Now, what kind of topic is this? Let me explain what I want to know: When I started collecting seriously not a year ago, the world of (A)D&D collecting was a mystery to me. Today, I have gained some knowledge on the items and values and the principles of our beloved hobby. But except the posts on this forum I know little or nothing about the important participants in the RPG collecting world. So here comes my question:

Who are the grandmasters of collecting?

Now, in chess a grandmaster is someone who is among the best players. In terms of RPG collecting, I'd like to know, who are the people with

• the best collection in quantity and quality
  
• the most knowledge
  
• the most influence

etc.

If you want to post to this topic, please allow this easy rule: You might name anyone except yourself and they don't have to be members of this forum.

Please no hurt feelings if someone is not mentioned. I don't ask for complete lists, a name or two who come to your mind may be enough. If someone disagrees with me as to whether such a question is acceptable, please let us know why.

I hope we will see many opinions and names following.

One last comment: This is not meant as a contest. I don't want to see a "world ranking" of collectors as a result or something similar. This is just to shed some light for us beginners on who is a "heavyweight" collector (and who not ...)

Cougarrinard claims to have 2 complete sets of everything D&D/AD&D so you should probably add him.

I would like to add that my collection do not approach Adrian's, Paul's, or other folks' here on the boards:  I have some rarities, certainly, but my collection is not deep by most standards.

I would add the following folks to the list.  To the best of my knowledge, they're not members of the forum:

• Frank Mentzer, probably the Grandmaster of Flowers among collectors
  
• Doug Behringer, who interned with TSR c. 1982
  
• Jason Zavoda, who's love for Greyhawk may exceed my own

And, FWIW, my name is properly spelled Allan, like Poe's middle name....

I think Riftvalleyman's name is Chris Roseman? I understand he is a good friend of Rhea Shelley (rumor). Yet another big daddy collector from Texas. I think you only have to look no further than Texas for the Grandmaster's of our peers. However, if you sell it all, do you retain Grandmaster status?

Riftvalleyman used to give me fits on Ebay in the late 90's. I was glad to see him complete his collection so that I could have a shot at a few rare items He beat me outta of a hidden Inverness one time that one of us could have gotten for less than $200 if the other hadn't spotted it  I think it wound up going for $600 which was still cheap at the time.

The Grandmaster of Scribes award would have to go to Lawrence Schick. I think his encyclopedic tome 'Heroic Worlds' (1991) with lists of collectible rarities was at the dawn of the collectible boom.

I would also fully agree with Allan's assessment on Mentzer.

Later.

Adam

Hi All,

did Rivervalleyman sell up then?

Cheers,

Malcolm

Adam Shultz wrote:I understand he did manage to sell all. He had a post up on the newsgroup that he was selling all of his collection. A well placed rumor is that he sold the whole thing in one shot.

Later.

Adam

Hi,

My name is Ed (Ebay: edmud)

I have been away from collecting for about two years now due to hmmm . . . complex family matters.  But  just before I disappeared from the collecting scene I had a list of Chris' collection and if I recall he wanted about $50K for it.  I would say it was very complete and of high quality.  The problem for me was that there were only a few rare items that I was still lookig for at the time so I couldn't bring down his whole collection.  

Yes, Chris and Rhea are good friends from TX.  I would like to get back in touch with Chris, Rhea and Bad Mike if possible . . . fellow collectors from the great state of TX.  If any of you guys read this, this is Ed in Japan still in Japan but coming home soon.

I would say that Rhea probably has the most complete game collection out there judging from what he told me.

EDC

Does anyone know who the Theshield2000 is or is he on these forums? He has a very nice collection going.

Does anyone know who Ebay user JG0283 (or some number combination like that)? He was my first encounter with a Burnie type in the late '98 into '99. He really killed some rare auctions... B3 orange, Tamoachan, Inverness, etc. I should have contacted him to buy his stuff when he stopped bidding but I was certain at the time he was waayyy overpaying for those items.

Thanks.

Adam

Just curious, does anybody here collect White Wolf stuff too?  I'm picking some up now that the price for alot of it is falling through the floor.  I've almost got full sets of Changeling and Wraith going, but I despair when I see just how freaking much was published for Vampire and Mage.  Guess I'll be buying those in lots once I fill some more holes.

A part of me (the part that likes pain) is almost tempted to try to adapt some of their stuff to d20.  Because god knows, some of their rules mechanics were HORRIBLE.  

Hmm...  I own probably own about 60-70% of D&D and AD&D published (probably about 90% of 2nd edition).  Unfortunately, don't have alot of rares other than a few items, so I'm nowhere near a grand master.

Hey Ed, you should be glad to know that Rosemans and Rheas collection have been distrubuted throughout the US and the World to other collectors like myself who will take care of the items

an untimely vampire attack that I suffered at the worst possible moment

Ed, make sure to read up on Van Richtens Guide to Vampires next time another vampire attack occurs. I find the book incredibly useful.