What makes a record collection "great"?

Jwong hit it perfectly. When I hold my Miles Davis "kind of Blue" six eye promo or the first six Dylan mono's that I got from a guy who played them once-(Did I mention they were mint.) I'm reducing my average records over time and replacing them with 1st editions, hopefully mint condition, as I go. Great records with proper care and played carefully will last a lifetime. Plus there cool and you have the memories of the day you found and bought the great ones.

There are collections based on collectibility, and collections based on the aesthetic value. Perhaps this defines the difference between a library valued for the content (great performances, writing), and a collection valued for its rarity (a Gutenburg bible). Any modern bible has the same contents, but not the same provenance. Two different ways of judging value.

Hello and thanks to all that responded, I really appreciate the many thought provoking viewpoints expressed. Special thanks to Slipnot1 and Rushton, although I was not soliciting special recognition, it certainly is appreciated. Yes, my records are very special to me which bring countless hours of blissful joy to our household, so in this regard as many have suggested, I do have a great record collection!

I have to say that after collecting records on and off for almost 40 years, I beleive that the quality of the pressings is what makes a collection great. I have been lucky enough to collect hundreds of copies of great pressings from Tom Port and Better Records for 8 or 9 years. His material is fathoms above typical pressings one might stumble upon. He has to often "shoot out" dozens of copies to find a great one. I have yet to purge my collection of extra copies of records. You will fine 15 or 20 Copies of The Who's Tommy in my shelves, most of them are UK Track first or early pressings. This guarantees nothing... I thought I had a nice one but the one I got from Tom last year kicked them all in the butt. The same goes for most of my favorite records.

This thread reminded me of an old friend I used to have. The dude ran a small equipment/record store in Butler, PA. We'd go back to his (large) home and the man literally had records EVERYWHERE! Living room, dining room, den, garage...Thousands and thousands all over the place. Fact is, him and his wife are no longer married, wonder why!?;) Had many a great session at that ol' house (Morrison Spkrs, Dolan electronics, Mapleknoll turntable) and of course, boys being boys, we'd play/argue about our collections. Him with his gazillion LP's or me with my 1.5K albums and less than 1000 CD's (at the time). The button I ALWAYS was able to push to get a rise outta him was; "Your collections a lot bigger than mine, but my collections a lot better than yours". Y'know what? I STILL believe it!!