priorities
 

I am curious what folks priorities are. Lets say for instance you collect rookie HOF signed cards and you have the chance to either get 10 you need at $500 each (assume it is a fair price) or one very rare one you need at $5000 (assume it is a fair price) that you might never see again. Some of the 10 might be hard to find again too. And this assumes you have $5000 earmarked to spend on signed cards. Which deal are you most likely to do?
In the past I would have picked the 10 cards- now I think I maybe should have gotten the 1 pricey one. this is hypothetical but your insights are welcome

I've gone both ways on this one. IMO, the better move is to get the one rare high priced item.

I agree. I will always take the "rare" one

As it apply's to me I'd will say:

I would rather have 10 - $500 cards than 100 - $50 cards. Just a single 5k item does not a collection make.

As for autos I just don't trust the idea of collecting that from ANY second party. So if a didn't get it myself and it was signed in front of me, I will never own it.

Enjoy collecting for the pleasure not the money. But to each their own.

My 2 cents.

I'd buy the one, ten times out of ten times.

It's too bad, then, that 99.99% of recorded history took place before you were born.

Yep, I'm fine with that.

Here's just one of many reasons. In my family is one of those Sinclair Oil contest Babe Ruth signed baseball. Which we know to be signed by his secretary or wife. I was not a popular person the day I told my family it was a fake. Some still don't want to accept it, becouse it came from a great uncle so it has to be real.

Yup... I'd get bored pretty quick as an autograph collector if I was limited to only living people I met myself. But, to each his own.

It's unfortunate that people get scared off, because despite all the negative attention, if you are patient, do your homework and network wisely, you can build an autograph collection that is rock solid.

Yes, there is risk in ANY hobby where dollars change hands and all autograph collectors get burned on occasion. That is the price of the hobby. Just like counterfeit coins, doctored cards, and restored/trimmed comics are the prices of those hobbies.

I have really enjoyed collecting one item at a time. The biggest item on my list is a Mathewson handwritten letter, but I would much rather have all the less expensive ones that I could get for the same money. Matty will probably be a late-life pick-up for me.

I would actually go with the 100 - $50 cards. Only having a few cards doesn't make for much of a collection and it has never been about the money for me. That goes for both cards and autographs.

I hate to say it, but I think I am (generally) at the opposite end of the spectrum than Mike. The 10 items @ $500 a pop fits more closely my priority of obtaining as many of the names on my want list (at reasonable prices), versus a much more expensive name on that list. That said, the less expensive (obscure) items on my want list are not often available. So when an decent, expensive item makes itself available, I have to give it some seriously consideration. And for me, there is definitely a different degree of pride and accomplishment that comes from obtaining an expensive, show-piece item, versus a less expensive, obscure ballplayer autograph item. So I guess both strategies have a place in my collecting pursuit.