"The Hunt" v.s. Enjoying what you have

[Harliduck]

I agree as well. I love what I have, and routinely view...but the hunt is the excitement. That is why I am a set collector...never done!

[VoodooChild]

I'm starting to come around to your line of thinking Luke. It's been 3 1/2 years now collecting pre-war. Now that I think I've figured out my collecting goals, I'm starting to have more fun looking at/organizing my collection and putting together my website than "hunting" for cards. Part of that might be that my wantlist is getting more and more expensive/rare as the cards and types I need are pretty tough. I'm also having fun selling cards here on the BST that I originally bought before I figured out my niche and no longer fit my collection.

[hangman62]

The hunt is the attraction ..when I finally land a card for a tough set Im working on..its out of the shipper ..stop ..look at card for about 4 seconds..and right into the album....album closed and flipped back into the bookshelf !

[ls7plus]

I think it's about evenly balanced for me, since, as I've stated before, the cards are actually a two-dimensional slice of a 3-dimensional moment in a player's career taken contemporaneously therewith--they connect you to the player, and take you back to the time. As my objective in collecting HOF'er's and stars is to have the significant aspects of the history of the game I can actually hold in my hands, I still need more of the same, although I find it a delight to enjoy those cards already acquired towards that quest.

Good post,

Larry

[DHogan]

Originally Posted by Harliduck

I agree as well. I love what I have, and routinely view...but the hunt is the excitement. That is why I am a set collector...never done!

Me too. I hardly ever go thru my cards to look at them. It's just fun knowing that I have something different.

[jfkheat]

I agree with what others have said, I enjoy the hunt more than actually owning the card. If I am getting close to completing a set and the last few cards are getting tougher to find I will start a new set. That way I am almost always hunting for something.
James

[Exhibitman]

I go through three phases:

The Hunt: Chasing down those elusive want list items.

The Having: Sitting down and enjoying albums of cards. Too hot here yesterday to venture outside for long so I went through about 20 albums. Great afternoon.

The Culling: Eventually, I decide to cut down on the sheer volume of cards, realizing that I really don't enjoy most cards in a set. I keep the ones I like, get rid of the rest.

[clydepepper]

I sit here within a few feet of almost all the cards I ever thought I would be lucky* enough to own.

And yet...

[JeremyW]

"I can't tell if I needed to build a decent collection before I could slow down and enjoy it, or if some switch flipped in my brain to make me more thankful for what I have as opposed to always wanting more stuff. It's possible that it could be more related to my overall outlook on life, but I'm not sure."

I can sympathize with this statement.

[GasHouseGang]

I've been at it close to 40 years, and it's still about the hunt. I seem to look at scans of my cards more than I do the actual cards. I'm beginning to think I could be a new digital collector, and just collect the scans. I'd have one heck of a Cracker Jack collection in no time! Oh, and multiple copies of the Wagner!

[cincyredlegs]

Great topic Luke. I think most "set collectors" inherently love the thrill of the hunt.

I use to try and collect everything thanks to my OCD but 3 years ago I made up my mind to just focus on completing the T206 set. I have been able to stick to it pretty well without to many distractions. I also sit down and look through them pretty regularly as well.

Mark

[Topps206]

I like both. New ones are fun and I love what I already have.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Having jumped back into set collecting, there is ALWAYS something new to learn about and hunt down. Sometimes it is almost anti-climatic to actually receive certain cards. I get the box/envelope open, look at the card a while, then it eventually goes into its place in the set in the box, and then I start looking for what's next (if I hadn't already started thinking about what was next before the last package arrived ). I honestly don't go back and look at completed sets or star cards I have purchased like I thought I would. From time to time, I go into my collectibles closet and see the boxes and binders but don't always open them up.

The times I do open them up and look through them are when I am checking to see if I might have a variation I have just learned about or when I am too broke to buy anything new just then, so I distract myself with what I already have. That is pretty pathetic isn't it?

[Mountaineer1999]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

Having jumped back into set collecting, there is ALWAYS something new to learn about and hunt down. Sometimes it is almost anti-climatic to actually receive certain cards. I get the box/envelope open, look at the card a while, then it eventually goes into its place in the set in the box, and then I start looking for what's next (if I hadn't already started thinking about what was next before the last package arrived ). I honestly don't go back and look at completed sets or star cards I have purchased like I thought I would. From time to time, I go into my collectibles closet and see the boxes and binders but don't always open them up.

The times I do open them up and look through them are when I am checking to see if I might have a variation I have just learned about or when I am too broke to buy anything new just then, so I distract myself with what I already have. That is pretty pathetic isn't it?

This sounds about right.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

That is pretty pathetic isn't it?

Not in the least. I do it all the time, and every time I go through my collection, without fail, I find something I completely forgot I had. To me, that's the same high as getting something new.