WHAT IS RICH?

What is Rich?

Have you heard the comments by the presidential candidates on the "What is rich?" question? We used to argue about this for fun with friends when we were first married. We never thought about several houses, nannies, or extra cars--just a comfortable life with some backup cash for emergencies. But our dreams as collectors were there:

-"Rich is being able to hire a full time handyman to fix broken chair legs, move the antique iron garden urns inside for the winter, and hang pictures."

-"Rich is having someone who will go to the post office and return the broken antiques."

-"Rich is flying in our own plane to the extravaganza flea markets and shows in other parts of the country."

And we also added a few universal wishes--like "I will have someone wash the dishes and empty the dishwasher, dump the trash, and shovel the walks." We never wanted huge amounts of money to buy quantities of antiques because that would take the fun out of the process. We like to shop, study, and buy the unique and wonderful in our price range. It wouldn't be a challenge to buy a long-wanted Martinware bird for $36,000, the March auction price for the one pictured here. We want to find one at a house sale.

Years ago while doing our television shows, we met Malcom Forbes, a multimillionaire collector of collections. We asked him how he bought everything from toy soldiers to inscribed presentation silver to Faberge. He had one personal helper, a secretary who read all of the auction catalogs and marked the pieces he might like. Then he went to the auctions to bid for his choices. He enjoyed the chase and the competition of the bidding, and he had a price limit.

That's the great part about collecting. You can be as successful a collector as a millionaire--you just have to collect different things. Forbes was able to restore a Victorian home in London and furnish it with the best period furniture and paintings. And he used his former residence in Morocco as a special museum for his toy soldier collection. We don't know how many other houses he had, but these two became homes for his collections.

Of course, it would be fun to have lots of big houses. Then there would be room to hang more store signs and display more figurines and find a spot for that strange chair that won't fit in the crowded library. But we like living in one house, even if our collections and our library books are complaining that they need more space.