when is it too much?

[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.