Why did you sell your cherished pre-war cards??

[Archive]

Posted By: David Smith

In a related thread, the question was asked, "what pre-war cards have you sold that you wish you hadn't?"

As a collector who loves baseball and vintage cards and who has a modest pre-war collection, my question is, why would you sell cards you could either never replace or would have a very hard time replacing?

Right now, I have credit card bills and student loans that need to be paid and I could also use a newer car. Both my mother and my grandmother say I should sell some or all of my collection and pay these things off, get a newer car and put money into my IRA and stock account.

From a logical financial point of view, I know they are both right. I am getting eaten alive by credit card interest and to get to work, a better car would be nice but I just can not pull the trigger on selling some of my baseball stuff.

I know my 1928 Star Player candy cards, Yale Murphy Newsboy cabinet, S81 silk of Ed Walsh, Lou Gehrig baseball glove, large Gypsy Queen of California Brown, OJ's of Anson, Ewing and Rusie and some other valuable items I am forgetting would sell easily and for a lot but how and when could I ever replace them??

I would like to know what others think.

David

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I sold my colelction off becuase I saw the writting on the wall for the collapse of the hobby in 1991 and also to appease the future x-wife. I never missed any of these cards and until Lee sucked me back in when he started collecting t202s and started picking my brain for info. Digging thru my books to see if I kept any reference material, I found a t3 Baker tucked in the pages of one of books and slowly got sucked back in.

Jay

I like to sit outside drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.

[Archive]

Posted By: PASJD

I had a fair number of major prewar cards in high grade (7 and 8) and rightly or wrongly I became convinced that at least some of them had been tampered with and I decided just to get out of high grade prewar altogether and go in a different direction (midgrade, at least in prewar). I do regret selling a few of them which I didn't have any suspicions about, and I have yet to replace some even in midgrade, but so it goes, don't look back like Satchel Paige said.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

David- You've answered your own question. The reason people sell their cards, even ones that are difficult to replace, is that they need money for other important things. As we often say, they're just cardboard. And in most cases, if your finances improve, they are replaceable. Often I would sell rare items in my collection in order to afford different ones. Few of us have unlimited budgets and there is always something else to buy. You might be surprised that even after you sell something you won't feel the loss as much as you might imagine. I always tell people selling stuff isn't really that hard to do.

[Archive]

Posted By: PASJD

I agree with Barry. I think the decision to sell is a lot more difficult than living without a card once it is gone. Sure there are cards I sometimes wish I had back, but even on cards I would have sworn on a stack of Bibles I would never even consider selling, once I did it wasn't that big a deal.

[Archive]

Posted By: CHRIS

CARDBOARD IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN STOCKS. IN 100 YEARS IT WON'T MATTER. BILLS WILL BE THERE. BUY , SELL , TRADE AND HAVE FUN I SAY. AS FAR AS WISHING TO HAVE CARDS BACK, IT'S A NICE THOUGHT BUT WHAT IS MORE INTERSTING THAN A "NEW" OLD CARD?

[Archive]

Posted By: Anonymous

Same here. In the past year I've sold virtually all of my card collection. I had a few pre-war (a 1921 E121 Ruth psa 3, a 35 goudey ruth/maranville, a low-grade Turkey Red Johnson, and a few T206's, including a low-grade Tinker) and also some 52 Topps, including a Mantle rookie psa 2, plus lots of 60s, 70s and 80s cards. I loved all those cards, but it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be simply because I really needed the money.

I'm fairly recently married and have a son who's about to turn 2 and we're in the process of buying a house. Where else could I come up with $25,000 in a matter of months, unless I were to knock over a few 7-Elevens? I would have loved to have kept the cards and I used to swear I'd never part with them, but my son needs to live in a house, not a tiny apartment. And I want to get him in a good school district. My one real regret is that I won't be able to give him the cards. That would have been a cool thing to do. But what's even cooler is giving him a yard to play in.

Maybe when he's older, he'll catch the bug. Of course, the first thing he'll probably ask is, Jeez, why'd you sell all those great cards?

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie

1) because my family or I need the money for something MORE IMPORTANT.

2) To get money to acquire cards that I think are MORE IMPORTANT than the cards I'm selling.

[Archive]

Posted By: Rhys

I have had to sell off the majority of my collection over the last three years to buy a house, have two children, and attend Law School. Now that school is just about over ( I graduate Law School in 3 weeks) I am looking forward to rebuilding my collection with increased finances. It is almost like being able to start all over again and I think it will be more fun than it was 3 years ago when my collection was worth nearly six figures. Even though I will never be able to buy items for the prices I was finding them for 10 years ago, I can now start buying things with the sole intention of keeping them for me, and passing them on to my sons, without having to worry so much about resale value and money. Like others have said here on the board, selling my first cards from my "personal collection" was really hard. It was a couple of Yum Yum's, some uncatlogued Gypsy Queens and five SF Hess cards. However, once that painful event was behind me, selling the rest of them was actually very easy. While you may not be able to replace the EXACT cards you sold, I promise you will find almost all of them again at some point in time and even though vintage cards are going up in value, they are going up on a daily rate like the high interest on credit cards are. My conclusion is that selling the cards was a really good decision for me at the point in my life in which I sold them, and it will eventually allow me to buy more cards in the future.

Rhys
Prewarsports

[Archive]

Posted By: Steve Dawson

I sold nearly all my cards in 1991. I had just returned to the States after 2 years stationed in Germany, and I needed to buy a car and furnish an apartment. I also had gotten burned out by the overproduction of cards over the previous few years. The only cards I kept were my Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, and San Diego cards.

Then a couple of years ago, I got the bug again and started back up with the pre-war cards.


Steve

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I think incarnation of my collecting better than the first. Even though I owned many great cards, I was only limited by ability to find cards. Now that I am on a limited bbudget, I find the collecting much more challenging and rewarding. When I get a rare or valuable card, I feel like I've really accomplished something, even though that card may only be in F-G condition.

Jay

I like to sit outside drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott Elkins

Collecting vintage cards DOES seem much more fun the second time around! In fact, I am in the process of narrowing down my collection, in order to have more money for the cards I really want when they come up for sale and to make offers on cards I need.

I guess in my situation, there were several factors that ended my collecting days the first time - the biggest being a terrible back/hip injury. Looks like I am finally going to have surgery this year and I have my finances in much better condition to collect as well.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Certainly selling your collection, or part of it because you have to is something that many face who have noteworthy value in cards.

I have not sold or traded any cards which I wanted. And I wouldn't unless I had to.

Do you have to? It doesn't sound like it.