Have we begun to lose our way a bit?

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Posted By: identify7

I think that we are all on target. I believe that we are collecting exactly what each of us prefers, and although our preferences differ, they are based on our assessments of what is right for each of us.

Oh, I am sure that some (more likely most) of us make choices based in part on budgetary considerations, but in general collectors tend to accumulate what they want.

Examples abound. There is a group of collectors called OBC who share the following commonality: they typically want lots of cards, representing many sets, and are willing to accept major comprimizes on card condition to yield maximum filling of wantlists.

Closer to home: I have a Billy Sunday which is well worn, has pinholes in all four corners, and one in the center top, and center bottom. I know that this card was affixed to a wall somewhere, was taken down, handled, talked about and reinstalled on the wall many times throughout its life. I prefer this card over a pristine example which was accidentally lost in a book for a hundred years, and turned up by chance during our current collecting era.

Others prefer their cards to have "been there" less than my Billy Sunday has. They are not wrong, nor am I. But we all make choices based on our assessment of each card. That is, some cards which I own are in better shape than others based on a non-financially oriented criteria which applies to my collection.

I hope this makes sense.