I have wondered about that myself and how it might go down. Someone like Kit Young, who travels and buys (of course, pretty sure he is older than me...but he is running a business and I am not). I wonder how often he looks at stuff and the seller and he just can't come up with an agreeable price. Time is money and wouldn't want to waste time, but also not wanting to blowout my collection just to take the easy route either.
I would say my collection is sizable, but not hoarder show worthy. I stopped buying wax in the late 90s and have focused my buying on things I like ever since, mostly targeted ebay buying. Got rid of some bulk, but added some back through some shop/local market bulk buys for the fun of going through it, not expecting anything too valuable. I like odd stuff, so I have a variety of small sets, and non-standard Topps stuff. I focused on Dodgers and certain players I liked or sets. Have a decent bit of vintage and a few high demand cards, but missing a lot of keys too. Lots of autographs, mostly cards, 3x5s and other flats.
I would absolutely love to weed through a collection like mine, but not sure how deep a buyer like you describe would go and it would take some real time to really dig in and get a good idea of what treasures were contained within.
How big was your collection? How much time did the buyer spend and how deep did they dive? I could see a scenario play out where a typical card shop type guy flips open a few 5K boxes, pulls out a few stacks randomly and that is their assessment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by commishbob
I'm 70. I contemplated selling off my collection for a few years. I knew my wife and kids would have no idea where to begin if I left them this stuff but I was dreading the process. I pictured selling sets one-by-one, weeks of scanning, and quibbling over price/condition and it didn't seem like fun negotiating a couple dozen or so vintage set sales.
A few months ago I received a 'We're buying' flyer in the mail from a well-known dealer so I called and when their buyers came through Texas last month they visited my place, looked at what I had, and made a cash offer that I accepted. I know I left money on the table doing it that way but avoiding the hassle of multiple drawn-out sales, shipping, Pay Pay fees, and potential scam buyers made it worthwhile. Everyone's milage will vary of course.
I kept some things that had more meaning to me than value, my Baltimore Colts card collection, TCMA sets, non-sports sets from the 60s, and a few others. I also kept one project to work on to keep my fingers in the collecting aspect of the hobby... my 1975 Topps mini set is about 60% done and it contains cards that members here very generously contributed without asking for anything in return. I figure it will be the perfect 'post-collecting' project.
Because every thread needs a card:
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