All manner
of interesting things come through the local salerooms as time passes,
and with luck I manage to purchase some of them at halfway reasonable prices
( read -an absolute steal sometimes-) and they will mostly find their way
onto my ebay list sooner or later. I have now spent many years looking
at the seemingly infinite variety of artifacts that our ancestors have
made and which have survived for us to use or just look at and handle.
One effect on me has been to totally ruin museum visits for me as if I
cannot handle the exhibits, and in many cases I have owned or handled better
examples myself than the ones in the show-cases, they do not seem very
real. The fact that you cannot make an offer and come away with something
you like is a bit of a blow as well.