Considering major change to collection

[bks14sr]

Originally Posted by kailes2872

I'm at the same exact place. I have all sets back to 48 Bowman except the three big ones - 49 Bowman, 51 Bowman and 52 Topps. I have been reticent to add to the collection if I am going to turn around and liquidate the sets into a few waterfront cards because it would not make sense to pay buyer's premium and then turn around and sell with commission (if it at an AH or Ebay). My 54 is my pride and joy as well. All HOFers are at least PSA 6. I bought right on my Aaron in 2015 and that set alone would bring a pretty penny. I also have all of the HOFers in '55 and '56 in PSA 6 as well.

I have worked so hard to buy right and upgrade along the way, it would be painful to get rid of them - but the ones that have the most value are the ones that mean the most to me, so if I just kept those then it would defeat the purpose because I would guess that at least a quarter if not a third of the value of my collection in those three sets alone.

While it appears that the collection is increasing in value, it is not keeping up with the increase in value of the cards that I would pursue to take their place. I also want to make sure that it would be a seamless transition and would not be tempted to put the money into something other than cards... so the dilemma continues...

Good luck with your decision. I know that it has been driving me a little crazy lately and I have almost totally stopped collecting this past year and that is not what I want to do either.

You nailed it on the head. Your second to last sentence really resonates. If I don’t move quickly on purchasing said expensive card after selling everything, I’d be tempted to put the money elsewhere. As that kind of money is a nice boat, 997 or chunk of stock.

The cards I need to sell are my current prized possession cards. They’ve doubled in value just during my ownership, so that’s one upside at least.

Bought 280 more 52T today, so basically finished my low number set and upgraded a bunch of cards within that. Once I’m ready to post all my stuff, it will have plenty of appeal and should move easily. My goal is to keep my main 52 set and my 54 set in tact. Going to move all my modern stuff first, my 52 duplicate partial set and about 10 bigger vintage cards. Now preparing a bulk submission to get the ball rolling for listing.

[jayshum]

Make sure you really are ready to sell your sets before you do. Around 10 years ago, I sold my run of Bowman and Play Ball sets along with a few other pre-war sets to pay for work we were having done on our house. I was never happy about doing it, so about 5 years ago, I started putting them back together. Unfortunately, cards like the 51 Bowman Mantle and Mays had really gone up in price so it cost a lot more the second time than it did the first.

[Arazi4442]

I'm kind of in the same situation now, though not on purpose.

I got laid off when Covid hit and then got worried the pandemic could outlast my severance. (Didn't know about the unemployment subsidy at the time) If the economy tanked, I could have been forced to sell my collection during an economic downturn so I sold everything in April to be safe.

Fast forward a few months and I got a new job and the card market is booming. I'm currently looking to purchase one big card that I never could have afforded otherwise, which may be fun but there's a couple cards I sold off that I sure wish I had back now.

[TUM301]

Interesting thread and a topic that crosses my mind every so often. It seems like more are in the "go for it camp" and the get it while the getting is good, especially regarding the "52 Topps Mick. There is the other side as well, all good arguments. For me have been wondering if I should move my Mick now and use the proceeds purchasing a different Mantle(most likely not a 52 Topps) and the nicest Mays/Aaron/Jackie or some kind of a 3 or 4 card combo. This Mantle is a large portion of my collection but still have significant items, other than this, to move to make other purchases. Cool topic......
3A983CE9-2772-4FF9-AF34-728BCB3A52B7 by Hugh Murphy, on Flickr

[investinrookies]

Originally Posted by TUM301

Interesting thread and a topic that crosses my mind every so often. It seems like more are in the "go for it camp" and the get it while the getting is good, especially regarding the "52 Topps Mick. There is the other side as well, all good arguments. For me have been wondering if I should move my Mick now and use the proceeds purchasing a different Mantle(most likely not a 52 Topps) and the nicest Mays/Aaron/Jackie or some kind of a 3 or 4 card combo. This Mantle is a large portion of my collection but still have significant items, other than this, to move to make other purchases. Cool topic......
3A983CE9-2772-4FF9-AF34-728BCB3A52B7 by Hugh Murphy, on Flickr

Very nice 52T Mantle, Id have a real hard time parting with that one. They are just so hard to find even remotely centered.

[Rickyy]

Aside from complete ungraded Topps Sets that I am keeping (BB 1970 - 1979 incl 75 mini + 71 Greatest Moments set), all my other BB cards in my collection are Pre and Post War type cards … so that affords me the luxury of changing up my type card collection as I get bored or want to change it up. Recently I've moved away from a lot of the Pre war stuff to focus on Post War (esp proof and test cards) and for Pre War on post cards. It keeps me interested and regenerates interest.

Ricky Y

[rsdill2]

I'm in the same boat, something I had been considering for a while. The bulk of my collection is Topps sets and I finally realized that I had no connection to most of them and also realized the shear amount of cards in my collection. My sets 1973-2019 were all bought complete. I never had much attachment to them and never looked at them. I just kept them because of the completionist in me. Another factor was that I feel one or two blue chip cards is more likely to rise in value and is also much more liquid.

At first I tried to sell them all together. Although I didn't list on eBay because I didn't want to deal with shipping, I never got a serious offer. I finally accepted the only way to actually get the value out of them that I expected I would have to do some work and sell them individually. I have sold about 40% of the sets by volume and about 60% by value. I'm trying to stay disciplined and keep the funds separate. A combination of Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and here have been my venues. Once shows in my area resume, I'll set up there as well.

It's been fun so far and I haven't regretted anything. I'll likely one day pick up some of the stars I sold (73 Schmidt, 75 Brett/Yount, 79 Ozzie, 80 Henderson) but beyond that, there's nothing in this era that appeals to me. I'm trying to keep all the cash separate and keep my eyes on the end goal.