Would you trade your ENTIRE collection for 1 card?

[sb1]

Got this, traded some irreplaceable cards.

[shammus]

I don't think I could do it, even if the monetary advantage was well in my favor.

At the end of the day, I'm a collector and I'll break cards out of their plastic prisons so I can look at them and their "same-set-bretheran" in a binder. There's too much enjoyment in a "group of cards" for me and I think that even if the one card was really spectacular, I'd miss having the "quantity" too.

Another thing, much of what's in my collection now came from a lot of trades, a lot of effort, a lot of chasing, a lot of waiting, a lot of sacrifice...etc..etc..etc... I don't think I'd want to eradicate all my hard work and then just have one really special card to show for it all....

[bbcard1]

Different answer...I collected all through the wild 80s days and dealt pretty heavily...I probably have 500,000 cards in all. And I am quite sure I could be very happy if I could whittle it down to 100 cards plus my Marshall University collection. On the other hand, I am constantly looking for new dragons to slay. Currently, I am thinking of a t206 short set (one of each major leaguer, allowing comparable size substitues for the super rare ones) and a really comprehensive Bill White collection (he seems underappreciated).

[base_ball]

If I had a large collection and I knew my end was near I would absolutely trade many cards for one card of equal value. It would make life so much easier for my heirs.

[36GoudeyMan]

Like many others who have posted, I collect, and I like the variety and goal-orientation of collecting. But if I could think of a single card I wanted THAT badly (and I don't really want a T206 Wagner, honestly), I might dump everything, get it, and then probably re-start the collecting again after that (or is that a viuolation of the hypothetical rules here?)....

[Kawika]

The only single item I would remotely even consider trading my entire collection for would be a check for an obscene and life-changing amount of money. Otherwise, no way, Jose.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by base_ball

If I had a large collection and I knew my end was near I would absolutely trade many cards for one card of equal value. It would make life so much easier for my heirs.

You think? Can you imagine several heirs fighting over one card? All the arguments about do we sell it now, do we wait, do we consign it to REA, etc.? What if some of the heirs hate baseball cards and want to get rid of it as quickly as possible and get their money and some of the heirs absolutely love pre-war cards and would like to keep it as a remembrance of their dad's passion? Who keeps the card, do you have joint custody and visitation agreements? Ack! Too many headaches.

[nolemmings]

Tbob, it's easier to take just the one with you in the casket then have someone have to arrange the whole lot of the rest of 'em. Heirs, schmairs.

[wrapperguy]

No, thanks, for one major reason.
Most of the cards I have collected were picked up at shows with my Dad and even though Dad is 90 and cannot attend shows any longer, all my ebay and BST purchases or trades are shared with him. Every card I have reminds me of the good times we spent together. That is irreplaceable.

[FUBAR]

Jeff

i can totally relate, i used to collect with my grandpa until he died in 1982, and even today i still collect in his honor... it killed me that my ex stole some of my cards that him and i got together.... i will always collect and always honor him.

[birdman42]

Originally Posted by tbob

You think? Can you imagine several heirs fighting over one card? All the arguments about do we sell it now, do we wait, do we consign it to REA, etc.? What if some of the heirs hate baseball cards and want to get rid of it as quickly as possible and get their money and some of the heirs absolutely love pre-war cards and would like to keep it as a remembrance of their dad's passion? Who keeps the card, do you have joint custody and visitation agreements? Ack! Too many headaches.

Send it to Upper Deck. They'd figure out what to do with it.

(Actually, I'm at least a little surprised they haven't done it already with, say, a mangled '52 Mantle. Can you imagine the trades? "I'll swap you an 'M' and $100 for his right eye.")

Bill

[nebboy]

I could (would) do it, and without regrets. Also would try very hard to not start over. My wife HATES it that I spend time/money doing this. But she is a baseball fan so we do get along---------- -------pretty good.

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by sb1

Got this, traded some irreplaceable cards.

Well now that my jaw is up off the floor, I will just say that is awesome!

[mark evans]

No way. I like all my cards and look at them frequently. Plus, like Shammus, a good deal of time, effort and persistence went into numerous acquisitions which makes me appreciate them all the more.

[T206Collector]

I think it certainly has to be a function of replaceability. For me, the 400 T206 cards I parted with are available right now on ebay. I may not be able to technically afford a 400 individual T206 purchases on ebay at the moment - but the right budget can make it happen over a reasonable period of time.

The question does become harder when you turn to my signed card collection, for which it would be impossible for me to replace many of them regardless of money or time. Then it purely becomes a question of which item(s) I like more.

[DixieBaseball]

Easily no, would be the answer. I can only get a certain amount of joy from 1 card. I would not trade my collection for a card worth 25-50% more as I just can't imagine parting with a decade of enjoyment from building a collection.

[Exhibitman]

I suppose everyone has their price. If it meant a significant bump in value I can definitely see swapping the whole thing for one card, then selling that card and starting again. If it was a par trade, no, I'd probably not do it. If I had to swap more than the value of the one card for it, definitely not.

I could more easily see trading either my whole collection for a group of what I consider to be the all-time classic cards, or a chunk of my collection for one such card. I've effectively done that a few times selling off chunks of my collection to finance runs at certain cards at auction.

I will say that the choice definitely gets tougher as my collection expands and improves, especially as I've added really rare cards to the pile over the years, ones that I have waited years or even decades to find. They might not even have that much relative value but their replacement value is off the charts. I mean, how do you value a card with no other known examples? Is it "worth" more than a common yet pricey card?