When to Sell ...
 

Recently I have reached the conclusion that I have no one that would be interested in taking over my collection. I still enjoy collecting but I am starting to wonder about the fate of my cards when my number is called.

Another thing I worry about is the age of the collecting community in general. I am sorry if this offends anyone but I often feel we are a diminishing group and it concerns me that in possibly another generation or so there will be little interest in our cardboard commodities.

Lastly, is it best to make a clean break and sell everything or sell piece by piece? If anyone has gone either route (and still reads these boards) I would value your opinion greatly.

Any comments or guidance would be appreciated here.

Thank you in advance for your time and contributions.

Well if I were going to sell my collection... I would sell the stuff I cared the least about first... And keep my favorites as long as possible.

I have already had one bout with cancer, and I will be 63 soon. Single, with 1 daughter who hates baseball and doesn't know a t card from a tea cup.
I have sold off most of my collection. When I kick I want everything to go to her in the easiest way.

Sell it little by little. This is what I did.

I had over 100 Bobbers 1960 versions, included Mantle, Mantle Mini and Maris, never got the Clemente, sold them

I had the complete set of original Hartlands and all the 1990 versions sold all of them except the Cobb.

I had 30-40 Hartland Westerns sold them too.

I had 50-60 Hartland Religious sold

I had complete sets of cards 1967 through 1985 sold them through auctions.

Sold a complete set of T207 Tigers.

Sold near set of Glendale Tigers including Houtteman

Sold a complete run of Detroit Tigers Yearbooks 1954 thru 1990.

Sold complete run of Detroit Tigers World Series programs 1934 thru 1984

Sold complete run of Detroit AS Game Programs.

Still have some nice pieces

I loved all the items that I solds and can tell you where most were purchased or traded for.

Main collectible interest is 19th Century Detroit Players.

I still have pictures of sold items

You will know when to sell.

Joe

.....I should add, sell when you can, not when you have to.

I've seen this question asked on here before. The best response I saw was something along the lines of:
-Sell the small stuff first, and hang onto the more valuable ones.
-Then print out clear instructions for what to do with the cards that you keep
-Have a list of the cards you have, as well as approximate values
-Include instructions on who to contact to help sell them (for example, "contact Xxxxxx at Yyyyyy Auction house, and tell him you want to consign these cards)
-Having the cards you keep graded, will make it easier for someone who is unfamiliar with the hobby to sell them

I also wonder about the future of the hobby. I'm 31, and I'm not sure how many collectors will be around 40 years from now. I'm ok with it either way. If prices collapse, then I can start working on a e107 set :D

Been waitin 40 years for the bottom to drop out as I still need to put together a T206 Set. As for when I check out - they're goin into the box with me. That way we'll all be encapsulated.

There are a bunch of factors to consider. How extensive is your collection? Does it include more higher dollar items? Or is the value in quantity versus quality? Do you have the make-up to sell it for the best price, piece by piece? Do you have a spouse that understands the hobby at all? Will the profits realized (or not) change the lifestyle of the person who might inherit your collection? The list goes on. This is not a simple cookie cutter situation. One size DOES NOT fit all.

I am presently working on what amounts to my third collection. My first go-round, I sold my collection in one fell swoop. I did it to finance a marriage and a sailboat back at the start of the 1980's. (The sailboat is gone but I still have the wife:D). I sold in a single transaction because I worried about getting part way finished and having seller's remorse. I sacrificed total profit for ease of "gettin' it done".

In part, my first collection is why I took thirty years to get back in the hobby. I always feared the anguish of retracing my steps. When I finally started collection #2, I blew through the Bowman/Pre-1970 Topps world and amassed a 90%-plus pile in a couple years (Except for those damn '52 Topps:eek:). I originally joined this board while still working on Post-War. Being exposed to the crazy-good collections here, I made the decision to sell collection #2 for the sake of down-sizing and a new addiction to chasing the Monster (Damn you, Frank!:p) This time, after fielding offers for a single transaction, I decided to sell the collection right here on the BST, individually-ish. The return was substantially more than I was offered for a bulk sale, over 100% more. In the spring of 2013, I lost a fat month of my life PM-ing, negotiating, scanning, setting up BST threads, maintaining them, putting orders together, packaging them and getting on a first name basis with the folks at the local Post Office. It was a lot of work. I was lucky in that my wife jumped in to help. I HAVE been informed that she will not do that again.:D

My third (and final?) collection consists of less volume. I have maybe one-twentieth of the cards that I had at this time last year. I just turned 55 this past weekend, so I hope there is no rush, but it is my hope to splash around in the hobby for a few years until retirement and then start thinning the herd. My emergency plan, should "space junk" fall from the sky and take me out, involves an auction house. I just have to dodge the falling junk until I decide which one:D

So, as you can see, more than one avenue is open. Unless you are under the gun, think about it a bit. Good Collecting.

I like this attitude, fire selling your collection sucks. If I were to drop, Al at LOTG would get a rather consignment afterwards.

I agree David and Steven.

David, hope your bout resolved and no further problems with that. My daughters dont have interest either though one now likes baseball.

My collection would also go to an auction house.

Like idea above of keeping everything set up and easy for the family in case something unexpected were to occur.

good info!

When selling a set to get maximum value is it a good rule of thumb to sell the cards individually instead of the set as a whole?

A lot of it probably depends on the size and value of the set.

Its fair to say that in a few years no one will be left in the collecting community who ever saw Walter Johnson pitch or Ty Cobb steal a base. I am nearly 60 and was fortunate enough to see Mays, Mantle, Koufax, Clemente et al. I collect them but the majority of my collection is of players who were active before my father was born. I BST with collectors of T206s who range in age from under 20 to over 80. While baseball is no longer the most "popular" sport in America, our population has nearly doubled since I was born and I would venture a guess that there are more baseball fans than ever. So, I can't agree with the premise that collectors are a diminishing group. That being said, I have always kept detailed notes on my collection including instructions to my family as to where the items can be sold. It doesn't hurt that I am just down the hill from REA.

I think I keep a fairly close ear to the ground concerning our hobby. What I see is it becoming more competitive and prices aren't going down. Each auction I track doesn't seem to have very many great deals. I think when we step back and think of what we do as collecting antiques with a baseball emphasis, it seems even more long term.

Sssssshhhh! Leon, let those who think the hobby is on life support continue to think that. If enough sell their collections we MIGHT find a bargain or two.:D

I completely agree with this.

There are a couple current posts on this forum and the Post War forum where I was amazed actually how young a lot of folks are here. I also do not subscribe to the fact that you had to see players to collect/worship them. My 8 year old son has 4 favorite players - Jackie Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Babe Ruth, and Nolan Ryan. My 16 year old daughter's boyfriend is obsessed with Nolan Ryan and he was retired before he was born. Legends are legends, and with all the technology (youtube, ect) younger kids are seeing these legends far more than I was able to do when I was a kid. My sons favorite youtube is a Mantle vs. Killebrew Home Run Derby show. I can also guarantee he has seem more footage of Babe Ruth than ANY kid from the 50s & 60s growing up ever did.


Part of the allure when I got back into the hobby 5-6 years ago was the great deals I was finding on the vintage I couldn't afford as a teenager/twentysomething. As someone mentioned earlier...the good deals are getting harder, and harder to find...there too many dudes like me coming back and I now have to compete with them!!

Boca...a good chunk of those are in a well loved good home!:D

I could tell that when I sold them to you, John. I am glad! You did buy one or two.:D. or eleventy two.

My feeling is that if you enjoy your cards and you don't need to sell, keep them and don't worry about it, other than to leave instructions for your executor as to where to go to liquidate.

That said, I have been contemplating this issue a lot lately as I need to raise some cash for my child's college [she's 15 now] and some cards will have to go to cover it. I also got pretty sick around the end of last year and had to go through some hospital 'fun'. It helped put all of this into perspective. It is all just stuff...really it is. I sometimes get too obsessed with winning, amassing, collecting. Sometimes I need to be reminded that the collection doesn't own me, I own it. I think maybe I'll put a little less energy into collecting and a little more into doing things.

Emotionally, deciding to sell some or all of a beloved collection is a lot like coming to terms with an impending death. One of the first things a very astute friend/auctioneer asked me was whether I had come to terms with the decision itself. I love the scene in All That Jazz where the comedian riffs on Kubler-Ross’s breakdown of the five stages of death:

“This chick, man, without the benefit of dying herself, has broken down the process of dying into five stages: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Sounds like a Jewish law firm. 'Good morning, Angerdenialbargainingdepressionacceptance!'”

I found myself going back and forth through these feelings. Denial was first for me. I kept thinking--honestly thinking--that the money thing would somehow just work out. Then, when I realized that the math was inexorable, I was so pissed off that I had to sell my collection ... the tantrum happens. Closely followed by depression. I heard that depression is rage turned inwards, and that makes a lot of sense to me that I would mope around for a while after fuming. I was soooo pissed about having to sell that the reality of it just bummed me out completely. The bargaining was really interesting because it took the form of triage. The math is part of the bargain: a slow bleed, selectively done, maximizing my returns on each item. I can live with that.

I’ve never been a ‘own ten top flight cards and nothing else’ kind of collector, yet I’ve also never fallen into the completist category. In other words, I have a big-ass pile of stuff that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being sold in neat groupings. For me, the first step in the process of really coming to terms with liquidating was dividing the collection into three groups: Items I really like and want to keep collecting, items I think are a good investment to hold, and everything else.

One thing I've done is get rid of the slabs. Over the last few years I’ve picked up three or four smallish accumulations of postwar cards from various non-collectors. In sorting out the materials and comparing them to what I already had, I realized that I am just as happy having lower grade cards as higher grade cards. My first plan was to liquidate all of the higher grade slabbed mainstream postwar cards and replace them with lower grade raw cards. I’ve been doing that and it has been pain-free; in fact, the rule I made for myself is that when I sell one I pick up a replacement, so it has been actually a bit of a gas to see how much I can get for the slabbed card and how little I can roll over into the raw card.

Just this summer I found a local brick and mortar shop in Roseville, Ca. Not really a shop, but more of a warehouse that sold all different types of cards savers on eBay. I needed those small t206 card savers to fit into one of those wood boxes that are being sold here on Net54. So I stopped by to check them out. They are mostly selling new packs, boxes, materials and other junk the sports card companies are pushing on them.

I took my teenage son and chatted with the owner for awhile about cards, the industry and how he was the only place in town. As we were leaving he gave my son an upper deck promotional hockey jersey to wear. Made my sons day. About a week later I dropped off 80,000 cards to this shop for $500. This was my collection that started in 1978 as a 9 year old. My wife was pleasantly surprised as she inherited lots of closet space and I really have not had any remorse. I thought about selling the cards and sets on eBay but with all the time, trips to the post office, cost of eBay/paypal, etc. I just decided to give this shop a huge inventory boost at a really low price. Within those cards were a run of topps complete sets from 1978-2010, near complete from 74, 76, and so many cards from fleer, upper deck and donruss, that I sorted for hours as a kid and as an adult.

My collection now consists of only three things and I am deciding if I should narrow it down to only one or two of them. I have a 1976 topps complete set that has over 300 of the cards signed, a low grade t206 partial set of about 150 cards, and finally a topps 40 years of baseball coffee table book that has over 650 autographs in it.

My 3 teenage boys have no interest in cards or autographs so I don't see handing it down to them. Also, to keep all 3 of the collections moving gets expensive. None of the autographed cards will hold their value, and the book will never return the amount I have paid in tickets to autograph shows, but the old t206's, that I believe is another story.

As soon as t206's take a major price drop, I will be there to gobble them up. I just don't see it. It is getting harder and harder to find low grade cards, such as Cobb, Young, and Mathewson at a reasonable price. Since I have started this set a year and a half ago, it seems like more people have joined this board with the same intentions.

Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble.

Stew

I am praying for your continued health.

Mahalo, Scott! I'm an atheist but I appreciate the thought.

Yea, I would not worry about the next generation. I am only 16, but I collect T206's and other T's ( I have about 40 T206s). I think that vintage cards will always hold great value because they don't only hold value to card collectors, but even to antique and art collectors. Many of the card collectors my age collect modern cards, but I see a big drop in their value in the future due to mass production, so I think those modern collectors might switch tracks toward vintage cards. Worst case scenario I am wrong, but then I can actually afford to buy some of those HOFers!

Jarrett

Love it
 

Stew, your story made my night. Very cool what you did. Karma police smiling on you for sure. :)

This makes me think of one of my favorite quotes "eventually the things you own can begin to own you."

I almost sold my entire collection when my wife was diagnosed with cancer in her late 20's last year. To make it short I'm really glad I didn't and she is as well. Continuing to collect has been kind of a good distraction/therapy for us.