Has anyone here bailed on their post-war cards to fund a pre-war collection?
 

I'm assuming most folks here collected during the 50s onward and was wondering how many of you bailed on those cards to fund your pre-war buys? How did you do it? Trade? One big sale or bit by bit? Any regrets, i.e. did you have buy back these cards you sold at a later date? Tell your story if you don't mind

I know exactly what you mean
 

About ten years I began selling off my postwar stuff to fund prewar purchases; basically I did it set by set. I would say that was better than trying to sell it all in one huge go.

I still have a few postwar sets or near-sets, mainly 1953 Bowman, which I have considered selling but haven't done it yet.

I hate to get rid of any cards, but I did it by telling myself I could always build those postwar sets again anytime I wanted to, which is still true, and maybe now for less than I sold them for, so I don't think it was a bad decision at the time. Now, with postwar values iffy as I understand, it might be a little trickier time to sell...
Tim

Yes,bit by bit. Regrets,yes I've had a few but its been a very good year.

HOF'ers
 

I used to do the "rookie card HOF'er" thing. Then it didn't interest me any more and I sold them off (many 50's-60's) and have happily been a type card collector ever since....which is maybe 10 yrs ago. They were sold card by card...no regrets at all. If I wanted to I could go buy every single one of them (not the exact card) back again, today. :)

I once sold off everything post 55 including a 65 set and all the key RCs all the way up through Clemens (ebay mostly) but gradually added back a few select cards up through 65 (a sentimental favorite). I would have had a much harder time selling off the early 50s cards which are among the greatest ever produced.

I'm at a point where I am comtemplating doing just that
 

I have complete sets of Topps from 1972 to 2009. Since 1984, they have been a gift from my mother every year for Christmas. But honestly, I just don't care as much about the "modern" player, and have even made some basic contacts about consigning to an auction to sell them all at once, which I think would be easier than year by year on eBay or anything. But I've not figured out how to break the news to my mother ):-/

I didn't have complete sets, just single cards from 50's and 60's that I traded off for T206's,,,,,,,and am very happy I did.

Clayton

When I was a kid waaaay back in 1992 I swore I would buy any cards made after 1976. Although I did accumulate crap, I have set the bar at keeping nothing after 1955

I sold off many of my 1954-1965 sets to buy pre-war cards. I did it set by set. I've since re-purchased the 55 Bowman set, a personal favorite and bought some of the HOFers in the 1956-1961 sets in slabs. Like Tim, I felt I could always get those postwar sets again if the mood struck but many of the prewar cards and sets are too tough not to strike while the iron was hot.

Not specifically. I've sold off a bunch of duplicates of modern stuff, and the money usually gets spent on something more interesting. No regrets yet on the modern stuff I've sold which was mostly junk.

I did sell a 48 Bowman set I built to help finance a ski trip back in maybe 86.
Not much of a set, Musial had paper loss, Berra had been partly colorized - yellow uniform- and a couple other cards had been waxed and used for flipping so much they were round. Oddly, I still regret selling it.

Steve B

I would definitely part with most of my postwar cards if the price was right. I've tried a few times to wholesale a lot of them through dealers but for what I was offered I'd rather just keep them. I have gotten rid of some of them via auction consignments but that too has been a break-even proposition at best given commission rates. I do not have the stomach to sell them individually on fleabay--not worth going through that many hassles to lose money...

In the last few years I've sold off most of my 70s and 80s sets on ebay. Used the proceeds on a few pre-war purchases and have no regrets.

The sets were just collecting dust and taking up space. Now I have more storage room for other stuff.

I got some really good prices on my postwar 50's and 60's sets on ebay a few years ago, at the current time I don't know that I would try it again on ebay with a minimum of $99.99 for EXMT sets. Might be brutal. :eek: