Meet Beginner Bob. As a parts manager at a John Deere dealership, Bob acquired a few "freebies" from souvenirs, awards, and Christmas presents over the past couple of years. Bob soon had more belt buckles than he owned belts. His wife started buying him scale-model toys, and now he has his eye on adding literature to his hobby.

ANALYSIS - Beginning collectors like Bob may not even be aware of their budding habit. They probably own a handful of items assembled mostly by accident, such as inheritance or receiving something as a gift. They never officially decided to become a John Deere collectorit just slowly happened. A "greenhorn" like Bob will come home from an auction wide-eyed and enthused after seeing something new, learning a little about other items, and befriending an experienced collector. Once the collecting bug bites, even beginners can quickly graduate to full-fledged fanatics.

Meet Advanced Adam. He retired five years ago from the Harvester Works factory in Moline. As a Deere & Company employee for more than 20 years, he's gathered quite the collection of memorabilia. He kept many of the things he was given on the job and has always been fascinated by the history of the Company. Now that he has "free" time, he's been reading literature and attending auctions within a 3-state radius of his home. His collection includes cast-iron seats, wrenches, literature, and service pins.

ANALYSIS - Advanced collectors like Adam have been at it for about five years. They've seen a variety of items and have determined a general direction for their own collection. They don't buy everything they see, but prefer to do the research and make educated decisions before adding an item to their collection. This doesn't prevent them from being duped once in a while, but they tend to chalk it up to learning the game and don't become bitter as a result of a purchasing mistake.

Meet Eddie the Expert. At least that's what fellow collectors call him, although he's too modest to accept the nickname. As a full-time farmer, Eddie found himself restless during the long Midwestern winters. His wife encouraged him to find a hobby. So he started collecting John Deere items in the early 1980s when belt buckles were all the rage. He grew disenchanted with it after a few years, and started shopping around for other tiny trinkets and treasures. Before long, he managed to snatch up enough watch fobs, buttons, stickpins, keychains, and pens to fill several display cases. Soon his wife banished his stockpile of stuff to the basement where he could set up a shrine to the Great Green. His kids (and now his grandkids) add to his collection with birthday and Christmas presents, and even buy him "green" gifts for Father's Day. To get his daily dose of Deere, Eddie jumped onto the World Wide Web and found a whole new market for John Deere collectibles on-line. These days, his spare moments are spent checking email, submitting bids to online auctions, and monitoring sale prices of other memorabilia sold on the internet.

ANALYSIS - Experts like Eddie have been collecting for more than a decade. In fact, they started before anyone else seemed to be bothering with it. As a result, they were on the receiving end of many strange stares as they paid $5 for dusty box of assorted junk at a garage sale or flea market. Experts have assembled an extensive collection that usually dominates a spare bedroom, basement, attic, garage, or machine shed. Their spouses either tolerate their habit or join them in their hobby.

Experts revel in the thrill of locating an item they've never seen before and find a way to obtain obscure items others never knew existed. An expert gets several phone calls a night from collector friends asking for help in identifying or authenticating various finds. In fact, expert collectors can spend hours telling stories about the items in their collections, the people they bought them from, and the prices they paid for each item. They'll explain why it was a steal or a bargain, a fair deal, or an overpriced mistake they bought while in the heat of the moment but later regretted.

Meet Harry the Hard-Core Hobbyist. He collects John Deere (and anything popular) and his wife collects Beanie Babies. They both get gung-ho into their hobbies. Harry used to collect classic cars, but then began to hear his friends talk about the growing popularity of John Deere items. He wondered if he shouldn't get in on the action. So he brought his checkbook to a big auction and decided to buy all the "big-ticket" items. He wanted the other collectors to see that he was serious about his new hobby and thought that spending the most money would earn him a place in their circle. He didn't do any research into what an item might be worth - he just bought it, thinking he would worry about values later. As a result of his haphazard ways, Harry has an unorganized, helter-skelter type of a collection. The saddest part is that he doesn't even seem to be having that much fun.

ANALYSIS - Harry falls into the category of an extreme collector. Some say there's a fine line between expert and extreme, but a few would argue otherwise. An extreme collector has made up his or her mind to acquire items deemed of value with no regard for the financial consequences. At an auction, these individuals exhibit bidding fever by running up an item to nearly excessive levels. As a result, their hobby is an expensive one. And what separates the "men from the boys" as they say, is the depth of their pockets when it comes to buying the best memorabilia on the market. While this may put the extreme collector in a different league, other collectors are not always envious of the hard-core hobbyist's deep pockets.

DISCLAIMER: These collector profiles are based purely on speculation and lack scientific support.
Any similarities to actual individuals are purely coincidental.