Have you ever wanted to just sell your Autograph collection?

[hawaiian bam bam]

hey guys,
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker and it got me to thinking.We were talking about my autograph collection and the conversation turned into whats going to happen to your collection in 30-40 years? and a you came into this world with nothing and you will leave this world with nothing conversation so why collect and spend money on autographs that you cant take with you. then i was looking at some threads about long time collectors in our hobby and also about people who have bought long time collections from the estates of collectors and it all got me to thinking. i wonder if i should sell everything in my collection as its all just possessions and material things? (im already selling of my doubles and cards/items i no longer want) but holding onto my favorite items. at first i was thinking about just handing down my items in 30-40 years to my children, but they dont have the passion in collecting autographs that i do. so i was thinking is is best to just sell of ones collection and enjoy the money now or best to just keep collecting autographs that will sit in boxes and albums for decades? have you ever gotten to a point where you wanted to just sell off your collection and be done with the hobby? i actually see both sides of the coin. one side says this has been my passion for almost 40 years! another side says why collect things that you cant take with you when you leave this earth (part of de cluttering ones life from earthly possessions) then i think, this is what ive loved all these decades it would be so strange not to collect, then i think, it would be really nice to just sell everything and enjoy the money now versus some other collector/person inheriting my collection and making money on it later! what are your guys thoughts on this subject? just wondering if others ever felt this way too? thanks

[HOF Auto Rookies]

All the time because of fakes etc and whether my passion was still in it


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[theshleps]

I agree with both of you (BTW if you live in Hawaii we should get together sometime). In some ways my collection controls my life but it is probably worth at least a few hundred thousand and to sell it would take the rest of my life unless I dumped it on an auction house. Just selling dupes and some of the thousands of signed cards of non HOFers over the past year- is just the tip of the iceberg. If someone handed me fair market value for the whole thing I would think about it seriously. Some of the joy is in the hunt and getting items I need is few and far between these days and prices on the items I need are way above what I am usually willing to pay.
The fakes are very depressing and even tho the vast majority of mine are fine- I would love to wake up one day and have all the ones that are not real just disappear. But I have met some great folks too and I am still addicted at 63.

[egri]

I haven't thought about selling off the whole thing. Bits and pieces I've lost interest in to pay for things I do want, yes, but unless something seriously goes haywire I'll hold on to it. I figure if my kids are interested in collecting, I can pass it down to them and if they aren't (or if I never have kids) I'll dump it on an auction house.

[jgmp123]

I struggle with this same decision all the time...I have downsized my HOF collection quite a bit to pick up more high end pieces that I enjoy more. Having 3 little girls (6, 4, 10 months), I have also shifted a focus to Presidents as another means of interest to them in the case that baseball isn't their cup of tea.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by jgmp123

I struggle with this same decision all the time...I have downsized my HOF collection quite a bit to pick up more high end pieces that I enjoy more. Having 3 little girls (6, 4, 10 months), I have also shifted a focus to Presidents as another means of interest to them in the case that baseball isn't their cup of tea.

the problem is when you try to sell them in most cases you will not get offered what you want and you realize that you enjoy collecting them as a hobby and not about money....

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by hawaiian bam bam

hey guys,
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker and it got me to thinking.We were talking about my autograph collection and the conversation turned into whats going to happen to your collection in 30-40 years? and a you came into this world with nothing and you will leave this world with nothing conversation so why collect and spend money on autographs that you cant take with you. then i was looking at some threads about long time collectors in our hobby and also about people who have bought long time collections from the estates of collectors and it all got me to thinking. i wonder if i should sell everything in my collection as its all just possessions and material things? (im already selling of my doubles and cards/items i no longer want) but holding onto my favorite items. at first i was thinking about just handing down my items in 30-40 years to my children, but they dont have the passion in collecting autographs that i do. so i was thinking is is best to just sell of ones collection and enjoy the money now or best to just keep collecting autographs that will sit in boxes and albums for decades? have you ever gotten to a point where you wanted to just sell off your collection and be done with the hobby? i actually see both sides of the coin. one side says this has been my passion for almost 40 years! another side says why collect things that you cant take with you when you leave this earth (part of de cluttering ones life from earthly possessions) then i think, this is what ive loved all these decades it would be so strange not to collect, then i think, it would be really nice to just sell everything and enjoy the money now versus some other collector/person inheriting my collection and making money on it later! what are your guys thoughts on this subject? just wondering if others ever felt this way too? thanks

Following that logic, since you will one day be dead, why do anything?

[hawaiian bam bam]

because bo says just do it!

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by hawaiian bam bam

which is correct is my credit card debt is NOT from cards.the debt i was talking about is when i buy something from ebay and pay with my bank account. so in lamans terms. if i buy $1000 worth of cards and pay for it with my bank account (not a credit card!) then over time that money coming out directly from my bank account can add up pretty fast. then i have to use credit cards to pay regular bills, versus if i didnt buy cards, that money in my account would pay for the bills (instead of cards) that money coming out of my bank account directly could of been used to pay off my bills and credit card debt instead of buying more cards.. im pretty sure i probably just confused you more, but i tried my best to explain it as clearly and elementary as possible. thanks for your concern though!

At the end of the day it's all coming out of your income, so if you're paying through checking or by CC or with magic beans, you're still clearly amassing debt by buying cards. In other words, if your bank account runs dry, and then you use your CC to pay what would have come from your bank account, then wouldn't it be true that the things you used your bank account for (cards) would be what's driving your debt?

You mentioned emergencies coming up and that happens, so you need to have that set-aside money to be able to handle those curveballs when they come your way. Maybe just put a tighter focus on your budget? I find that paying in cash helps reduce spending. In this day of Paypal and automatic withdrawls it's easy to spend money and not realize the impact it has because it's just numbers on a computer screen. Holding cash in your hands make you think twice about what you're using it for. At least for me it does.

[hawaiian bam bam]

very true! thank you for your post, i appreciate it. i have cut my spending a TON since this thread started. I finally got away from the mindset that i NEED that card NOW! and now my mindset is, if i see something i like, i will first sell cards for the price i need. then once the price i have is deposited into paypal, THEN i buy what i need. so far that approach is working much better for me. i think one of my problems before was that i always worried that if i dont get the card NOW it will never show back up on ebay so i must get it now. im learning that is not the case with most cards as i might have to wait longer to buy ,but im seeing that eventually everything resurfaces on ebay at some point , so if i dont get the card now, eventually another will show up on ebay later to buy. so i no longer have the need to buy cards right now, i simply now wait until i have the money.

[Econteachert205]

I think most hobbyists have gone through some sort of budget issues. I consider myself very good with money, but with so many cool things out there, I can sometimes get overly hungry-eyed. I keep a close monthly budget and sell items to offset purchases. I occasionally take an inventory of my collection and weed out things that no longer speak to me.