New Collector Needs Advice

[scottph]

So I bought two of the same Rumph tankards via ebay recently. One was signed, one was not. I'd like to collect more Rumph items, but I want to know what I am doing first. So here are my questions:

1) How much should I care that a Rumph piece is not signed? So what if it's not signed? It's still a Rumph, right? Or was it churned out in a factory overseas?

2) How can I go about building my collection? Are there places other than ebay? Are some pieces easier to find? (Does anybody here have "extra" Rumph pieces that they want to sell?) How do I continue collecting in a wise and informed manner?

Any advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Please respond here, or e-mail me directly at rumphscottph (at) yahoo.

Thanks.

[beesknees9]

Hi! I've only been collecting for a couple of years (my parents had several pieces laying around when I was a kid but sadly, divorce and world travel has eliminated all of them!) But I do have a piece of advice for collecting on Ebay, There is no point in getting into a bidding war during the first six days of a piece being listed. Kepp it listed in your watched list and bid on it on the last day. I've watched countless buyers drive up the prices for themselves needlessly because of ego I guess, but they could have saved themselves a lot of money and winded up with more pieces if they would play it smarter!! Take it easy and happy hunting!
Cheers!
beesknees9