company, or search for rarer, older sculpts, or all centaur dolls, or you only buy elves or fullsets,... the size of a collection doesn't really matter here, since bjds are expensive (you can get 15+ playline dolls for the cost of one resin bjd!), so you'll probably grow it slowly. A person with more dolls might not be a collector, while someone who is very picky and has just a couple dolls might be one.

 

It seems that most people I come in contact with always thinks of porcelain dolls when it comes to collecting dolls. I used to belong to a doll club but have since moved to a very small town, we have 2 traffic lights!

 

In addition to my BJDs, I have two large Tupperware containers right now full of playline dolls. If that isn't enough dolls to make me a collector, I don't know what is. :P

 

I have a collection, therefore I am a collector. I don’t think of it as any deeper than that. I like to collect and display things that make me happy, dolls included.

 

Man, this is something I've thought about so often since joining the hobby in 2008. I've always hated calling myself a collector, even if I do have a ton of dolls (over 100 somehow). To me a collector collects with the intent to display or complete sets, keeping value or completion in mind. It would almost be as if someone had a lot of kids and called themselves a kid collector. Silly, I know, but my dolls are far too alive for me to view them as just things to collect and display. So I very much agree with those who say it's more of a mindset. I would rather be called a hoarder of dolls than a collector.

 

For myself, the only person I would not consider a "collector" is someone who just has one doll and then will never get another one again (also this someone probably doesn't do much to customize the doll beyond their initial choices). Anyone who has more than one or has one and is considering others, IMO, is a collector, just maybe not a voracious one. You can also be a doll eye collector, or wig collector, or dress collector, or shoe collector, even if you just have the one doll that wears all the riches.

 

I own a bunch of BJDs. But to me, to call myself a collector, the act of collecting them would have to be my main objective for the whole thing - building and curating a collection becomes its own purpose, its own hobby. To me, that is what collectors get their kick out of - the search for more dolls that fit the collection's objective, the hunt and then the acquisition. And I don't have that mindset at all.

Each and every doll is there for a purpose, because this specific doll best embodies one of my art projects, tells one of my stories. They just happen to be a bunch of dolls because I have many projects and stories, you know? Just to me personally, that is a whole different ball game

Edited to add: This here is the latest edition of the "How many BJDs do you have" poll, from 2021/22. The older polls go back til 2015, and it is interesting to see how the numbers shift over time!

 

I think a person with a small collection is just as valid as a person with a large collection. As long as it is something that makes you happy and you have an assortment of it, then you are a collector.

 

I am a collector of projects. Poseable resin figures make GREAT projects!!! With end-results that are pleasing for the eye, yes, but the journey, the process, the engaging in the embellishment of them is even better than the end-result. To me.

 

Oh @tanjalalie that's such a good way to frame it! I might have to steal it I wouldn't call myself a doll collector, but a project collector? All my crafting supplies say yes. I also love making my dolls better and crafting them things more than just having a beautiful doll^_^ I'd rather have a somewhat wonky doll I've customised (and can improve) than a beautiful fullset

 

Yaaaasssss , THIS, , completely!!!

 

Good point.

Teddy

 

Reading everyone's comments, I'm seeing an interesting split between people who have positive connotations with the word "collector" and are saying things like "you can be a collector no matter how many dolls you have " versus people who have a more negative connotation and are saying "I'm not obsessively hoarding dolls, just for the sake of owning them, so I'm not a collector".

Not sure what to make of that per se, just something I noticed!

 

This is me…exactly! If I find something that fascinates me I love to explore it in depth. Throughout the years this has resulted in several collections (electric guitars, native flutes, Pokemon plushies, Lego elves, and of course bjds.) All of these things are carefully curated and artistically displayed throughout my small home. I treat them as art (why just hang a poster on the wall when I can put up a shelf and decorate it as a room display for bjds instead, which is interactive and way more creative and fun for me.) Much the same way that long boring hallway (so much wasted space!) got my collection of electric guitars hung along its length. I love displaying things that make me happy and have meaning to my life, so all of my collections (regardless of what they are) are out to be seen and enjoyed. This is naturally self-limiting of course…each carefully curated collection has an end point once it reaches its allotted space. But that’s a good thing, right?

 

Others have already said my thoughts... I think everyone who has 2+ dolls already has a collection, but "what makes a collector" depends on intent and goals for their collection. I suppore any collector would have some guidelines they'd follow when deciding which dolls to buy, but some people have a more expansive, "opening up" approach, while others have a refining, "narrowing down" approach. And this attitude isn't dependent on how many dolls one owns.
Maybe that's causing the split in replies that @babezoid is noticing?

I'm the latter "narrowing down" type of collector, who wants to curate and refine my doll collection until it ends up with a specific kind of identity and style. So I like to think of myself more as a curator than a collector. But at the end of the day, I still have a doll collection.

 

@babezoid
I don't think there's a positive/negative connotation split, just that people have different opinions as to what is a collection/collector. One doesn't have to be better or worse, just different you can, for example, love to look at collections and admire the collectors, but not count yourself among them because you don't meet your own criteria for what counts as one. In that case, you might even think more highly of collectors and strive to get to their level

 

I suppose you're right, I might be reading too much into things, haha. Wouldn't be the first time!

 

In my mind, it’s a combination of having multiple of whatever you’re collecting, seeking out specific items for your collection, and valuing scarcity/rarity. This is a value-neutral thing to me, but it’s a specific mindset in addition to an action.

 

I have a lot of dolls, but I don't think of myself as a collector so much as a hobbyist. My reason for this is that I rotate my crew so much. I think of a collector as someone who has an interest and likes collecting more of that thing to keep. I buy, sell and trade frequently because I get bored with the same for too long. It's an active hobby for me, and I like to get a doll, paint it, work on it, enjoy it for awhile, then let it go for something new.

 

@tanjalalie - I like to call myself a "character collector," because that's what I see them as, but "project collector" would be just as accurate for me as well!

I feel the need to point out that "collector" implies active participation at least. I inherited a plate collection from my mother. I couldn't care less about plates. Simply having the collection doesn't make me a collector of plates. It's my ongoing enjoyment of surrounding myself with characters that makes me a "doll collector," imo.

 

Well said, Sianserais…well said!

 

I think it's a matter of perceiving. Whether you want to be called a collector, a hobbyist or else, it's up to you. I see myself as a collector because I collect many things, not only dolls. But having 12 BJDs, about 30 Barbies, several Pullips, Dals, Monster High, Shadow High and a Petite Blythe probably makes me a collector. I really don't pay attention to labelling. My doll collection isn't organized by a specicfic feature or company, I just buy anything I like. It's a hobby, something done for fun, so no strict rules should be applied.

 

It's all about how you approach it!

I have a lot of mismatched trinkets but they're all primarily blue. While they aren't from the same series, I still consider them all a part of my collection. I only have one doll and I focus on getting him clothes and accessories, but I still consider myself a doll collector because of the passion I have for the hobby.

There's just owning things (which is fine!) and then there's having a passion for them, and that's what makes a collector imo.