> > >
> > > Longest lasting collecting fad? Has to be artwork. All those castles are shock full of it.
> > >
> > > Etienne
> >
> > Don't forget about museums -- I don't think there's a baseball card museum yet. I might be wrong, but I doubt it.
> >
> > mac "actually Honus Wagner was one of the better players" rinus7
>
> What about precious minerals? Gold and gemstones don't have any real use other than being pleasing to the eye, they're relatively rare, some samples are better than others through craftsmanship and purity, and they've been traded since time immemorial. It's just a collecting fad that's so big, everyone's in on it.
>
> 10"AU! Who, me?"Kan

Gold can more often than not be categorized under artwork -- re: Egyptian sarcophagi, various religious artifacts, and I think some Muslim arabesques (or at least the top part of the Dome of the Rock). Also manuscript illumination.

I also found a statement by Hypatius of Ephesus in regard to gold and gemstones being incorpotated into church architecture -- the gist of which is that having these beautiful things to look at helps to lead a person's eyes up to the Divine.

So I think it's a tie between minerals and artwork. *Some* artwork anyway (a work such as Marcel Duchamp's _Fountain_ being as far away from precious metals/minerals as I think one could get).

mac "there's a lot of history in art history" rinus7