Vintage card withdrawal

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Posted By: Darren

How long CAN you go without purchasing old cardboard before you get anxious?

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Posted By: Jason L

on the grounds that it may incriminate me...

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Posted By: John S

If I go more than two weeks without receiving something in the mail I start to get anxious...kind of pitiful but I guess it is better than being hooked on crack.

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Posted By: Dave

I like to grab a low common T206 at least weekly...if I get ahead of myself and grab more however usually have to part with something else.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

haha, funny post...but it is true, after going a few weeks and not having a new "toy" to play with, i do get a bit antsy...

i am addicted to bidding-on & buying vintage cardboard (be it tobacco cards or old world series ticket stubs)...

MVS

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Posted By: Joe D.

I can't answer this one.... could get me in trouble.


I will say this....
years ago I had the buy and hold mentality.

Now, I don't mind cycling through stuff... buying --- holding for a little while --- and selling to buy new stuff.

Maximize the number of items I get to own, not the number of days I get to own them.

I should be keeping good scans for a virtual collection (which I have not been doing).



Anyway... that all leads to one thing... the length of time I CAN or HAVE TO go without purchasing is shortened.

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Posted By: Jeff

I definitely go through withdrawal after about a week.

What I find funny is that I began collecting cards (again) as I was quitting smoking....needed something to occupy myself with.

What I didn't realize is that I may have been better off with the smoking. I just traded one addition for another, and man oh man, is smoking ever cheaper!!

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Posted By: jay berhens

I go months without purchasing a card. This doesn't mean it's fun or easy, but it's the only way I can afford to buy cards in the $250+ territory. My monthly budget for cards is less than $100 per month.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: JK

Jeff,

I realize your post was half in jest, but look at it this way - while card collecting is a more expensive habit, it provides much greater returns on your investment.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

cardus interruptus

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Posted By: Mike

I try very hard to stick to areas that interest me,,,,but there is just so many great, and rare things floating around, I doubt i could go two or three weeks without finding something I just "have to" have. I just won a W502 Foxx on E bay. it should grade out a 4 or 5. Only $225. Now to me, that was a great Christmas gift to myself.....I am an addict...but please don't come barging in and trying to conduct an intervention for me....it would do no good.

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Posted By: Brett

If i could get an e98 Cobb, i wouldn't buy any cards for a couple of months

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Posted By: John S

Brett,

I tell myself that all the time...if I get a certain card I am going to take a break for a period of time. It never happens.

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Posted By: Dave Williams

I'm currently on EBAY restriction (self imposed)......

I'm not going to buy anything more until after Christmas, and it's just killing me, but I've got to buy the wife something, so the card budget is going to her present.

Other than that I buy something about once a week or more, but most of my purchases are under $50.

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Posted By: Cat

I have kept track of my purchases (and sells) in 2006. I went form June 6th to October 2nd without a material purchase. That's a looonnnggg time for me. My biggest issue is pulling the trigger on selling a card. I need to get my collection far more "focused" and just can't bring myself to sell the cards that "really don't belong."

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Posted By: John Kalafarski

I'm always kicking the tires on cards, and when I have the money it's a lot of fun to look at things that I know I could buy. I try to be patient and wait for cards I really want, but that sometimes puts my hobby at a standstill. Then I get itchy, especially when I go to shows--I just have to get something.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i got a new sharp aquos flat screen TV tonight...so i have to do without some cardboard for the next week or two...or at least until the reading show...

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Posted By: peter chao

In the SF Bay Area there are a lot fewer baseball card shows nowadays. There are some dealers I buy from all the time and have a good rapport with them...sometimes at a show if they didn't bring particularly interesting cards and I don't buy from them I feel pretty darn guilty. Hey what can I say, sometimes it's plain fun to talk baseball and baseball cards with some people.

Peter

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Posted By: Lee

I went 8 years without buying a single card, autograph, or anything baseball. I found other things to occupy my time such as restoring a car, college, ect. I started back to collecting last July with a purchase on eBay of a T206 PSA 4 Johnny Evers; I was hooked again. I told myself i was just going to buy a few, this did not work. Now I can't go a week without buying a T206, CJ, autograph, or game used bat.

Lee

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Posted By: Craig H

I usually buy something once every month or month and a half. I spent way too much $$$ on old cards this year(with the National being in my backyard). I'd like to buy cheaper 1950's Topps cards just to satisfy my anxiety, but usually something old and pre-war will come up for sale and I'll end up bidding on it(and occasionally winning the item) which blows my budget for the rest of the month. I try not to have too many open Ebay purchases and other mail order purchases out at the same time because it gets hard to keep track of them. Getting them in the mail is always grand though.

Craig

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Posted By: barry arnold

Good question, Dr.Darren.
You're not a psychiatrist, are you?!
I've been 'limiting' myself to about 10 a month, so don't much about
withdrawal yet!

best,

barry

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Posted By: Dylan

How many of you also have other collectables your interested in that you have to budget and purchase on top of cards? I tried to branch into coins and even historical war memoribilia, and firearms but i dont have deep enough pockets to really pursue more then one collectables hobby seriously (wish I did!!)

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Posted By: barry arnold

Interesting question, Dylan.

Quite a while back, i decided to limit myself to T206's---i had been doing
t205's,t210's,t203's,and t206's.
This focused intentionality has helped me get very near to completing the
t206's with some measure of financial practicality intact.

I do have a 63 chevy impala that i still give a little 'love' at times, admittedly.

all the best,

barry

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Posted By: t206King

Dylan,
Other than cards i collect LP's. I;m trying to get all of Led Zeppelin's albums same with Floyd, Hendrix etc etc. I also try to finish my 1972 chevelle, but money for cards slows it down in the winter time lol... oh wells, trying for the e93s, going great! 22 so far!!!

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Posted By: Jeff Drum

Dylan,
At the same time as working on my card collection I have also been trying complete my run of Batman comics. I have every issue from #151 up through the current #730 and several from below #151. Also like 206king I am a car nut having restored/rebuilt a 1976 MGB and 1979 TR8 convertible. You can never have too many distractions from the monotony of work in my book!

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Posted By: Aaron Cowan

Now that I've graduate college and have my first job, I find myself constantly keeping an eye on eBay and the B/S/T. I've been making many purchases lately. However, I also have a second hobby...photography. This is just as expensive as card collecting. Fortunately, once you buy a camera, lenses, and tripod equipment you can take it easy, instead of always feeling the pull of purchasing more vintage cardboard. I enjoy both of my hobbies!


Aaron Cowan
acowan19@gmail.com

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Posted By: Mark

I would say if nothing arrives in a month - the itch
starts to grow; the Mrs. just doesn't understand.

Mark

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Posted By: peter chao

Mark,

My wife told me that my baseball cards were taking up too much space in the living room, I told her that if we got rid of the sofa there would be plenty of room...now that I think about it she didn't laugh at my joke. She gave me that, I got to be crazy type of look. Laugh out loud.

Peter