Dunno, seems to me that a lot of antiques would require a similar amount of scholarship. I've been leafing through Arts of Asia recently, which is strangely relaxing, and the depth of knowledge from collectors seems half-decent and often draws on academics as contributors. The actual collecting part with auctions and glorified flea markets and so on seems kind of tedious to me though. It's keep up with the Joneses except with rare Tang ceramics.

_{The Political Science Department of the University of Woolloomooloo}