A collector, it could be you, stands in line awaiting the opening of an American antique show with a wide variety of genres for sale. The magic hour arrives, and he enters, doing a quick walk-through and then more slowly examining the contents of dealers’ booths. He sees some nice blanket chests, good paint, original surface. They are better than the ones that sit at the end of the beds in his home and would be a nice addition to his collection. Yet he keeps on walking. Then he pauses, a fine chest of drawers whispers to him, “come hither.” And hither he goes. He is sorely tempted. Again, the chest is better than one he owns. He will consider it.
What is going on? The blanket chests do not draw more than a break in his step, the chest of drawers brings him to a complete stop. Perhaps, like many collectors, he does not feel the urge to upgrade every genre in his collection. These collectors live with some, the stories behind them are worth telling; they are good enough. But in some genres collectors constantly seek better pieces. They may have owned several, each one reflecting heightened connoisseurship, and often an emptier wallet.
One explanation for this aspect of collector behavior is to draw a distinction between people who are labeled “satisficer” and those categorized as “maximizers” (the terms first appeared in 1956, proposed by the Nobel prize winner Herbert Simon), fancy words but ones that deepen our understanding of the collectors’ experience. Simply put, maximizers are those collectors who want the very best. They seek superlative pieces and leave no stone unturned to find them. Maximizers are defined by high standards, exhaustive and relentless searches, and oftentimes difficulty in making decisions. As one might expect a maximizing style has been associated with perfectionism.
Satisficers on the other hand are collectors for whom “good enough” is good enough. Their criteria for what pieces are satisfactory are more modest. Both terms reflect what fulfills a collectors’ needs, how they approach the world of antiques and how they make decisions. I conclude that collectors can be simultaneously a satisficer and a maximizer, finding his blanket chests “good enough” but wanting the best in chests of drawers.
Both types of collectors, or whichever genre elicits maximizing or satisfying behaviors, find their decisions prudent and wise. Often, they simply shrug their shoulders, struggling to understand and verbalize why that average bedside stand has never been upgraded, but the chest of drawers is far from the first. Each style motivates behavior, either to purchase or not, to be interested and invested, or not. Passing by the blanket chests leads to no feelings of regret. Not considering or buying the chest of drawers may niggle for months to come. Of course, such decision making and collecting style can drive dealers crazy.
The maximizer as a perfectionist, rejecting wonderful pieces because of the smallest of flaws. The satisficer can bypass wonderful, affordable pieces because of a lack of interest. The ones at home bring pleasure enough.
Satisficers (think of my average bedside stands) have more modest criteria than maximizers. I have seen stands with better paint or more delicate legs. Yet I am not motivated as a collector to upgrade. Why my criteria for these stands are modest is a mystery to me. But for this genre of American antiques, the status quo suffices. But I am driven to upgrade the paintings in my collection, weathervanes, and as noted, chests. A collector’s maximizing or satisfaction has nothing to do with money. For some genres, a small fortune may be spent on a small painted Shaker box. In another genre, much less money has purchased a very visible piece of case furniture a collector has lived with for years. Spend more here, “yes, I must.”
The goals of a maximizer are higher than a satisficer, sometimes unachievable. The maximizer holds a lantern that lights his path as he searches for the perfect antique. The lantern’s light is everlasting. Looking for the perfect MacGuffin can be a lifelong task and the work that goes into finding pieces that maximizer collectors are pleased with can become an obsession, both an exhaustive and exhausting process.
Maximizers as you may have guessed are more likely to suffer from collectors’ buyer’s remorse. “Is this piece the best I can find?” “Perhaps there is something better out there?” They may even feel anticipatory regret for the hunt is never ending for better and best. Paradoxically, satisficers may be more content with the pieces in their collection, even though maximizers may develop superior collections over time. Satisficers appreciate their antiques for what they are with no inner drive seeking perfection (or at least better). Maximizers are often the collectors of Americana whose collections are extolled (if they are wealthy and can afford the best and their connoisseurship developed and superb). But both maximizers and satisficers can collect mid-market pieces. It is the maximizer who may find himself, however, moving from mid-market to the crème de la crème. To some the drive for the best may seem at times like a curse.
How people become maximizers or satisficers is unknown. Perhaps genetics play a role, emphasizing a need for order, or accentuating compulsive behavior. Satisficers may be more “laid back,” again genetics may play a role in each personality style. I cannot rule out what was rewarded when a future collector was a child or teen, or what the parents modeled if they themselves collected. All may play a role. Sigmund Freud once said, “A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.” I suspect that maximizers and satisficers are doing just that.
None the less, one can learn to be a maximizer and one also can learn to be a satisficer, at least in some areas of collecting. The values of and lessons dealers have taught with whom collectors work, for example, may educate a collector early on to appreciate only the best. At the same time the canard, “buy the best you can afford” may not apply to all genres of American antiques according to fellow collectors or dealers. An average piece made 20 miles from where the collector lives in the Connecticut Valley may have more attraction than a superb piece made by a craftsman who worked much further away. Connoisseurship may flourish in one genre but not another. The former requires looking for the best, the latter does not.
Of course, the road to which genres a collector falls in love with is foggy and ill defined. When my wife and I first began collecting I do not believe anyone could have predicted what we now love, and which pieces despite our years of collecting we would like to upgrade (a maximizing style), and which are good enough.
Collectors are well advised to enjoy the mysteries of why they collect what they do and how they go about it. As a collector I have no idea as to why certain genres lead to Sisyphus like behavior – continually looking for a better example of “x” or “y”, finding it, and then pushing the boulder (antique) back up the hill by looking still more. Mysteries add robustness and richness to collecting. Where I to learn why I am a satisficer when it comes to blanket chests the insight would be relatively worthless. In this case I like leaving the unknown, unknown. The maximizer in me has work to do.
Maximizers are forced to live with, and hopefully enjoy the aphorism that perfection is the enemy of the good. In fact, most do not see their quests for better pieces as untoward but rather as part and parcel of the collector’s world. They live for the moment an antique takes their breath away, and when it does, the feeling and moment rewards all their energy, time, and dollars seeking perfection. With so many Americana genres to choose from, their journeys can be never ending, collecting a lifetime endeavor.
The satisficer, not so much. As their home (s) fill, they view their collection with pleasure. If only one or two genres motivate maximizer behavior, they may find that “perfect” piece and be satisfied with it. They often find a level of contentment and pleasure in their antiques that a maximizer can only wish for.
Which collector makes the better decision you might ask? While many expect it to be the maximizer who uses a great deal of information in making his decisions to maximize future benefit it is the satisficer, who uses more modest criteria, who, surprisingly makes better decisions. Maximizers suffer under high self-expectations while satisficers feel none of this pressure. Maximizers often struggle with unachievable goals, in our case, owning the best of the best of Americana. Satisficers merely want to be satisfied. As you may have guessed maximizing collectors often are disappointed with their purchase, motivating a hunt for even better examples. Satisficers are satisfied.
In other words, “Done is better than perfect” (unknown) encapsulates the satisficer approach to collecting. A maximizer would be horrified. For the latter, Oscar Wilde captures the essence of collecting, “It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection. Regardless of which style captures your collector essence, both types of collectors preserve history in the American antiques they seek and enjoy every day. Happy satisfying and maximizing in your collecting in the days ahead.
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