Why are you holding onto or collecting ?

[Bestdj777]

I get the sentiment and rarely, if ever, purchase anything anymore. I’ve even sold some stuff I never thought I would on occasion to help fund other purchases (I.e., a 52 Topps Mantle when we were looking to buy a house). At the end of the day, I really don’t need the money from the collection, I have a good checklist together for my wife if something were to happen to me, and I hold on to them because I still love chatting with people about cards, hope my son will ha e an interest, and am optimistic they’ll hold their value if he never is interested.

[Vegas Cards]

I've been collecting since I was a kid in the late '70s. Loved going to the liquor store and buying a pack of cards, loved trading cards with my friends, loved pulling out all the Dodgers players.

Somewhere along the line my dad gave me his old cards, mostly from the '50s.

Then in the late '80s and '90, I got carried away buying cases, buying sealed complete sets, looking for inserts, premium cards, etc. I just ended up with too much stuff. Filled up closets and bins, took up too much space in the garage. Plus it just got overwhelming with all the different offerings, figuring out what the "true" RC was. And to add insult to injury, most from the wax era was effectively worthless. So I set it all aside.

In 2017 I picked up a large collection from my Uncle and really started thinking about what I wanted to collect. Since then I've been selling some things, adding more, getting cards graded, keeping some and moving the rest.

Really trying to focus on cards I enjoy looking at and that I think will hold their value over time. I've got a great collection of Mantles. I'm working on completing the 1953 and 1955 Topps set. I'll keep at it as long as I'm having fun.

[Casey2296]

Collected as a kid, had a box and a couple of binders of nice cards when I got back in the game. Even as a kid I had centering OCD and a good eye so my base collection was good. Included some biggies, a few CJ's, 51 Mays, 52 Jackie, 53 Mantle, a few others but not much.

Sat down and decided what I want my collection to look like and built a list of 300 cards covering 100 years 1880-1980. I'm a type and image collector so things are pretty straightforward for me, I'm good with 12-15 cards of the year I'm collecting. Each year is different for me. 51 Bowman has to include Mantle and Mays along with Williams, Spahn, Campy, etc but not much else. 53 Topps, Mantle, Robby, Paige, Berra, and about 8 others but not Mays cuz it's an ugly image imo. The 53 set is so beautiful I don't even bother with 52's.

I found selling was a cathartic experience and made me focus on my original list. Sold my 52T PSA 5 Jackie so I could buy a CJ14 Cobb for example. I couldn't have both so I had to decide what I wanted.

Found this place and got hooked on pre-war, decided to chase a E98 master set and an E94 set. God help me. I'll be done someday, my list will be about 500 cards covering 100 years and I'll stop.

I would only say, collect what appeals to you, be passionate about it and challenge yourself in what you collect. Stay focused and have fun. The best thing about this hobby is the people you meet. Good luck and happy collecting!

[Exhibitman]

Well said, John. Except for a brief break from 1981-1988 I've always collected. It is my go-to relaxation activity.

Skyrocketing prices drove me out of mainstream baseball about 20 years ago, so i went whole-hog into boxing cards. I went back to baseball cards sporadically, and I am glad I did given the prices now.

Several years ago I had to go full 'kill-eat' on cards because my daughter wanted to go to medical school and I needed every dime of discretionary income and more to fund it. She did some clinical work as a volunteer in college and decided she's not suited to it, so I am paying for two years of grad school instead of four, and no internship or residency to subsidize either. But I digress. When I lost all discretionary income I had to ask some hard questions about my collecting and one of the things I realized is that my passion for it is not in accumulating slabs with large numbers (and prices), nor is it in set building (I don't want the Joe Shlabotniks), it is having cards of stars in albums like I did when I was a kid. That's where I've focused. I buy lots of cheaper cards to fill out my collection just as I would have when I was ten. VG or NM? Who cares...Just get me the cards.

The COVID run-up has mostly been a selling event for me, getting me out of the slabs I accumulated earlier in favor of lesser grade raw cards I can just enjoy. The money I just hold for the inevitable price crash so i can start buying collections again and turning them out for a profit. My goal is to beat the ROI our financial planner achieves with traditional investments over the next ten years. So there is a money component to it too; has to be in this day and age. But for my personal collection, gimme this in an album over the same thing in a high # PSA slab at 20x the price any day of the week:

Nostalgia and the love of the game. Started collecting as a kid in 1972 and have collected on and off since then. Like some have mentioned also my childhood collection was pretty amazing. I was interested in and bought/was given a lot of vintage cards growing up so I had an opportunity to put together a pretty good collection at a young age. Attached are a few of my childhood cards I acquired. I'll never sell because I just love baseball and collecting baseball cards. I have other hobbies as well and they all stem from my youth.

[Vegas Cards]

Originally Posted by Wimberleycardcollector

Nostalgia and the love of the game. Started collecting as a kid in 1972 and have collected on and off since then. Like some have mentioned also my childhood collection was pretty amazing. I was interested in and bought/was given a lot of vintage cards growing up so I had an opportunity to put together a pretty good collection at a young age. Attached are a few of my childhood cards I acquired. I'll never sell because I just love baseball and collecting baseball cards. I have other hobbies as well and they all stem from my youth.

You've got some fantastic cards. How wonderful that you've been able to hold on to them all these years.

[scmavl]

David, I'll second what VegasCards said. Just a great collection. I'd look at those and enjoy them every day.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Well said, John. Except for a brief break from 1981-1988 I've always collected. It is my go-to relaxation activity.

Skyrocketing prices drove me out of mainstream baseball about 20 years ago, so i went whole-hog into boxing cards. I went back to baseball cards sporadically, and I am glad I did given the prices now.

Several years ago I had to go full 'kill-eat' on cards because my daughter wanted to go to medical school and I needed every dime of discretionary income and more to fund it. She did some clinical work as a volunteer in college and decided she's not suited to it, so I am paying for two years of grad school instead of four, and no internship or residency to subsidize either. But I digress. When I lost all discretionary income I had to ask some hard questions about my collecting and one of the things I realized is that my passion for it is not in accumulating slabs with large numbers (and prices), nor is it in set building (I don't want the Joe Shlabotniks), it is having cards of stars in albums like I did when I was a kid. That's where I've focused. I buy lots of cheaper cards to fill out my collection just as I would have when I was ten. VG or NM? Who cares...Just get me the cards.

The COVID run-up has mostly been a selling event for me, getting me out of the slabs I accumulated earlier in favor of lesser grade raw cards I can just enjoy. The money I just hold for the inevitable price crash so i can start buying collections again and turning them out for a profit. My goal is to beat the ROI our financial planner achieves with traditional investments over the next ten years. So there is a money component to it too; has to be in this day and age. But for my personal collection, gimme this in an album over the same thing in a high # PSA slab at 20x the price any day of the week:

Expanding on this concept, my notable purchases during the pandemic have been very specific. Rare American boxing type cards, global boxing type cards I needed for my type set, or previously uncatalogued cards of a few athletes I collect.

[kailes2872]

I got back in after a visit to the Hall of Fame in 2012 with Ken Kendrick's collection on display. They also had a room that had highlights of all of the different years.

For me, it was pretty personal. When I was 8, a nice lady who was my teacher's aide in second grade gave me a shoebox full of 71-75 HOFers. I went to card show in the fall of '80 and sold all of them for the healthy sum of $13. I wanted a 1980 Tops set. It was $14. I had to borrow a dollar from mom just to buy it.

When I got back from the HOF, I was showing the boys all of the cards that I used to have. My wife got tired of listening to me and she said "If you want them, just buy them." That is probably a phrase that she wishes that she had back. From that point, I started set collecting and kept going until I had everything post war except for 49 Bowman, 51 Bowman and 52 Topps. I love my collection, but I regret not starting older and working newer (instead of visa versa). It was almost as if I had to get used to buying a set for $200 before I paid $2000 for one. And I had to pay $2000 for a set before I could pay $2000 for a card.

I did miss out on some big opportunities. I had a chance to buy a 53 Topps with a PSA 5 Mantle for $3000 but I wasn't that far back yet so I passed. I had a chance to buy the Lionel Carter 33 Delong set, but I was still collecting post war. There are quite a few examples. I love my post war sets, but I would have really liked some 33 Goudey Ruth's at 2012 prices.

Now, with the prices so high, it has moved from a collection to an asset class. I could cash out an investment and buy a 52 Mantle, but it is just moving asset classes. With the Mantle, I have risk of fire or theft at home or I keep it in a safe deposit box and have to make an appointment to go see it. If that is the case, I'll just keep it in the investment with the knowledge that I can buy it if I want to (however, I will have to pay buyer's premiums, sales tax, shipping, insurance, and other transaction costs).

I have no real desire to sell. It is fun to show them to people when they come over. It is a nice conversation starter, and my oldest has a keen interest in pre-war (with Jimmie Foxx being his favorite).

In the end though, the reason that I went head first back into it was because of the memories of a little kid. I was the kid who would hang out at the show tables at the mall in the early 80's. While mom shopped for clothes, I would pester the dealers for hours on end and look at their cards. They would tell me to stop breathing on the glass and to watch my fingerprints. No, I couldn't see that card as they knew I had no money and no intention of buying. I was the kid that got taken for a ride at the card show in 1980 when I should have just held onto those cards - I mean, I collected baseball cards. Why would I sell the best stuff that I had?

Now, with a little bit of money in my pocket and comfortable in life, I can buy all of those cards that I was never allowed to touch. I can give a double middle finger to those dealers who shoo'd me away. It is an expensive hobby and now it is too expensive to continue collecting (other than occasional one off), but it is pretty awesome to have them and it purged some pretty bad childhood memories.

[Tere1071]

I've begun to collect the Topps Baseball sets from 1970 and 1972. I purchased a lot of 72s off of eBay and I'm contemplating purchasing another from a member on this site. I may purchase a lot of 1970s off of eBay, but if there's anyone reading this who can put together a 600 card lot with some high numbers and stars included I'd appreciate it. So far, I've purchased and traded for some stars from another member here and from eBay. These will probably take longer than the 71 due to the price of the high numbers.