[kailes2872]

It might be because I tend to always buy at the top of the market, but I wouldn't make the baseball card collection the investment. A 529 or UTMA that you are comfortable with and you can invest in consistently, be emotionally detached from, and watch grow over time... but I know, that is boring.

If you are buying at VCP, you are looking at having to have a 13-20% return just to break even between fees, BP (assuming that the price is depressed to take that into account), shipping, etc.

I got back into this 5+ years ago and have put probably 100k into my collection in that time. If I had to liquidate, I am guessing that I could get 70-75k on a good day. My first offer would probably be 50-60k as a wholesale offer and that is with nearly 40k worth of slabbed cards that should be a commodity asset. Every day that I continue to collect and buy I go more into the hole on the net spread between what I have into it and what I will get out of it.

Once I accepted that my collection is a "toy" that I get positive utility from, then I was fine with it. I have my investments on the side and that will pay for college, retirement, inheritance, etc. My collection will be a gift for my kids that I hope they have the same passion for, but if they decide to sell it, I'll never know the bath that they take.

In summary, I love to collect and I really love to share the collection with my kids. But, the best way to make a small fortune on a collection (one that you buy now, not one that was accumulated 50 years ago), is to start with a large fortune and keep buying.

Best of luck to you.