Make me feel better about myself. Do you guys ever do this?

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Do you guys stray and wander from what you generally collect and then wake up a couple of months later and ask yourself what the heck you've been doing? I love 1950s and 1960s baseball cards. However, I've ventured off into low grade, beat up prewar baseball and even some postwar football. Don't get me wrong, I like those things, but I'm a budget collector who likes set building. It's helpful for me to stay on a budget and watch what I'm doing. I've built '53 Topps twice, and I was working on it a third time (along with a couple of other 50s sets) before I wandered off. I'd also like to build '62 Topps. That and the 50s projects would take me a long time to complete. So now I'm in the position of feeling like I want to sell off the low grade prewar and the football so that I can pour that money back into the 50s/60s baseball sets.

Make me feel better about myself. Do you guys ever do this?

[jimmer77]

I feel like I may be able to relate, as I will stray from what I usually collect, like right now 86 McDonald's football and kellogg's cards, just find both those interesting.

[raulus]

Happens not infrequently to me. Seems like it often happens when I end up having to pick up a larger group to get a piece that I really want.

Sometimes the new adventure sticks. Some examples for me: 53-54 Briggs Meats, 71 Bazooka numbered, and 73 Topps Comics.

Sometimes I realize that I’m not really into it, and just turn around and sell it all off. Some examples here for me include 58 hires with tab, and 62 jello complete boxes, although sometimes I still pick up the 62 boxes if I feel like I’m getting a screaming deal.

And sometimes I sort of put it on ice while I decide whether I really want to keep going. 67T Punch Outs would be in this group for me.

So it’s not always binary, and I can go back and forth depending on how I’m feeling.

[ASF123]

It’s absolutely nothing to feel bad about! Fundamentally, collecting is nothing more or less than gathering things we find interesting. I think it’s totally normal to be mostly interested in one type of thing, but to sometimes find other things interesting too and gather some of them. And then to refocus and reprioritize from time to time. All part of the process! A hobby shouldn’t be yet another exercise in discipline.

[G1911]

All the time, sir! I always get sidetracked into other things because there are just so many awesome vintage cards out there. Post-war vintage Topps/Bowmna baseball sets are my #2 focus, but I often get dragged into new ones even though I haven't finished the last dozen I'm working on, or picking up new cards because I found a good deal as a type, liking the type, and then ending up with 20 more from that series. It helps that while I love Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, I really just love baseball history and so I enjoy cheap common players, and end up with tons of stuff. I'll shift to football for a month, or some random regional I'm checking eBay every day for for a few weeks.


I never sell or trade off when I come back to a 'primary' focuses though. The only hard rule I've set for my collecting is that all items must be cards (otherwise I'd run out of space) or related to the issuing of those cards, like a cigarette pack of Mecca or documents from an issuer or proofs or plates etc. I just keep those cards I got that were off-track, because while off-track, I got them because I thought they were cool and enjoyable, and that never changes for me personally, focus or not it’s still a cool card. I've got my organized set boxes, and then boxes of type cards and partial sets and random items I saw and liked. In a way, I find the 'extra' stuff is as enjoyable as my focuses, I never have a lack of items to go through, and my collection has turned into a very personal 'these are things I like' instead of a strictly defined focus, and I have decided that is okay. It's always fun to take out a box of my random types and go through them again, to enjoy the wide breadth of items out there that are affordable and cheap enough to be impulse-that's-cool buys. Sometimes a random from years ago becomes a new focus, and I have a starter set as I go off on yet another set build. I have come to enjoy having a mini-standard-catalog within my boxes. From tobacco cards of cowboys to Post cereal football cards to Topps baseball, it's all fun and caught my focus at one time without ever being not cool. And so I'm happy to let my wandering eye lead me to new fun stuff, even if its out of focus.


The best part is there is no good or bad or right or wrong, whatever you are feeling is fine. Consolidating down to focus on a few sets, throwing focus out the window to accept the pick up anything cool that strikes your fancy, and everything in between is a valid thing. If a card isn’t bringing you joy anymore, move it along to someone else to buy one that will instead. It’s all about fun, so whatever brings the most fun is the right path. When you stray from a focus, you shouldn’t feel about it. The worst case scenario is that you got a cool old card that doesn’t quite fit your collection and will need to be traded or sold, but you get to enjoy for a bit first. There’s no losing

[ALBB]

Yup,
Me Too