COMMON MISTAKES
There are some mistakes that collectors in Singapore and especially new collectors made when buying amulets from a dealer. I made some of these mistakes personally and had observed other collectors made similar and even more ridiculous mistakes. Knowing these mistakes and avoiding them might hopefully help fellow collectors save some good money.
First of all, please take note that in Thailand, people do not use the term "buying amulets" but rather as "renting amulets" or "Chao Phra", "Chao" means to rent and "Phra" refers to Buddha or any other holy or divine figure. This is of course very true because nobody can owns the Buddha or any other holy or divine figure and it is also disrespectful to speak in this way. However due to differences in languages and for ease of writing and understanding, we shall use the term "buying amulets" here in this site.
ASKING QUESTIONS
There are a number of these mistakes, the most serious and common one is asking dealers too much misconcepted beginner's questions. It's okay to ask friends and fellow collectors, but not dealers, you will see why. Common questions are "How do I use an amulet?" You wear it. "What do I have to chant for this amulet?" Most of the ignorant have a conception that every chanting in an unknown language are magic spells, this is not true. You do not need to chant anything at all, however most pay respect to Buddha first by reciting the Vandana three times before putting on the amulet. The Vandana is the prelimary homage verse of paying homage to Buddha; "Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhasa", which means "Homage to the Blessed one, the Worthy one, the Rightly Self-Enlightened Buddha. An amulet is meant to be worn, it is just that. These are common incidents in Singapore, because Singaporeans are not Thais, not rised in Thai culture.
Asking too much these questions is suggesting to the dealer that you are interested in the occult, you are suggesting to the dealer that you are hoping the amulet to have magical or miraculous powers. One of the famous Modus Operati of international con men is the "Magic Stone Trick" that preys on victim's superstitious minds to made some quick cash. Oftenly the victim was having some personal problems such as business failure, marital problems, health problems. Preying upon the distressed mind of victims, con men made full use of these problems victims already have.
Think, fellow collectors, the question of "What does this amulet do?" is telling the dealer that you are hoping the amulet to do something for you and implying you have facing some problems or difficulty to a greater or lesser degree. Asking such questions is telling the dealer that you are new to this complicated and rather expensive hobby. You are inviting the dealer to overcharge you or sell you inrelavant things because of your inexperience. If you met a good honest dealer, rare chance by the way, you are lucky. If you met a unscrupulous dealer, most probably he will be taking the chance to earn extra from you, taking advantage of your superstitions and your lack of knowledge in this area. While you think that bought got something good, the dealer and the real collectors are snickering behind your back. I experienced these when I just started picking up this hobby, being snickered at behind my back and being called a fool. The feeling is not nice.
Collectors ask sensible questions such as issuing year and temple, number of pieces made, number of different moulds, differences between moulds, etc. Misconcepted collectors ask questions such as the above mentioned.
The problem are wrong understanding and wrong attitude and expectations.
CORRECT ATITUDE AND UNDERSTANDING
If collecting Thai amulets can be considered a hobby, then the hobby should be about obtaining certain good amulets, usually popular and often expensive and highly imitated. The thrill is identifying authentical pieces from imitated pieces and possessing genuine good pieces. Similar to the hobbies of collecting antiques, stamps, coins and currency. Although good amulets are often considered good because someone had experienced miracles from it, and while miracles do claimed to had occurred and experienced by people wearing them, the hobby of amulet collecting is not just about possessing a good amulets and hoping for miracles.
Ancient amulets or old amulets are oftenly considered good amulets. Ancient amulets are small votive images kept in Chedhis/Stupas, made for the centuries back for the purpose of spreading religion, upon it's uncovery, people worn and treated them as amulets. And amulets were more oftenly made for the purposes of protection from evil and avoiding danger. In olden days people are more concerned about surviving the dangerous mountainous routes and whether if their crops will grow and harvest. It is until recently when life turns more easy and humans grows fatter, that people started asking for or believing that amulets brings wealth and charm.
You stand more to gain if you adopt the right understanding rather than hoping for miracles and looking for love charms and fortune enhancers. The right attitude is to treat amulet collecting like a hobby similar to antique collecting, stamps collecting, etc. If you like to collect Thai amulets, then treat it as a hobby. Thai amulets are religious items, respect them. Buddha images' original purpose is to remind a Buddhist that enlightenment and Nibbana is achievable by all beings. Thai amulets' original purpose is to spread religion, do not mistaken and mistreat them as devices meant for you to use or manipulate.
The idea of this whole article here is that if you are in this hobby, treat it as a hobby. Be an amulet collector, be it a small time amateur or a serious collector. If you treat it as a hobby, dealers and peers will treat you like a collector. Don't behave like a superstitious fool looking for love charms and fortune enhancer, if you behave like a fool, dealers and peers will treat you like a fool. Thai amulets collecting is a expensive hobby, and it's not as easy as collecting Hello Kitty dolls, imitations and unscrupulous dealers are very common.
TRUSTING THE DEALER
Trusting the dealer, big mistake. Very often, amulet collectors buy expensive and popular amulets relying on trusting the dealer. When an amulet is expensive and popular, imitation pieces are made and circulated, from an easily identified fake to almost impossible to verify imitations, especially medal amulets (Rians) simply because they can be made so identical to authentical ones that even experts made mistakes and no one can really give full confirmation on authencity because there are too many disputes between the real experts on whether if a piece is genuine or not. Only the creator of the imitation piece will know the differences, and the people whom made these high quality imitation pieces, are oftenly, are the experts themselves. So why give yourself a headache unless you are willing to pay big money for a piece that nobody really knows if it is genuine or not. I personally do not collect certain amulets because of such reasons, firstly, you are paying big money, secondly, you are very likely to buy a imitation piece that no one knows really how to verify.
Your dealer may not be an expert in that particular type or piece of amulet, the specialist only specialise in verifying one or two types, he may not even be a specialist in any type of amulet, just talking his way through without any real knowledge or skills. That is one point. Another point is that your dealer is your dealer, not your father. He earns money from your pockets rather than place money into your pockets. Most dealers does not really care if an amulet is really authentical or not, so long that it is generally accepted as authentical by collectors.
I learned that when buying amulets (expensive and popular amulets in general), there is no such thing as relying on trust, no dealers can be trusted. The dealer never ask you to trust him, you trusted him yourself, and when you bought an imitation piece, don't blame others, blame yourself for lack of research or being too ambitious attempting something beyond your ability to collect and verify.
The only trust you can established with dealer is when you bought a fake piece, the dealer should give you a refund or at least a change to other items, that is of course you don't damage that amulet or tamper with it and still ask for refund.
VERIFICATION OF AUTHENCITY
Many collectors like to show their amulet collections to others for the sake of verifying the authencity of the amulets. The important question here is why do collectors often like to seek the opinions from others? The likely answer is not collectors are not confident about the authencity of the amulet, but rather the answer is that collectors are not confident about their ownselves. This bring us to the point I am trying to put through, if you not confident in buying certain amulets, don't buy and give yourself and your dealers problems. And when you start seeking opinions, your newly bought amulet can quickly becomes an imitation piece in your opinion. Why? You can seek the opinion of ten persons, be them collectors or dealers, and you can receive nine positive feedback, but it only takes just one negative feedback from one person to start you worrying. Especially so if it is an expensive piece, you starts worrying about the authencity a lot faster. This is just human nature, the fear of loss.
Why do you think a piece of amulet you bought is fake? Did you showed it around and sought other dealers or collectors to verify on authencity? Seeking opinions is not a mistake, believing in opinions is. Consider whom you asked for opinions, dealers and collectors speak from different positions with different reasons. Consider whom you asked for opinions again, does the persons you asked really have the knowledge and skills to verify this particular piece of amulet? When you get many different versions of answers on the authencity of an amulet, there are bound to be many disputes and contradictions on authencity. The sensible fact is, you have to do you own research and investigations, and consider opinions given to you carefully.
This bring us back to the point I am trying to put across again, if you not confident in buying certain amulets, don't buy and be unhappy later.
If you can establish a kind of trust between you and your dealer where the dealers allows you to bring an amulet home to verify and decide whether you want it before paying, better yet. You can save and learn lots if you don't abuse it. The reason is because if you are attempting a particular amulet for the first time, it is really hard to decide if a piece is genuine or not, examination and comparision of amulets takes time. Examining an amulet new to you for few minutes in a shop won't tell you if it is authentic or not. Not all dealers allow you to bring their amulets home to verify though, because fools will bring them to another dealer or show them to unskilled collectors.
RETURNING A IMITATION PIECE
It's hard to return a piece when you have bought it, unless it's an imitation piece, which is only fair. If you bought a authentical piece of amulet however decided later that you don't really like it, then it's not fair to get a refund of course. However if you later discovered that it is not an authentical piece, then it is only fair to have it refunded or at the least, exchange for another piece.
What will happen when you return to the dealer to refund an imitation piece? Firstly, ask yourself, how sure are you that it's an imitation piece? Who verified it to be fake? Have you showed it to another dealer whom said it's fake? If you are sure, then I shall quote a common situation:
You return to the dealer with your amulet telling him it's fake and you wish to have a refund. One of the first questions the dealer might ask you is "Who is the person whom told you the amulet is fake?" Your likely answer is "a friend", or "another shop". Whatever it is, your dealer will then ask you to join him in a challenge to that person to place a S$5000/- bet on the authencity of this amulet you are returning. Then he will tell you to travel to Bangkok with him and that person, to have the piece verified by an expert, if verified to be fake, then he shall refund you the money and pay the other person S$5000/- that he lost in the bet.
This "betting trick" of dealers usually shuts the mouth of the person whom said your amulet is fake, and it also leaves you helpless. It's fair to give the dealer a chance to defend his name and reputation, but do you have the time to do such ridiculous things as traveling to Bangkok just for this sake? You are probably more concerned about getting your money back, not betting and arranging a tour for three in Bangkok! If you are stupid enough to do such things, will the person whom verified your amulet fake in the first place be as stupid as you? The dealer in fact is just using the "betting trick" to shoo you away.
The fact is that dealers are very jealous of each other. Whenever you returns an amulet saying that it's fake, the first thing that comes to a dealer's mind is that another dealer told you so. Whatever it is, you are the person in the disadvantaged position, since you already bought and paid for the amulet.
Whatever the case is, getting a refund might be very hard. Therefore, if you are not confident in the authencity of an amulet, do not buy in the first place, and if you are confident about the authencity of your amulet, then do not believe in opinions of others blindly.
AMBITIOUS AND IMPATIENT COLLECTORS
Some collectors think too highly of themselves, too naive or too ambitous or too rich. Collecting amulets is a slow but interesting hobby, intriguing and appreciative. Definitely should be not a quick fix by going into a dealer's shop and do a cash and carry translation.
Be patient, money does not buy good amulets most of the time. If that amulet is expensive, be patient, research takes time, examine different pieces in shops takes time, when you think you are ready and relatively confident, then perhaps you may consider parting your money. Oftenly, in the midst of researching and waiting, one might realised that particular piece of amulet is not worthwhile to get after all. Be patient and stay focused, when you finally obtained your amulet you were gathering information about, and when you finally bought the amulet based on your own confidence and research, the satisfaction is immense.
Some amulets are not easy to collect, simply because of the large number of different imitations circulating for years, the high quality of imitations, the lack of information and the uncanny high prices. Do your research to judge for yourself if a particular piece is feasible to collect at this point of time. Being ignorant and too ambitious often results in getting burned.
TALKING TO MUCH
Go to your regular amulet dealer's shop on a busy day where the shop will be crowded, order tea and flip some amulet magazines and do some idle talk. Observe the customers for a few hours, perhaps you might spot some collectors that like to show off knowledge. While the brand new collectors might pay him some attention, the dealer might be a bit pissed off. Should you observe much longer, there might be more of these guys whom like to talk a lot but never did bought anything. Some of these guys may be talking nonsense, but some of them did be speaking facts and knowledge. Avoid being both of them. The first type is a joke, the latter is a sore to the dealer. More often than not, the most knowledgeable in this field or hobby in the shop should be the dealer, or at least it seems to be. It is human nature to be defensive and to feel challenged when another human flash his weapon in your territory. If you follow so far, what I mean is don't be a show off and be a sore to the dealer, it is ensuring that you will not get good prices from him in future, and if he have any good items, he most probably reserves them for the customers he likes.
https://www.angelfire.com/art/thaibuddhistamulets/4mistake.html
Comments