What makes a record collection "great"?

It depends on the view
What is great?
A collection of reissues?
A collection from church Music 16th Century?
A collection from RCA Living Stereos? What stampers?
Great is normally rated from others, it is a definition how they like it or the thinking about it's price (now or in future).
Supply and demand
Private opinions are taste only. When I like my 15000$ Rap and Hip hop records (which I don't have) and my visitors start to cry when I do a demo, well, then I am alone with my "Great Collection". But for me it is still great.

Btw. same with Stereo systems and their owners...
or cars.... =)

My collection is great because it is special to me. Many of the titles take me back to junior high, my first crush, prom-night, first love, Sundays after church listening to my parents Big Band, Swing and Jazz collection before dinner. All the important times and memories of our life can likely be relived in some small way by hearing that "one" song or album whose music floods our senses with the sounds we remember. It allows us to experience again in the imagination those days gone by. Who can remember where they were the first time the heard Etta, Ella, Elvis, Janis, Jimmy, Bob (Dylan, Marley,) The Beach Boys, Carol King, Michael J. Etc. My collection spans the 40's-- late 1990's. Every important time of my life has several titles that I can reminisce with and I can find music for whatever mood I am in. It gives me a great amount of pleasure and puts a big smile on my face just thinking about it. A record collection that can do this for you is one that you can feel GREAT about!

I think a great record collection is one that covers generations and times (special and individual) and conversly brings them together. Closest thing we have to remember and feel both the good times and the bad with more than a passing thought. Being able to reach for that album that mirrors the mood or state one is in is as prescious as playing one to change the mood or forget the state we are in. Cheers..

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.