Hmm...very good question. I've been thinking about this for a while. Your right on the money about the two paths. I think I'm headed down the median. I think a compromise between the two is the most beneficial.
By taking the "Small Collection of Gems" route you limit yourself to the massive amounts of interesting, beautiful, and amazing fragrances that are out there. To take this route you would have to limit your exposure to fragances and essentially become blind to the worls of fragrance. You see if you don't then you end up finding other GEMS and eventually you end up with a large collection in the end. There is a plus side though. You actually get to wear ALL of them and nothing goes to waste. Some people have 50,100, 300+ bottles of frag and I say to myself, "How the hell do you ever get to wear ALL of those frags. Not to mention the amount of money put into that< not a major concern if its somewhat of a "Passionate Interest." To me a small collection is of 1-10 fragrances. I could never do this because I LOVE fragrances. Theres just too much out there for that low of a number. I do limit myself though nonetheless. I find that 20 fragrances is where it stops for me. If I run out of a fragrance I reallt, I mean REALLY think of whether or not I can't live without it. If I can''t I buy it again. If I can however then tahts when the lovely "scent hunt begins" which I enjoy a great deal.
Anyway thats my whole schpeil. Any questions? Any comments?