Sooner or later, the collector will come across another of some item already possessed. This new discovery seems somehow different than the one already in the collection. And it often is. This we call a variant.

This is a major fork in the road for a collector. To the variant, some collectors will say, “So what? I've got one like it. Close enough.” But other collectors, like me, will grab it right up, fascinated by the differences, and go right out in the hope of finding more variants.

When I began collecting transistor radios nearly three decades ago, I knew of no documentation at all about them. I assumed there would be maybe 50 or 60 models, tops, and I would try and get them all. Well, I was very wrong. There are many hundreds of models, thousands if you count all the variants. And yes, I am still trying to get them all.

While knockoffs are fun to collect, I avoid buying or using new products that are knockoffs (and they are everywhere!). Not only is it distasteful to me to give money to thieves, but I have found that people with no moral qualms about stealing design also have no moral qualms about cheating their customers as to quality.

A word about the “lesser” items in a collection

Some collectors want only the “best of the best,” the rarest and most desirable pieces. At least in my radio collection, I have taken the route of the “completist.” It takes up a lot of space, I must admit, but I find that even the less interesting and less important radios still somehow inform the others— often in unforseen and unpredictable ways. I have learned a great deal about these radios, much of it from the “lesser” radios that snobs shun.