Trying something new. Uncollecting my collection

[almostdone]

So as a bit of background I collected cards as a kid through mid 80’s to mid 90’s but all modern for the times cards. In other words tons of junk wax. I amassed quite a collection that sat in a closet until around 1999 when I sold off 5000 count boxes of junk at a yard sale for$5 a box. I did have a few hidden gems but for the most part it wasn’t worth anywhere mean what i put into it.

At this point I realized that I needed be more specific in what I collected and stopped buying packs all together. eBay was a new thing and for the first time I had access to all the vintage cards I loved in magazines but never had gotten. I started by just buying anything of my favorite stars of the golden age and quickly had a nice little random group of stars. Nothing in high grade because honestly I didn’t care about condition. I just loved having a card of these guys. I dabbled in some set building and other types of focused collection like type collecting, HOFers, certain teams etc. In short without realizing i did the same thing I did as a kid and collected quantity for the sake of having them.

About two and a half years ago my wife had a serious medical emergency and ended up having open heart surgery to remove a blood clot in her lung. Her recovery went well but I started thinking that if something ever happened to me this huge collection of mine would be a burden to her and my kids as they don’t know what’s hardly anything is and definitely don’t know what things are worth.

I also came to realize that when I look over my collection there are certain cards I always look at while most I don’t and some even forget I have. I decided at this point to refocus and try to “uncollect” my collection.

I have a few sets which I put together that I love including the 53 Bowman, 54 Red Heart, 56 Topps, 63 Fleer, 71 Topps and 78 Topps. All have some meaning for me for some reason it another.

I also have my player collections. I have all my Griffey’s I collected in the early 90’s, all Topps of Clemente and Koufax, and playing days cards of Pee Wee Reese, Stan Musial and Carl Erskine ( another story for another day).

Outside of what’s sited above Ive decided to get rid of everything else and limit myself to only 100 cards. I sold a chunk off about a year and a half ago, before the boom (sigh) and have gotten rid of a few other things along the way. This post is not to try and elicit offers or sales on anything but rather maybe start a dialogue with this community which supports each other and is the real reason I love this hobby so much.

So how about you? Could you ever come to a point to challenge yourself to a limit of a certain amount of cards? If so what would your number be? Could you keep it to 50, 100, maybe 1000? I’m looking forward to see my collection shrink in volume but grow in stories. Cards I wouldn’t ever get rid of because of the story behind it, the esthetics of it, the player on it or what have you.

Anyway, thanks for your time if your still reading. I’d love to hear thoughts about this as a way to collect and see what else is out there in the meantime.

Drew