Sentimentality & cards - particular copies?

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

While my examples aren't vintage, I can relate. When I was 12 or 13, the kid across the street (who was 3 or 4 years older than me) needed money for a date and also wanted to make some trades. His favorite player and my favorite player at the time was Darryl Strawberry. When the dealing was done, I ended up with his '84 Donruss rookie and two of his '84 Topps rookies for pretty much nothing. He was desperate I guess...LOL! I still have those cards, and my adult eyes now realize they are vgex-ex, but to my 12 or 13 year old self they were simply awesome. I realize they have basically no monetary value now, but they were important cards back then, and I wouldn't ever want to part with them! Whenever I see the guy, he still remembers those cards, and he still expresses regret!

[steve B]

I'd also be on the "keep" side.
I have a couple cards like that.

My first card, a 69 Jackson I got in a pack. Bought a pack while at the store with Dad, we went through them in the car just after, and when he got to that one he said "hey this guy is pretty good" it survived a few years in the toybox and a move, until I got more into cards in 73-74.

First T206. I wanted one, but was too cheap to spring the 1.50 for a vg common.... One day the shop owner handed me a Beckley that was simply awful, nearly torn in half. but it was only 20 cents!

[hcv123]

Sounds like in this case the original is not going to garner anywhere near enough $$ in the marketplace to even consider letting go it. Now, if it were worth much more, that would be a much more difficult decision.

[Case12]

I would keep it because it is sentimental....and it's not as big as a car. Those in that collection my wife insists I sell.

[mrmopar]

I have sentimentality towards certain things in general (RC cola cans, local team issue items, 1978 Topps Baseball, etc) because they bring me back to my youth, but I don't hold any specific item in higher regard because I owned it as a kid or it belonged to someone else. The Rod Carew RC cola can I selected, purchased, drank and saved as a kid could be replaced with a new copy and I would be fine with that.

I have nearly all of the cards I have ever owned along the way and none of those copies are specifically special to me, more so than any other one. I never got any older cards from family members that could have meant something, but I don't think I would have assigned them any specific value if I had.

My question to you would be this: Aside from possibly not keeping ANY duplicates as a matter of personal collecting policy, do you need to sell the original card or would it benefit your collection in any way to sell it and would you miss it after it was gone?

The obvious answer is any item of any decent value could be sold and turned into cash to buy another different item of value. But is the value you get worth letting go of something you seem to cherish quite a bit or could you just spend the cash you might have gotten for by buying a new item out of pocket and move on, while still keeping your card.

I don't look at my collection that way though and I have doubles upon doubles. I don't consider anything I do hoarding, but sometimes I just like a certain card and for the right price, a 2nd, 3rd or 10th copy if fine by me. I have purchased some lots in the past, so I have as many as 500 of a specific card, but the largest count of any card I didn't buy in bulk would be the Garvey RC. All said, I probably have close to 100 of them now in all their forms (Topps, OPC, graded, autographed, etc). Most are regular Topps (at least 70).

Good luck whatever you decide and nice pick up. I bought that card when I was in college. It is lightly creased, but harder to tell unless you are holding the card at the right angle. I would like a better copy, but at this point it is not worth the added cost it would take. I have always loved that card myself, but for me Jackie Robinson's career capper gets the nod for best card in the set, maybe of all time.