Have you ever sold every card you own and just started over?

Hallco · January 3, 2013 3:08AM

I'm not considering doing that or anything....

I just wonder sometimes if part of the excitement of this hobby is buying stuff all the time!

ReggieCleveland · January 3, 2013 3:20AM

I have. It was one of the best hobby decisions I ever made. I was able to completely recalibrate and realized that much of what I was collecting was because of the focuses I had developed early on. I was able to concentrate my focus on different things that I've enjoyed much more than in the past.

And there's probably only one or two items (unique pre-war cards) I sold that I wish I hadn't, and I'll find them again. A good hobby cleansing is helpful from time to time.

JustinsShoebox · January 3, 2013 3:27AM

I did last year and beginning this year with a new focus. I do miss my Mathews collection, but the sale of it helped me buy some income property two miles from the beach in Huntington Beach. I did keep two of the Mathews cards that I considered irreplaceable, though.

Currently I'm focusing on a very high grade (as centered and sharp as possible) raw 1975 set. I've wanted to do this one for a long time.

Justin

larryallen73 · January 3, 2013 3:29AM

I sold the majority of my collection last year and have always been happy with the decision.

Just this morning I was perusing the boards and had some interest in collecting again... but then reminded myself I really don't like having crap around and the mood passed. I still enjoy seeing what other people collect though.

CocoaBeachDodgers · January 3, 2013 3:56AM

I have done this on multiple occasions. One thing I have found fore sure though, it is much more fun to buy than to sell.

jessherron · January 3, 2013 4:15AM

jessherron · January 3, 2013 4:17AM

What I was trying to ask as a follow up is HOW you sold your collection? Seems unwieldy to sell it all.......but if I were to purge, Id want to move it all including the junk.

mtcards · January 3, 2013 6:29AM

If I sold a hundred cards a day, I would still have more on average. I buy collections and end up with 95% junk out of it and sell them in bulk lots of 5000 cards for $10 and still cant get rid of them fast enough

Juggs · January 3, 2013 6:36AM

I did this roughly 13 years ago. I got married and thought I'd have no need for all of these "silly" cards I collected as a kid. I sold all the good stuff on ebay and then sold off all the rest to a card shop for basically nothing. I remember the card shop was the last stop and I immediately had remorse when I drove away.

Within 2 weeks I started buying stuff that I had sold because I had realized I didn't want to sell it. The only positive out of it is that a few years later I discovered BBCE and was able to replace most of my stuff that was somewhat worn with pack fresh stuff. There are things I sold that I likely won't be able to replace though, which is sad.

itzagoner · January 3, 2013 7:04AM

when i was 9 years old. i sold everything to an older kid down the block for 10 bucks so i could go buy stickers to put on my bike and my bedroom window.

my uncle wasn't too pleased. it was a collection of hundreds of Topps cards from the early 60's which he gave to me.

so i apologized and started over.

and never stopped.

johnckhall · January 3, 2013 9:25AM

I sold everything the week before Christmas . . . minus about five cards my son wanted to keep. I was spending way too much time and energy buying and obsessing with cards. I don't regret the decision and I am very pleased with all the dead presidents in my savings account instead of dead baseball players in a box. Seriously, I love the hobby but it was time to focus more on Faith and family. I still enjoy reading about everyones purchases though. Take care and God bless!

frankhardy · January 3, 2013 12:17PM

I never have sold my collection. I am not going to say that I never will, but I don't see me ever doing it willingly. It would have to be an emergency situation.

I have always been very focused on what I collect and really don't get sidetracked very often. I have worked on my Cardinals collection for over 10 years and I'm just really getting started good. I have 20 albums full of team sets. I also collect Topps complete sets. I have Topps and Topps Traded/Update sets from 2012 to 1972.

I could see me selling my Topps set run before I would sell my Cardinals collection. Some of those cards took years to find. I would hate to have to start over. Then again, I wouldn't want to sell my set run either because I got many of them from my parents as Christmas gifts. They get me a set every year of the new ones. It's kind of a tradition...they hand me a box and everybody knows that it is my set.

MBMiller25 · January 3, 2013 9:24PM

I sold off just about everything I own last year. I kept 5 really big cards that meant a lot to me, plus I kept 5 smaller cards that I just liked, I.E. Griffey UD PSA 10's, And lastly I kept the 75 HOF player set that I built and display in a case on my wall in my office, as frankly it looks like art work to me. Aside from that got rid of everything else on the boards, to include, supplies etc. I have no regrets.

goraiders · January 3, 2013 10:55PM

I have been ging back and forth with doing this for some time now,the registry
drug does not have a hold on me anymore,so am tinking of keeping a few and selling
the rest,who knows if I'll do it though.I look around and see alot of time and $$ and
enjoyment but got my eye on something in a different direction.

alifaxwa2 · January 3, 2013 11:00PM

I think about selling it all all the time. Currently going through a significant weed out of stuff that doesnt fit main PC.
I wish I had the strength to dump it all, but I am sure I would end up right back in it if I sold it all.

fiveniner · January 3, 2013 11:02PM

I have not sold entire collections howhever have sold parts of my collect only to repurchase many of them later.

bishop · January 3, 2013 11:12PM

I have decided to hold onto my stuff until Shane sells his

bobsbbcards · January 3, 2013 11:56PM

<< <i>I have decided to hold onto my stuff until Shane sells his >>

Not that this could be taken more than one way.......

totallyradd · January 4, 2013 1:33AM

I started collecting Brewers (and Brewers affiliates) bobbleheads about 10 years ago. I have 208 of the 225 and the way they give out bobbles now I've strongly considered selling all of them but a handful of my favorites. Milwaukee gives out 8 bobbles a year and 6 of them have alternates, tack on the minor league ones and suddenly there's 25 coming out a year. All the alternates and watering down the quality, it reminds me of the 90's card boom.

I haven't brought myself to a decision yet, but I'm much more interested in cards lately, and those take up much less space.

We'll see how it plays out.

FavreFan1971 · January 4, 2013 1:48AM

I have been mulling over refocusing the past 2-3 months. I am very close to pulling the trigger. I am in the same boat with JR. The registry is not the drug it once was. Completion is my drug and not even graded in some instances.

I have deleted some Packer team sets from the 50's 60's and 70's I am thinking of selling. Though I will have raw sets of these guys, just not graded. After I deleted them I realized it was stupid because I can use that as a selling tool. Anyhow, my focus is going to be Packer HOF and Pro Football HOF rookies graded. My Packer Raw collection is well over 25,000 strong but I don't have them in binders or anything. Really sucks, so organizing and purging is the key in 2013. Well, maybe some 2012 Topps Chrome Football sets to build.

You will see a sell thread from me shortly.

orioles93 · January 4, 2013 4:35AM

I didnt completely sell my collection, but about a year and a half ago, I downsized a ton. I sold off all my 50s and 60s commons except 52 topps and 59 topps. I had hundreds of commons just taking up space. I refocused my collection to hall of famers, big stars, and orioles /redskins stuff. Really happy i did that. Now I have less junk and stuff laying around, and more stuff that i enjoy and can look at easier.

BobH · January 4, 2013 7:21AM

I sold my entire collection minus my mantles back in the late ninety's. 70,71,72,74, 75(2 sets) 76,77,78,79,89UD,90 Leaf, 92 Bowman complete baseball sets plus the insert sets of the day. Diamond kings,Donruss elite, Fleer all stars soaring stars, refractors. ect ect. Hundreds of rookie cards of each: Griffeys,Bonds, McGuire's, Sosa's, Clemens, Mattingly,Thomas,Ramirez,Jeter,Rodriguez, Plus tons of Ripkens,Nolan Ryans,Boggs,Gwynn, and Puckets. All of my depressing PSA graded cards from the sixtys that i collected when i was a kid plus the purchases at card shows in the early eightys when no one cared about centering and corners. My only regret was my 61 baseball set that all the stars graded 7's and 8's and the commons, semi's, mvp's, c.l and teams were all really nice. But when they wanted over hundred dollars for a psa 8 #1 Dick Groat that was the last straw........... I found a really nice/fair guy at a show and he bought all the sets including the 61 and the psa cards. A client of mine who owned a card shop at the time took all the rest of it. I took the money and put a pretty good down payment down on a 2001 385hp ZO6 Corvette. Obviously to all I had no coherent plan on what i collected. I collected everything. I wish i would have put all that money and energy into 50's and 60's sets and stars. But it was alot of fun,lots of good memories sitting in woolworths.7 elevens and local grocery stores opening packs sitting on the floor with my friends. amazing we didn't get kicked out very often. The early eighty's shopping mall card shows, "Mr Mint Rosen",Holiday Inn card shows ect were pretty amazing. Well I'm back at it with some focus. 50's, 60's and 70's raw and psa stars. Some unopened wax and vending. Sold the corvette.

gemint · January 4, 2013 8:09AM

No.

Never considered it. Even when I defocused from the hobby a bit in my late teens and when I first met my wife, I still held onto what I had collected. A lot of my collection would be hard to replace. Not that I couldn't find the same cards in the same grade but I would have a hard time finding those cards with the same eye appeal.

Goodsport40 · January 4, 2013 9:54AM

I sold or gave away all my cards in 2012 except for about 20 raw favorites from 1970-75. No regrets.

I may pick up some more favorites from the 70's from time to time. I really like to see what everyone picks up here on the boards.

Robert

illinifan912 · January 4, 2013 9:55AM

this is an interesting topic for me. I actually sold 99.8% of my card collection in November and December 2012 and I'm hoping to start up more smarter in 2013

mattinglymint23 · January 4, 2013 12:08PM

I'm getting close to a major downsize and refocus on hof and stars then I start sorting through the high grade 71 75 and 56 commons I have and just gaze at the crisp edges and good centering and opt to hunt for more raw lots to to mine. Sucks I got involved late in the raw to graded hunt but there are still a few out there worth finding.
I will downsize and refocus at some point but not leave it all together.

Sabrgeek · January 4, 2013 6:49PM

Done it before -- will do it again.

Rich

Have you ever sold every card you own and just started over?

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