Ever felt like you were done collecting?

alifaxwa2

Now, I don't mean fed up and quitting and dumping, but like your happy with what you have and with most sets completed and you don't necessarily want to get anything else new?

Last year at this time, I was working on 10 collecting different projects/sets (a bunch of player RC/basic sets, some non-sport cast autographs, a type coin set, TTM autographs of a few focuses, etc) and making true progress on none. Money flow changes inspired me to sell off the less important or least complete ones, to fund the purchases to finish the more complete/important sets.

Besides a few stragglers, I have sold off what has value that I no longer want. I have used most of the funds I made by selling, acquired the easier to find items to complete the sets I want keep, have eBay alerts set for the rarer items so I don't have to constantly check eBay items. But I don't know what to do with myself now.

I can't decide if I am burned out on collecting, or if I have always loved the chase more than the collection itself and have screwed myself by narrowing the focus too much and finishing the items I was working on. I could pick back up one of the sets I parted with as a new project, but I feel that would collecting for the sake of collecting.

I have considered taking a break from collecting to work on another hobby I have been interested in trying, but the necessary start up costs are too high to test out a hobby (woodworking/furniture building).
Maybe I need to stop trying so hard, and maybe inspiration will strike when I least expect it.

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Anyone ever get to a simlar point?

TheMick6

I think everyone goes thru that as a collector. Some get fed up, for some life gets in the way and they need to sell off there collection and sometimes interest just kind of tails off a bit. I've had to sell my collection off at one point when I was younger and always had a desire to get it back and when the time came I required it and then some! Sounds to me like you just need something to spark your interest again, a new focus or maybe a little break until that spark comes. Why rush it? I go thru periods of frenzied purchasing and then I cool of it seems and just get little stuff every now and then but my collection is always there. A great escape for me and a way to enjoy my favorite pastime a little more.

CubsKiller99

The Mick is right. All true collectors go through this.

These are some of my own remedies. The easiest is #1:

1. Just give it a rest for a while. Spend time with family and friends or other hobbies.

2. Switch to another collection. If you don't have one start one. Doesn't have to be expensive,
there are great deals to be had in thrift stores, flea markets, antique malls, etc. Half the fun
of a collection is the early learning process.

3. Get another family member or friend interested in your card collection or get them to collect
with you.


Good luck with your struggle, whatever you do don't sell your favorite cards and cash out.

If something truly interested you once it will return. You may just be overloaded with it.
And when it comes back some day and your cards are gone you'll regret it.

cardsnbeads

I'm getting to the point . I don't want to be my old friend Miller who fell in love with cards . The guy had a binders and binders of vintage baseball from the 1940s to 1960s . Amazing stuff multiple Aaron rookies . Mantles up the wazoo and he worked as a bartender into his 70s and then he died . Never enjoyed the money that is collection could brought him . His son liquidated his collection. Don't fall in love with your cards like Miller did. That's why I'm getting out of collecting . I figure 2014 is the year that I'm out of collecting, now that I'm officially retired .

MrNearMint

Luckily, I havnt gone through this phase yet but I only got into the hobby a few years ago. I do sometimes have a feeling like I should stop collecting Michael Jordan cards but I just love em so much, I'll probably never stop.

It just sounds like you need a break.

ThoseBackPages

<< <i>I'm getting to the point . I don't want to be my old friend Miller who fell in love with cards . The guy had a binders and binders of vintage baseball from the 1940s to 1960s . Amazing stuff multiple Aaron rookies . Mantles up the wazoo and he worked as a bartender into his 70s and then he died . Never enjoyed the money that is collection could brought him . His son liquidated his collection. Don't fall in love with your cards like Miller did. That's why I'm getting out of collecting . I figure 2014 is the year that I'm out of collecting, now that I'm officially retired . >>



Couldn't disagree more. You ever stop to think maybe he ENJOYED the cards more then the possible "money" they could have brought in? If money is one's end goal in life, then perhaps selling IS the best idea.

ThoseBackPages

Ali,

i hear what you're going through, for i too find myself there. ive worked on my Post War HOF RC Collection for the better part of the last 8 years. i am down to just needing one more. it's attainable, but part of me puts it off on purpose.

Last year i started collecting comics again for the first time since the mid-80s. its more about reading then collecting, but its been a nice change of pace as far as collecting and internet interactions go.

Good luck, and as others have mentioned, do not sell unless you must.

itzagoner

i occasionally wish other folks would be done with collecting particularly after i've had a chance to examine what's in their notebooks and shoeboxes.

TheMick6

We all collect for different reasons and I think if monetary reasons are your reasons your more inclined to dump a collection. Don't get me wrong I know exactly what my collection would bring on the market but for me it's just an extension of my passion for the sport. In my case baseball. It's the first way I connected with my dad as a kid, It helps me remember my childhood in a way other things just can't. I collected cards long before I realized they had any value at all and the way I see it the market can never crash cause there's always next season, another phenom being compared to the Mick and another Topps issue.

CubsKiller99

<< <i>We all collect for different reasons and I think if monetary reasons are your reasons your more inclined to dump a collection. Don't get me wrong I know exactly what my collection would bring on the market but for me it's just an extension of my passion for the sport. In my case baseball. It's the first way I connected with my dad as a kid, It helps me remember my childhood in a way other things just can't. I collected cards long before I realized they had any value at all and the way I see it the market can never crash cause there's always next season, another phenom being compared to the Mick and another Topps issue. >>



Amen brother.

My first cards in the 60s were exactly what you said -- a way to get even more enjoyment out of the game.
If the MLB shut down today it wouldn't matter to me. All my favorite cards are now almost 50 years old
and those seasons are what I remember best. The game lives on in my memory.

As for Miller -- he made the right choice.

KurtisJoseph

Only advice I have is don't sell too much more of your collection, now that you are in a lull. I have gone thru this same scenario a couple of times. After boredom sets in, I sell stuff that I really wish I had back.

jmmiller777

Yep, I went through the same thing from 90-2003. I got sick of all the hype in the day, the big money that came in to snatch up as many money cards as they could. They didn't love the game or open boxes, just went after the big money cards and hoarded boxes/cases. I guess the card manufacturers fed the frenzy, printing millions of cards. I saw a 2002 Heritage set and it brought me back to the hobby I love. I am a collector, treating each card in the set with the same care; a set builder who has this obsession to finish a set that I start. While I used to set up tables at local card shows in the mid to late 80's, I never really like to part with my vintage. I think it was 2007 when I pulled that Jeter/Mantle/Bush Topps Gold card. I sold it for like $300 or so and I always regretted
it (even tho I can buy it now for under a $200).
You'll be back my friend, so just put them away safely and they will wait for you...