Each of us has a small herd of golden calves frolicking around in our minds. We are very attached to our own, personal golden calves.
Antiques are a common golden calf. Those who prefer that breed of golden calf will travel long distances, incur great expenses, and pay large sums of money for an old something-or-other that they feel they need. Each type of desirable antique is, of course, a different breed of golden calf.
Some collectors have airplane hangers full of airplanes, safe deposit boxes full of jewels, bankbooks stuffed with deposits, portfolios full of stocks and bonds, safes full of guns, garages full of antique cars, boxes full of old China, walls covered with paintings, and the list goes on.
Each of us prefers our own golden calves to the golden calves of others. “We who collect 16th century manuscripts are an unusually enlightened group.” Those who collect racing cars think that they are among the most discriminating. So do those who collect flintlock rifles. Each golden calf has those who try to spread interest in it with a missionary zeal.
Golden calves run the gamut from old Mason jars to impressionist paintings. There is a man in the cattle business who is trying to raise a specifically colored type of cow. For nearly three decades, he has been carefully breeding, re-breeding, and cross-breeding a specific type of yellow-hued Charolais cow with an absolutely magnificent red Angus bull.
His golden calf? He is searching for a cow and bull that will produce one.
