Collecting goals - fork in the road

[Touch'EmAll]

I have hit a wall. Everything is (to me) awesome. It would break my heart to sell anything. The family economic dynamics say no more cards. Wife had a fit the other night when she learned I picked up an SGC 60 Matty portrait (see on pick up thread).

My collection consists of about 15 T206's (all Matty, W. Johnson, Young & Cobb in PSA 5 & 6), and a nice select lot of extrememly low pop and near one-of-a-kind's of Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, W.Johnson, Matty's in PSA 5 to 7. And a few other's such as PSA 8 1949 Satchell Paige and a complete Hank Aaron run in PSA 8.

Should I:

a) just completely stop collecting & be happy with what I have
b) sell a bunch to then go after a handful of super spendy $5-20k each cards
c) sell the T206's in PSA 5 & 6 to fund effort for PSA 7's
d) sell the near one-of-a kind stuff to go after ???
e) ditch the Hank Aaron run to fund more pre-war upper tier HOF'ers

Big sigh, are my collecting days over? Thanks for suggestions, Steve

[carrigansghost]

I have had an extremely fun time collecting since I gave up the wife 6 years ago, but perhaps that route is not for all.

Rawn

[Peter_Spaeth]

No one can know what you want but if it were me I would keep the T206s and use the Hank Aarons, or some of them, to fund additional purchases. Keep the RC and sell the rest, they are always easily replaced.

[Leon]

What Peter said above . Depending on which stuff you like the best, and/or you can't replace easily, those are the things I would get rid of last. If all are are somewhat equal, in sentimental value, then sell the higher dollar ones first. That way you won't have to get rid of as many to get back some of your money you put into them and you can accomplish the same goal. There is a chance you will want to get back into collecting sometime in the future and at least you will still have the difficult to replace stuff. ALL just my 1 cent....good luck with the decision.

[yawie99]

Your collecting days are certainly not over. I've hit many similar forks in the road, but have kinda settled on a "less is more" approach to my collection. I can't have it all so I've come to enjoy the BSTing aspect of the hobby as much as the actual owning of the cards.

I maintain a modest number of cards and try to balance the additions with the subtractions - at least to some extent. I know some people hate parting with their prized collectibles, but in the grand scheme of things, they're just old pieces of cardboard. They come and go. I enjoy 'em while I have them and then recycle them back into the hobby so I can pick up some new ones. I do have a few cards that I'd be loath to sell or trade, but ultimately it's all negotiable. I know that's a terribly unromantic view of the hobby, but it's allowed me to stay involved without going broke or crazy.

[bigtrain]

I agree with Jeff. You should definitely sell him the Cobbs and send the Johnsons my way.

But seriously, I would sell the Aarons.

[dennis]

i would sell all the aarons from 1960 onward,they are easily replaced. keep all your other cards as it sounds like they are too expensive (and you like them!!) then get a safe deposit box for the other cards, next open a new bank account with that money, and tell the wife you sold everything and are out of the hobby. from there you can monitor her spending and "have a fit" when she buys herself something.

[Touch'EmAll]

Thanks for input. You are right, keep the truly rare stuff. After all this is the stuff near the pinnacle of our hobby. And the T206's are so prized, keep 'em.

Perhaps it's good bye to the Aaron's, took years to complete in high-end for the grade. Saw Hank as a kid, and was smack dab in the middle of my childhood when he broke Ruth's record. He is one of the most admired men in all of sports, up there with Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mathewson, Satchell & Nolan Ryan.

On a tangent, I saw Nolan many times as a kid at Anaheim Stadium. Dad took me to the game CalTech timed his fastball at 100.9 mph - I think still in Guiness Book. We always used to sit higher up, but right behind home plate. I remember that "hop" on his fastball - INCREDIBLE ! I doubt if anyone will ever, ever, ever break his record of 7 no-hitters. Both mom & dad saw Koufax at Dodger stadium, Grandpa saw Walter Johnson in D.C. All 3 said when "on" Ryan was the best the world has ever seen.

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by yawie99

. . in the grand scheme of things, they're just old pieces of cardboard.

Moderator. Ban this heretic!

[steve B]

Maybe just take a brief break, maybe a week or two, and use the time to figure out what you want the collecion to be and what you can actually afford it to be. Maybe that leads you to pick certain cards to go for, and to set aside the money for them, or maybe you decide to sell some. Or maybe you figure that maybe some cards that aren't so fantastic have something going for them too.

I've been an opportunistic sort of collector for a long time, and as a result the collection has some nice stuff, and some pointless stuff. When I started collecting racing bikes (Ok now! they're "game used" sports items, so it's ok)
I concentrated on one particular area. And since they're not often cheap, my wife and I usually discuss new additions to the collection. How cool is it really? How does it fit in with the others? How much do I think it will sell for and would I be happy paying that? I've been convinced to pass on some interesting ones, that were just a bit more than I'd pay based on my interest, and been surprised at getting the green light to bid big on a few others.
We only do this for big stuff, the little stuff is just fine to buy, but the same thought process has become a habit.

Steve B

[calvindog]

I would choose (f): Sell the Cobbs to me.