Posted 10 years ago
MisterEsot…
(25 items)
My cufflink collection doesn't have a particular theme or era. It's basically a cufflink hoarder's hodge-podge of unnecessary excess. Quantity for the sake of quantity.
If one were to attempt to find an overlying theme present throughout the entire collection, whilst following the standard statistician's modus operandi of removing the top and bottom ranked outlier, they would more than likely ascertain that the only consistent theme is that of depreciated value. The vast majority of my cufflink collection were aquired for less than $3/pair. I avoid high dollar pieces, vying instead for quantity over high end cost (note that I did not say that I vie for quantity over quality, as I firmly believe that some of the cheapest cufflinks I've gotten are indeed amongst the highest quality, especially when it comes to vintage). If I had a choice of a $250 pair of Georg Jensen sterling or a vintage huge lot of non-precious pieces on eBay, I would immediately go for the ebay lot.
I enjoy variety, multiple options, and the simple joy of collecting. I do have some high end pieces, but those are largely overshadowed by the Swanks, Hickcocks, and Kenneth Cole's.
I often wear a french cuff shirt 7 days a week, with 5 of those days being work days in a suit, and the others in more casual french cuff versions. For those days, these little novelty links are nice accents.
All 4 of these pairs were acquired on eBay over the past few years. The Ghostbusters and Apple logo are not officially licensed products. The Trust Me, I'm a Banker links are for when I'm feeling saucey at work (I am a banker in real life), and the big mouth bass was part of a vintage lot I picked up a little bit ago.
Thanks for checking out my posts everyone! I welcome any and all comments. Just be forewarned, if you comment, I will reply, and it will more than likely be long winded and filled with esotericism. Would you expect anything less?
Wonderful! Blue apples are great!
Thank you Virginia! I bought the blue ones on eBay because they were the cheapest of the colors. I Appreciate a good value. ????
I missed this mr e! Love the ghostbusters! Awesome!
An excellent find Mr E !
Yes J, ghostbusters are incredible as well ;)
Yes, I think I would buy a men's shirt and wear those :)
Great post. I get the quantity thing - and yes quality can be there in "cheap" items.
There is a great deal of pleasure in going through a volume of items to choose what to use today!
racer4four: Strong agreement. It's something I look forward to every morning when getting dressed. Often, I let my daughter pick which ones I wear, but she has her favorites so I sometimes direct her to different ones so I don't repeat too often. If she had it her way, I would probably wear Penguins, Horse heads, ducks, and other animals every day.
The quality in the cheap cufflinks mainly comes from workmanship, assembly, and overall strength. Obviously, if rating quality by the composition of the links themselves, then the cheapies are certainly on the low end (Swank was known for their plastic gemstones) but they hold up extremely well. The one pair of 14k cufflinks I have (inherited from my Dad's jewelry box) I always hesitate to wear as the genuine gemstone in it just doesn't seem like it is very secure, and the links themselves just don't seem as strong or thick as the cheaper ones. Plus, I think they are kinda ugly. I will have to post a pic of those soon.
Thanks again for the comments!