How long do you keep a set??

[Sean]

I sell a set when I no longer enjoy owning it.

[Yankees1964]

I too am an accumulator only. I keep saying that my wife and her new boyfriend can buy a really nice house when I am gone

[h2oya311]

complete set say what? What's that?

I only have 19 more Helmar Stamps to go (out of 180), but it'll probably still be another 10 years before I am able to complete the set. If I did finish the set, I will probabbly keep it as it has been a labor of love for me. But ask me again in a few years (after I have completed a set).

[Ronnie73]

It's probably different for everyone. The last "Set" I completed was a 1970-1979 Yankees PSA 8 decade set. I had a lot of fun building it but once that last card showed up, I lost interest in it and it just sat in a few boxes and now I've listed it on ebay to help fund the never ending chase of T206 front/back combo's. For me, the time building a set is most enjoyable. It brings me back to 1985 when I built my first Topps set one wax pack at a time.

[ls7plus]

While I have been almost exclusively a stars and HOF'ers collector, I am currently focused on one set from my youth, and have no intentions of parting with it upon completion.

Best wishes,

Larry

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Kevin--I am usually an accumulator myself. The thought of unloading a set is really pretty foreign to me. It's just that I am wading into new and pricey territory and anticipate needing funds to pursue it. At this point, I am not looking to move much in terms of baseball. I would likely be selling a complete '65 Topps Tallboy football set which is 100% SGC graded. Never been much of a football collector so it doesn't hurt as much I guess.

Sean--I totally agree. I could stand losing the football, I believe.

John--I have told my wife the same thing.

Derek--Keep going, sounds like you are about there!

Ronnie--Anything that I might sell would, like you, go to fund prewar baseball so I have an idea of where you are coming from.

Larry--I understand the idea of wanting to keep what you are working on. Even with entering prewar, I don't anticipate letting go of most of my postwar baseball for quite a while. The prewar I want to pursue would be for keeps.

[BearBailey]

Until death, and I will have to be gone for so long before the wife and kids can sell them off.
I've never sold a set in fact only 3 cards ever, I'd never say never but can't imagine selling them, I guess I am just an accumulator as well.

[Kenny Cole]

Originally Posted by Sean

I sell a set when I no longer enjoy owning it.

To me, this is now the right answer. I didn't always to feel that way. But I finally realized that if I didn't even care enough anymore to look at a set for several years, it really didn't need to be taking up space in my house and I could go ahead and get rid of it. Fortunately for me, I'm really not focused in collecting sets anymore so with a couple of exceptions for the 1920's Cuban sets, it is mostly a theoretical issue for me.

[Bigdaddy]

No need to respond, but I wonder if folks would answer the same way about their spouse(s) that they do about cards.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

No need to respond, but I wonder if folks would answer the same way about their spouse(s) that they do about cards.

If my spouse got more valuable over time...

Just kidding. I've never been married.

[Leon]

As a type set collector it was time to look to something new when I had acquired all but a few of the cards I needed. Plus by the time I paid for our daughter's college, which was always a plan with the cards, it was going to take a good chunk of them so the time was right to just start over. I am a happier collector today by far..Plus some of the first collection has made it back to the second one. And a few other new additions have kept it exciting. The hunt is always exciting and maybe more so than the long term ownership, for me.

[kmac32]

I have a set of W572 cards that is maybe 14 or 15 cards from being complete. Have not found anything in nearly 2 years so I am on the bubble with this set. They are rather plain and not finding anything loses the excitement of the set. If I could get out of them what I put in, they would go to fund other projects.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by Leon

As a type set collector it was time to look to something new when I had acquired all but a few of the cards I needed. Plus by the time I paid for our daughter's college, which was always a plan with the cards, it was going to take a good chunk of them so the time was right to just start over. I am a happier collector today by far..Plus some of the first collection has made it back to the second one. And a few other new additions have kept it exciting. The hunt is always exciting and maybe more so than the long term ownership, for me.

This is turning out to be more difficult than I had thought. It turns out that I might be more greedy than I had thought. My interests are shifting to prewar, especially the PCL. I am troubled that I am having difficulty wanting to let go of some of my postwar collection. I appreciate your insight and the insight of all who have responded. It really does help me think it through.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[vintagerookies51]

I've never owned a complete set, but I assume the answer is different for everybody. As for me, I like the hunt the most because I collect cards that are hard to find. So if I completed a set I don't think I would keep it for very long

[AGuinness]

I can't say that anything I've got holds a candle to what most people on this board have, but in general, I used to be too sentimental with my possessions. It used to be so difficult to part with something I cherished, but it also meant that when I moved a couple times, it was really a bear because I just had too much stuff.

I've learned that selling/parting with things is really part of the process, and it's gotten much easier over the years the more I do it. Now there are the select "heirloom" pieces that I'll hold on to and cherish, but everything else can be dispersed with in due time.