when is it too much?

[theshleps]

great feedback so far, thanks. personally I have written something telling my probable heirs who to contact. seems alot of folks are pulling out and I'm wondering why? age? speculation, etc. I love it tho it is quite time consuming and we move alot which isnt easy with a large collection

[MooseDog]

I started collecting as a kid in the 1970s doing the same thing, hotels, TTM, took many different paths - trying to get every player who played, then concentrating on HOFers, ended up wandering all over the place. Accumulated lots, nothing like you have. Also made a few sales like you did for good money at the time but man, what I would have today. Also had two pretty major deals go south, one outright theft and the other with an infamous California dealer who screwed me big-time.

Over the years also wandered around job wise, haven't been really successful but done OK but also never owned a home and don't have any family (legacy) money or assets. Found that I could always rely on selling some stuff through hobby pubs and later eBay to keep afloat during leaner times.

If your heirs have a direct interest in your hobby, outside of the financial aspect, then I think you can trust them to handle your collection as you wish. However if the interest is fleeting then I would think about handling a dispersal on your own.

I'm about to hit 65, and I've pretty much made the decision to sell and move on. At the moment I'm getting my best stuff in sellable form (TPA certs, etc) and currently working on the low hanging fruit (cheaper stuff). My reasons are as follows:

- don't have any heirs nor relative interested
- certainly don't want to burden my partner with having to deal with it
- as a lifetime city of Oakland sports fan, my last connection to the city is gone
- just got laid off from my dream job (still working in the industry but the location was my "happy place"
- the looming IRS 1099 reporting requirements if they ever go into effect

And last but maybe not least, I discovered (but expected) that a number of what I thought were really nice autograph and game used pieces (these I bought in the 1970s and early 1980s before the hobby exploded) are "likely not genuine".

You don't really ever stop being a collector, so I limit myself to trying to get a signature of every player who appeared in an MLB game for the A's 1968-2024 (thank you for the huge lot you sold me), and a few pieces of Oakland sports memorabilia for the walls and shelves.

Over the years I've kind of lost interest in other sports. I don't know, I just like watching games and competition and the increasing tendency of turning everything into an "event', announcers yelling into the mike to dramatize a moment and the over-analytics don't do anything for me. I would pay for a crowd-noise only feed. I have season tickets to the San Jose Sharks and attending hockey games in person is still one of my favorite activities, yes even in the state the Sharks are in right now.

One of the things I do to satisfy my collecting and history bug is to visit museums and I found part time work with a small local auction house. I do some cataloging, help appraise sports stuff, books, and paper ephemera, areas I am familiar with. Have to resist bidding, but that hasn't been a problem unless I know something is going way too cheap. I was a customer, then got to know the auctioneer and she asked if I could help out with a big consignment and I've been doing spot work for her ever since.

I realize what I wrote is pretty self-indulgent but hope there is something in there that can help you in your situation.

[HexsHeroes]

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If/when decision comes to sell your collection, it will be both the most agonizing and liberating decision/action you undertake as a collector.

I made that decision twice. Once in 2017, but failed to follow through. But after losing a younger brother to pancreatic cancer in 2018, nearly losing my oldest brother to ulcerative colitis in 2020, and finally recognizing the hidden fear my wife kept from me about prospects of dealing with the volume of my vintage Detroit Tigers autograph collection should I die, I sold nearly the entire collection. I gave up substantial potential gain doing so but it liberated both my wife of her fear and allowed me to redirect attention usually devoted to collecting to other, more worthwhile endeavors. Do I miss it ? Sure, but I have had a great time doing other activities and placing people first since. And to be brutally honest, towards the end, the hunt was nowhere near as fun (or fruitful) as in my earlier years of collecting.

For what it is worth, I created a document for my wife to use to sell my collection had I died while still owning the collection. The document dealer names, addresses, phone numbers, list of items and descriptions, and several thumb drives of images and lists that could be sent to sent to prospective dealers. But in the end actually selling the collection myself while alive was priceless in my wife's eyes.

[theshleps]

Originally Posted by HexsHeroes

.
If/when decision comes to sell your collection, it will be both the most agonizing and liberating decision/action you undertake as a collector.

I made that decision twice. Once in 2017, but failed to follow through. But after losing a younger brother to pancreatic cancer in 2018, nearly losing my oldest brother to ulcerative colitis in 2020, and finally recognizing the hidden fear my wife kept from me about prospects of dealing with the volume of my vintage Detroit Tigers autograph collection should I die, I sold nearly the entire collection. I gave up substantial potential gain doing so but it liberated both my wife of her fear and allowed me to redirect attention usually devoted to collecting to other, more worthwhile endeavors. Do I miss it ? Sure, but I have had a great time doing other activities and placing people first since. And to be brutally honest, towards the end, the hunt was nowhere near as fun (or fruitful) as in my earlier years of collecting.

For what it is worth, I created a document for my wife to use to sell my collection had I died while still owning the collection. The document dealer names, addresses, phone numbers, list of items and descriptions, and several thumb drives of images and lists that could be sent to sent to prospective dealers. But in the end actually selling the collection myself while alive was priceless in my wife's eyes.

I am fascinated by your use of the word liberated. When I talked to Jason May after he sold his amazing 1933 signed Goudey collection he basically told me the same. I recently gave my heavyweight champion collection to REA only missing Marvin Hart- that was easy. I also have every US president but still holding on there along with the HOFers and Jewish guys. (I have the best Jewish collection in the hobby both MLB and milb and I'd be willing to sell for a fair price the vast majority of it). Also probably have the best collection of vintage Japanese HOFers on cards of which I might be willing to sell some. I still probably average spending an hour or 2 daily searching for cards, bidding etc as well as work close to full time, travel alot and see 3 of my 5 grandkids fairly often. On some level having such a nice collection adds to my self worth (I know that is kind of sick) and my whole life I have been a collector of something. I have a list of who to contact should I pass and my younger son knows baseball history well.
I am not ready to sell but might change my mind. Love the sharing

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by theshleps

I am fascinated by your use of the word liberated. When I talked to Jason May after he sold his amazing 1933 signed Goudey collection he basically told me the same. I recently gave my heavyweight champion collection to REA only missing Marvin Hart- that was easy. I also have every US president but still holding on there along with the HOFers and Jewish guys. (I have the best Jewish collection in the hobby both MLB and milb and I'd be willing to sell for a fair price the vast majority of it). Also probably have the best collection of vintage Japanese HOFers on cards of which I might be willing to sell some. I still probably average spending an hour or 2 daily searching for cards, bidding etc as well as work close to full time, travel alot and see 3 of my 5 grandkids fairly often. On some level having such a nice collection adds to my self worth (I know that is kind of sick) and my whole life I have been a collector of something. I have a list of who to contact should I pass and my younger son knows baseball history well.
I am not ready to sell but might change my mind. Love the sharing

I never fully sold out (and I am in a different age demographic as I am in my 30's) but had a time where some personal factors led to me to sell much of my collection and take a break, and I can relate to the word "liberated." There was a freedom in not having a fear of 'missing out on an item I really want for my collection,' which I had not realized was even there. It freed up time and money for other things.

Ultimately, I came back to the hobby since I found I still get a lot out of it (I enjoy my collection, I enjoy learning about baseball history, I enjoy the community and friends I've made etc) but I do think there is something to be said for the liberation of it all. I also wonder whether there might be joy (for me) at some point in donating a portion of the collection to a museum or someplace where others would appreciate the work I did in bringing the items that I collected together, though factors such as economics etc. would definitely play a role there.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by theshleps

great feedback so far, thanks. personally I have written something telling my probable heirs who to contact. seems alot of folks are pulling out and I'm wondering why? age? speculation, etc. I love it tho it is quite time consuming and we move alot which isnt easy with a large collection

I say collect until you no longer want to. I will also say this. I have known a lot of older collectors. The one thing the wife always complains about is having to get rid of all the junk their spouse collected. It is a serious burden in many cases.

I have a friend a little older than you who also did not need the money and none of his family wanted anything to do with his collection. He slowly sold it off over 2 to 3 years. It gave him some more time in the hobby and he won't leave his family a mess.

[earlywynnfan]

I've been doing some deep thought about the hobby for the last couple of years. I'm 55 and have amassed quite an abundance of stuff. I love going through it, I still enjoy the hunt, but more and more I look at my man cave and ask "who cares about any of this?" I've started to ebay off some things, just to try to whittle it down. If I were to die suddenly, my wife is just going to call a certain auction house and tell them to come get it all.

I've posted this before, but my prize possessions were also eye-opening moments for me. HOFers, I got them. When I got my Babe Ruth check, I didn't know where to go next. Sure, I'd love a Kiki Cuyler auto, but for what? Who am I going to show it to? I climbed Everest, why spend the money to climb lesser mountains?

Same with my WWII collection. I got Neighbors, O'Niell, and Gedeon. Now I'm going to hunt down a Ray Goolsby just for some completionist obsession?

Sorry if this turned into some sort of rant.