The Dreaded Lull

[paulcarek]

Card budget has been cut way back for the foreseeable future (two kids starting private school this year). Trade bait has dried up (sold the bulk of my HOF collection to afford a much smaller group of "marquee" cards). Yet the urge to buy (particularly after seeing all the great acquisitions in the monthly pick up threads) is stronger than ever.

The question is, how do you deal with down times like these, when your collecting appetite is bigger than your wallet?

Me, I've been hitting the occasional garage sale, hoping to get real lucky...

[Kawika]

Methadone gets me through the rough patches.

[Oldtix]

To paraphrase the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: "Cards will get you through periods of no money better than money will get you through periods of no cards."

[Doug]

I usually just try to focus my attention elsewhere. If you have some other hobby or interest, just devote more time to those to distract you until your budget is replenished. You should probably avoid looking at ebay and auction catalogs. Window shopping with no money is basically like dangling a steak in front of a caged animal.

[Exhibitman]

Porn. Lots of porn.

J/K. Try a different avenue of collecting. There are lots of fun nonsports or other sports cards that are a heck of a lot cheaper.

[Jason Carota]

Try researching the players from the cards in your collection. Focus on the more obscure players, if possible.

[tinkertoeverstochance]

I switched set interests and started set collecting. Instead of bidding on a whole bunch of OJ's and t206 rare backs that I seem to no longer be able to afford, I started collecting equally appealing sets (to me, anyway) that are cheaper (still pre-war baseball). The set hunt makes it challenging, but easier on the budget. I still pickup t206 rare backs and nice n172's when I can, though.

Lee

[paulcarek]

Exhibitman, your post reminded me of a sort of "baseball card porn" I recently discovered. YouTube has many videos of vintage-ish wax being busted. It's pretty riveting, albeit in a very sad way.

[Ladder7]

Take your show on the road. The folks at the local nursing home were thrilled the day the Missus and I put on a little memorabilia show in their rec hall. Okay, some fell asleep. But several recalled collecting in their youth. We heard many enthusiastic stories. Some are from out of state, get few visitors and lonely and they love getting visitors and the nursing staff enjoyed the break as well. They work their butts off 24/7 and I could never do that job.
We brought out a stack of repro W517s to hand out at the end. It was a howl -they didn't want to believe they were fakes and a few had $$ in their eyes. A full two hours of laughs and we both felt good for breaking the routine. It was a very rewarding day.




(;

[Al C.risafulli]

Paul, a few years ago I started collecting items documenting the history of baseball in my home state. Provided that you're not from New Jersey, you can do this, too. If you're from New Jersey, unfortunately, I can't permit you to do this.

It's pretty cheap, and there are a million postcards, photos, newspaper articles, banners, autographed balls, etc. from amateur and minor-league teams out there.

I have a pretty fun collection that's pretty small - there are only three items in it that I paid more than a hundred dollars for, and all three are beautiful display pieces.

For me, it was definitely worth doing. I've learned a good deal about baseball in New Jersey (and also learned how much more I need to learn), accumulated some beautiful pieces, and didn't spend a ton of cash.

-Al

[Bamacollection]

Mr. McDonald- Most excellent, yet anti-social reply I recall on the board...awesome approach! Good luck with the little purple people, not that I know of them...or they of me...just say "Hi".

[Kawika]

'Twas a joke, son.

[Dustanh1]

For me, it's been college football. I was in a motorcycle wreck in mid-June, and was off of work until September 7th. Short term disability payments didn't really leave me with much extra spending money. I was able to sell some cards early during my time off to help with regular bills and such, but not much leftover for cards. Now that I'm back to work, I'm slowly getting caught up but it will still be a little while before I can get back to buying like I'm used to. Luckily I found a nice seller who's been able to work with me so I can acquire a great card for my collection. I am a huge college football fan (Go Blue!) and the great start to the year has been a great replacement for the joy I get when I get cards in the mail. Now let's just hope they don't start losing or I'm doomed...

[ChiefBenderForever]

Glad to hear you are ok Dustan that is pretty scary. The thing with lulls is the cards are always waiting once you jump back in. The problem I am having with the early Pre WWI is once something comes up you don't know when another one will be around again so it is tougher to take a break, even when the funds are low.
Like Paul I have kids and you can't cut corners with them so I get a card here and there and look at it while Dora and Thomas fill the background noise along with screaming, yelling, fighting, and toy throwing. I have found feeding the ducks and geese a great pastime and the kids love it, but be careful around the geese, they will attack.

[Ladder7]

Originally Posted by Dustanh1

For me, it's been college football. I was in a motorcycle wreck in mid-June...

Glad you pulled through. Now to heck with the cards., How's the bike?

[Dustanh1]

Ha ha Steve, the bike is ok. I fixed a few things on it so it now runs great but is a little scratched up. Will probably replace those parts over the winter. I figure now that I have a plate and 12 screws in my shoulder, I will be in better shape if I wreck again.