Keep it or break it?
 

On the heels of Barry's insanely cool CJ completion, I was wondering what other set builders do once their done with a significant set. Do you keep it and take a break to financially reload or do you typically sell it off eventually to finance your next endeavor. Whenever I finish a set I always tell myself I'll keep it forever, though I have never held onto one for more than 5 years.....

Excellent topic. I am buying display cases as I put together the 206 set, and although its going to take 10 cases to display the entire set .... that's my goal.

I would like to think that I will keep it forever (and I probably will) .... but I could definitely see myself enjoying it for a couple/few years and thinking "Dang, do you know what kind of stuff you could fund if you sold all this?" :D

Keep it because of all the work to put a set together

Right now, I am selling of completed sets to fund my next endeavors (or to try to complete existing ones). If I had enough capital available where I could keep my sets and start/complete new ones, I would probably do that. Since I don't, something has to go.

If i finish the T205 set im keeping if forever - passing it to my son before i get too old, lol

Unless you have a very high rated set or something, breaking a set is normally the way to maximize profits. There are exceptions, but not many....but it is an emotional decision to break a set you took a long time assembling. It is also a lot more work to sell portions of many sets than it is to sell them in a hunk.

If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I would expect my family to sell my T206 set as a unit...and the person who buys it will break it up. The thrill of these things is in the assembly of it.

BTW, I hope my son may get interested in a T206 set, but if so, i hope he gets the joy I have gotten by building it.

I never really gave much thought to the heirloom aspect myself, only having a daughter who couldn't care less. I guess there's always grandkids.....

I keep everything I buy. So far even my duplicates. That needs to change. All my cards will go to my son. He goes through all my new ones every time he comes over. He loves the old stuff. He just cant afford much since he is in collage and broke most of the time. If I show up dead sometime unexpectedly, you will know who to look at first. :eek:

I've finished and sold off the 1954 Topps set three times [and counting]. I get bored after a while and start thinking about other projects. Besides, it's just cards, not my kid or my dog. Any card I have is for sale for the right price. Like John Lennon said "You don't take nothin' with you but your soul."

Can't take it with me, but I'll love it for now
 

While I agree with Adam that you certainly can't take it with you, I prefer to enjoy my cards while I'm here. As a fellow associate and collector in my former law firm and I once agreed, the card connects you to the player and takes you back to the time. They are really footprints from the time of the players' youth, when they strode boldly across the playing fields with indominatable vigor, with limitless horizons in front of them (especially the stars and HOF'ers, which I collect). The history of the game, which you can hold right in your hand, an instant image of the player's life, there to be held and enjoyed (by someone) forever[?].

Bottom line is, other than cards like the '84 Star Michael Jordon rookie, which I was buying in '91 and '92 for $1,000, and selling for $3,000 in '93-'94, or the '82 Topps Traded Cal Ripken, which I was buying in '94 for $80-$100 and selling for $150-$200 in '95, I only sell cards in the advent of a financial emergency. I've been a baseball fanatic (plus player, at multiple levels) since I was about 11, and now, at 60, don't intend to stop anytime soon unless forced to do so.

But to each his own--Happy collecting,

Larry

Oh, don't get me wrong, Larry, I really enjoy collecting and I'm not saying I am going to stop collecting or liquidate, just that I don't consider my collection to be sacrosanct, throw it in the box with me, stuff. My price would be way, way up there but come up with enough cash and I will not only sell you my collection, I'll help you load it in your car.