A Strategy Change?
 

Since August of 2012, I have been on a single-minded goal to complete a Post-War run. Early on, I bought sets at a time. Over the last 3-4 years, as I have gotten into the more expensive sets of the 50's, it has slowed down (although gotten more expensive). I am finally down to 3 - 49 & 51 Bowman, and 52 Topps. Give the cost of the big 2 in '51 and the heavy financial commitment to 52 Topps, it could be another 5-7 years to get them all done.

I really love my sets and look at them on occasion (although not as much in the last couple of years). My 56 set is my favorite because I collected it card by card. I am proud of the fact that I have all of the HOFers from 54-56 Topps in at least PSA 6.

However, they do end up taking up a lot o room and there are a lot of binders in the safe.

I have been thinking about perhaps changing my collecting strategy and using the proceeds from a liquidation to purchase a hand full of really nice, mount rushmore type cards. These are ones that I would be happy to own and in the case of my eventual demise, it would be much easier for my heirs to liquidate.

Where I am struggling is the fact that I enjoy my cards so much and have so much passion in energy in their pursuit. My kids like them, but I don't think that they share my same fire and would probably end up selling them off. If that is the case, I would rather do it since I am much more knowledgeable of their value. I would turn all proceeds back into a much more focused and smaller collection, but I am not excited about losing value in the transaction as I would pay sales tax again on the smaller collection that I would turn around and get.

I would then have to go through the effort and energy of dealing with auction houses and getting them sent off. I know what I have and don't plan on selling them off at 70 cents on the dollar, so I might just stay the course, but I am not sure what the eventual end game is.

Has anyone gone this route before? Was it hard to part with the sets that you had spent so much time, energy, and money completing? Did you go with an auction house? How long did it take to get through the process? Did you feel like you got fair value?

I'm in my late 40's so I feel that I still have plenty of time. It might also be the overwhelming feeling of knowing how much money and energy that I will have to put into 51 Bowman and 52 Topps and if I break it down into smaller bites, it might not seem so overwhelming.

I'll figure it out - was just looking for any feedback from anyone who went through this same process in their collecting lifecycle.

You read my mind. I just turned 40 and have a lot of nice blue chip cards, but I'm thinking about liquidating pretty much everything in lieu of a 52 Topps Mantle in the highest grade I can get. The only set I have any attachment to is a mint '68 set. Other than that, I think I could sell the rest without any trepidation.

If anyone with a graded 52T Mantle want to trade for high end high grade rookies of Lebron, Brady, Trout, etc., let me know.

I would consider splitting the difference. At this point you've probably got some sets that you're thinking "why did I bother" and others, like your '56, that are your favorites. If you sell off just a smaller portion of your sets, then you won't lose as much value (but you'll also feel like you've done something to get a little closer to the mount rushmore cards).

Then again, I'm biased because that's the way I want my collection to end up (in my mid 40s). A combination of my most desired sets and the best cadillac superstar cards I'm interested in.

If you do decide to part with the '54 set, I might be interested. Pittsburgh area here as well

Strat
 

I clearly see your point

Over the many years of collecting..Ive gone back and forth

did the vintage compl sets...got tired of wasting time and money on no name commons.

switched to pre war HOFers ... got tired of old players that I couldn't connect with

switched to 50s60s - enjoyed that for a while, then got tired of that too

Now enjoy collecting stuff that some would say is ( silly/stupid ) massive amounts of 64 T standups, 68 T game cards, 71 T coins,

Best idea is collect what you enjoy

To me, it sounds like you aren't yet willing to make the change of strategy.

Although I agree with a previous post, maybe try selling one set first, and see if it feels like something you could do again. If it feels wrong, then wait a few more years and try again. If it felt fine selling it, sell another one.

Thanks for all of the feedback.

I saw some really good suggestions. I have thought about selling a set or two. My fundamental problem is that I am (by the nature of the set run) a completionist. So, if I sell a couple, I will have gaps in the run and it will be time to either liquidate them all or buy the sets back that I sold.

I'll probably just put everything on hold until the middle of next year. I won't actively look to upgrade or add anything - but I won't move anything either. Perhaps this feeling will pass and I'll get the energy to finish strong with the final three. Then, I can keep adding on after that (playball, Delong, Goudy, Tattoo Oribits, etc). We will see. It has been such an intense quest for a pretty good length of time, that I never really thought about what I would do once I got there.

Kevin I have sold some of my sets before and have wound up regretting it each time. It is probably different for each of us but when I put a set together it becomes part of my collecting family. The good thing about cards, especially post war cards is that you can always replace them!

Great post. I'm kind of in between too.

I've built some older sets, but I wound up selling them off. It was frustrating to build because a couple took more than a year to build. But I built it card by card starting with 1 single pick up. And I regret selling them off now.

When I think about set building, I don't want to spend a year chasing down cards for the set. Especially if they're commons. Also, are complete sets going to be worth anything really down the road? I mean are people going to want to be stuck with useless commons? I know stars/HOFers will be worth and will continue to go up in value. But what about commons?

What I am thinking about doing is maybe picking one or two of my all time favorite sets and building those in really nice shape. In my case, it'd be 1957 Topps and then either 1961 Topps, 1962 Topps or 1975 Topps (my birth year).

Then with the rest of my money/time/effort/energy buying up mid grade HOFer vintage, HOFer RCs and pre-war stuff. I think those will retain value moreso than complete sets, especially if they're graded. That means I'd actually have to start dealing in graded, which I'm not keen on doing. But I would do it if it means it'd be easier for my loved ones to move once I am gone.

Or am I mistaken?

The market for post ww2 to 1975 complete sets still seems fine to me; I doubt their popularity will ever go out of style (plenty of people will always love the thought of looking through every card of something). Especially in those binders I loathe. Anyway.....

Set building vs just buying it complete can be such a catch 22 for that era. Despite the fun of building one, naturally it usually ends up being the more expensive option. First the high demand for the superstar cards (especially Mays/Jackie Rob/Mantle) makes it a challenge to get all those reasonably. Then even the cost of '50s and '60s commons/minor stars will add up more than you expect, cause before long you just can't get those discounted large lots of commons for a particular set (after you get one of those, too many duplicates will start happening), and then you have to find the rest of the commons one by one and pay 40-60% of BV for the grade that way.

BUT if you buy the set, you know how it often goes with the cadillac cards. The more key they are, the more likely that early Mantle or Aaron rookie happens to be 1.5-2 grades less than everything else.

It's picking your poison. I try to wait for the rare complete set opp where you can have your cake and eat it too (managed to find that with my '55 Topps), but those don't come along too often

cards
 

I had a collecting pal that started building sets with ONLY the major stars... It was quite enjoyable going thru his albums....sets from the 50s/60s..with only about 4 or 5 nine pocket sheets.....and nothing but stars ....very pleasing to the eyes

I didn't have as much as you, but I eventually got to the same place. I had a nice 1953 and 1954 Topps set. I kept the few cards that I wanted and sold off the rest and used the proceeds to purchase other significant star cards that I wanted. I think I am still a set builder at heart but have zero desire to sink such huge sums of money into a vintage set.

I am a child of the 80s, and I never saw any of the vintage guys play. Consequently, my desire and passion for it has waned after 30 years of collecting. I never thought it would happen. I am still a massive baseball fan (go Cards!) and have focused on cards from the 80s and...gasp... modern cards. I relate to these guys, and my collecting dollar goes much further. I am having real FUN for the first time in forever. Do what YOU like.

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I can say I'm in a similar boat. I'm a set collector and a completionist. I have every Topps, Bowman, Fleer, Donruss and Upper Deck set full run ( Dave for 52 Topps High #s and an incomplete 48 Bowman)

These days I've resorted to odd ball set runs (Kellogg's 1970-1983, Hostess 75-79) Red Man etc.)

With the challenge of complete set runs pretty much done I've toyed with dumping everything and picking up key cards like a 52 Topps Mantle, a 33 Goudey Ruth, T206 Cobb etc. I figure that way, when I'm gone my family won't have to hassle with selling sets and can easily liquidate a few key cards.

My only problem is... I'm not sure I'm done having my set run yet.

I'm not sure what it will take before I finally make a decision.