Warning - personal offense level above average…..
When I started this thread 6 years ago, I never thought it'd still pop up. There have certainly been some great photos and ideas that are still coming in. However and IMO, a true "display" differs from a "collection". I know - it's semantics, but a display is meant to showcase and highlight your collection for the average public, not just for the civil war nerd, as most people (ie friends, family and particularly visiting neighbors) won't/don't appreciate our collections like we do. Simply putting everything you own on the wall or in racks in a room is really just turning your storage closet into a bigger closet. That's why museums have a curators collection in back and off display from which they pull certain items out for display at different times of the year.
In home displays, I believe there's truly a fine line between the "right amount" and clutter. My own previous display was located in a sitting room that wasn't really private or just for me, thus I didn't want it to look like a surplus store. I simply had acquired too much civil war junk to display without looking like a garage sale. Now I realize I'm luckier than many in that respect, but I also knew that if I displayed too many guns for the size of the room I had, Id end up with a room that appeared more like an armory or a sales rack than a "display", especially when I hadn't also incorporated anything else interesting to keep an average person's interest.
If your goal is simply to have all your guns and ephemera out in the open so you can see it - go for it. A basement or man shed dedicated to your collection? That a perfect solution for your collection! But elsewhere in the house, particularly the "public" spaces? Well….it's really just turning your storage closet into a storage room, and again, your "display" is still just a collection that you've moved to a less crowded room. It doesn't change the fact that it can and will still look like clutter to your non-ACW enthralled friends and neighbors.
If your goal is to truly have a home display ( again with the semantics) that you want average people to find interesting and also showcase your favorite guns to friends and neighbors without making them secretly roll their eyes at your odd passion, pick your favorites and give some serious thought about the layout and placement - is it displayed in a such a way that even someone who doesn't know squat about the civil war might show some interest? Is your collection only guns, or do you perhaps have anything else that would add depth to your display? Think about acquiring a couple things outside just the standard ACW gun that adds value to your display, or else it's screams surplus arms dealer with the normal person wondering if you're Francis Bannerman opening your own surplus store.
Some of us have accumulated what our wives (or husbands) probably consider too many, and we'd all love to display everything at one time if not for their common sense. Consider where you display it. Is it in an area of your home like the den, living room or dining room where every family member and visitor from the cable guy to the mother in law walks Past or is it in your personal office or basement that you generally prefer to share only with your CWT homies or poker buddies? Location should dictate the style of the display. If your collection is more than 10 guns or so, one idea is to rotate your guns in and out of your display. Sometimes too much is just too much. Are we offended yet?
Oldsarge, like that you've incorporated antique furniture into the mix. Keep it interesting and work on an overall theme. Make it comfortable, perhaps with a couple chairs, some appropriate lighting, perhaps a coffee table or bar top where someone could picture themselves enjoying their coffee or having a couple beers over a round of poker. The best museums are interesting because of the variety of items displayed as well as their presentation (for example, James N' sword display rack on page 4) and not necessarily because of the sheer quantity of any one item displayed.
Again, all this is just my opinion on what I think separates a good home "Display" from a personal "Collection". I know there will be those that disagree with me and think I'm being a snotty prime-donna and I absolutely 100% get it. You may even think my last home display sucked (page 2 & 3), and honestly, now that I'm looking at it in hindsight and having been away from it for a couple years, I truly think it's too cluttered myself. So be it - I'll modify my display next go round based upon my own advice. I want the average friend and neighbor to be interested, but not overwhelmed.
All said, it's simply my opinion. Personally, my goal back in 2016 when i set up my display was to attempt to strike a balance between just how much was too much while still keeping it interesting. My wife told me several times I was going or had gone overboard and as I said, in hindsight, it probably was indeed too much displayed at one time. But it still wasn't a sales rack, either!
Much of my collection will remain in a closet when I transfer home this summer, but the guns not on display will still came out from time to time to rotate into the mix and get some fresh air. With that said, I can't wait to move back to the and design my next home display!
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