I've decided to sell the Mattingly collection.

For those who don't know, I've been a Don Mattingly collector since I started collecting cards. I've amassed over 1700 different cards including 113 different autos and 124 different game-used card. I also have countless bobbleheads, figures, baseballs; anything with his face on it, I wanted it. I was one of the collectors lucky enough to be included in the April 2007 Beckett player collector issue for my Mattingly collection.

I haven't added a Mattingly card to the collection in almost a year. I've looked on Ebay off and on, but didn't find anything that really excited me. I was looking through some of the autographed cards I have and just didn't feel the connection that I used to with them.

So I own this card shop now and would love to try some new things and maybe expand as far as some of the things I carry. This takes extra money. So, I'm pretty sure (like 95%) I'm going to type up my Mattingly list and list it this weekend. I'll probably keep one or two of the special things, but the rest will go.

Have any other player collectors felt like this or even done this? How successful were you in listing it? Any ideas on price I should ask for?

Thanks for humoring me here. I think I'm still trying to talk myself into this.

Oh man! You've got one heck of a Mattingly collection. I'm sad to hear you are selling it off!!

Good luck in future (card store) endeavors!

-Jason

Where is your store located? It is funny that you mentioned you were selling your Mattingly's because I currently have one listed in my auctions.

listing a collection like that is always difficult - you are leaving money on the table if you put it in a lot, yet if you sell it out individually, you'll flood the market and not make as much as if you could expanding it over a couple months.

a person i recommend talking to about this is MOFNY as he just sold his Oswalt collection but still frequents the boards.

Phishmon23 said:

Oh man! You've got one heck of a Mattingly collection. I'm sad to hear you are selling it off!!

Good luck in future (card store) endeavors!

-Jason

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Thanks Jason. You're is pretty amazing, too.

And I'm still not 100% convinced..lol. But I want to make my shop big time.

KLARNOLD said:

Where is your store located? It is funny that you mentioned you were selling your Mattingly's because I currently have one listed in my auctions.

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My shop is in Topeka, KS. It's one of two here, although the other one has mostly NASCAR and sells by the case more.

markakis8 said:

listing a collection like that is always difficult - you are leaving money on the table if you put it in a lot, yet if you sell it out individually, you'll flood the market and not make as much as if you could expanding it over a couple months.

a person i recommend talking to about this is MOFNY as he just sold his Oswalt collection but still frequents the boards.

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Still working on that. I have sold many other cards beyond the Oswalts, and I still have many Oswalts to sell. Still waiting for the best time.

markakis8 said:

listing a collection like that is always difficult - you are leaving money on the table if you put it in a lot, yet if you sell it out individually, you'll flood the market and not make as much as if you could expanding it over a couple months.

a person i recommend talking to about this is MOFNY as he just sold his Oswalt collection but still frequents the boards.

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Thanks for the tip. I'd prefer to sell it as a lot and just get rid of all of it in one sale. But I also understand that is very difficult to do. And as far as flooding the market, there are already plenty of Mattingly autos available, so I'd just be adding to the supply.

Like someone said earlier, the best way is to piece it out gradually over time. One of my fellow Will Clark fans did the same thing with his collection, literally 3 to 5 at a time, for the last couple of years. It takes a long time, but it gets the most out of your collection, he has done REALLY well with this approach. Just depends on your financial situation and whether or not you have the ability to peace it out over that long of a period. It's kind of like the lottery. Lump sum is quick, easy, and gets you that 1 big chunk of money. Taking the money over a long period of time gets you the most money though.

I was a big Latrell Sprewell collector and a couple years ago decided to get rid of it all.

So I listed 1 auction for a pretty rare card with a big buy it now and put in the subtitle "Selling entire Sprewell collection. Over 800 different cards".

Best 50 cents I ever spent. Proceeded to receive emails from 3 prominent Sprewell collectors, 1 in Arizona and 2 in Australia. They proceeded to pay me a great amount for everything I had that they wanted. And it was ALL off of ebay.

So that is my suggestion.

clarkfan said:

Like someone said earlier, the best way it to piece it out gradually over time. One of my fellow Will Clark fans did the same thing with his collection, literally 3 to 5 at a time, for the last couple of years. It takes a long time, but it gets the most out of your collection, he has done REALLY well with this approach. Just depends on your financial situation and whether or not you have the ability to peace it out over that long of a period. It's kind of like the lottery. Lump sum is quick, easy, and gets you that 1 big chunk of money. Taking the money over a long period of time gets you the most money though.

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It's not so much a financial issue, although fast money never hurts. It may sound strange, but it's more emotional. If I could just sell the entire collection to one person who I knew would appriciate it, I would just feel alot better about it. I liken it to removing a bandaid..if you do it fast, it's far less painful.

Oh man Shark! That's a heckuva big decision to make but its exciting for you to have opportunities to make money dealing in something you genuinely enjoy. Wow. Good luck whatever you decide to do. How long has the shop been open? I don't recall hearing about it before but I'm not around as much as I used to be either. What's your "vision" of what you want your store to be in the long run and how will selling the Mattinglys help achieve that?

tonsofcommons said:

I was a big Latrell Sprewell collector and a couple years ago decided to get rid of it all.

So I listed 1 auction for a pretty rare card with a big buy it now and put in the subtitle "Selling entire Sprewell collection. Over 800 different cards".

Best 50 cents I ever spent. Proceeded to receive emails from 3 prominent Sprewell collectors, 1 in Arizona and 2 in Australia. They proceeded to pay me a great amount for everything I had that they wanted. And it was ALL off of ebay.

So that is my suggestion.

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That's a pretty great idea. Maybe list my Sweet Spot auto 1/1 with a high BIN and advertise what I'm doing.

I didn't put anything in there about "email for list" or anything like that for fear that Ebay would yank my auction. I just said in the body "Selling entire Sprewell collection of jerseys, autos, rare cards, etc." and let the money flow in.

Brewer Andy said:

Oh man Shark! That's a heckuva big decision to make but its exciting for you to have opportunities to make money dealing in something you genuinely enjoy. Wow. Good luck whatever you decide to do. How long has the shop been open? I don't recall hearing about it before but I'm not around as much as I used to be either. What's your "vision" of what you want your store to be in the long run and how will selling the Mattinglys help achieve that?

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Thanks Andy. Good seeing you again.

I opened the shop on May 1. I actually just bought it out from the previous owner, who was at the same location and have had many of the same customers for 15 years. And I worked here on weekends while he was away at shows, so everyone pretty much knew me anyway. It was a pretty good situation to walk into.

My vision is to be the premiere card shop in the Kansas/Missouri/Nebraska region for starters. I want people to think of me first when they think of where they can go for anything hobby related (besides online, but I want to build an online base as well).

Selling the collection would basically just give me extra capital to work with. I'd much rather do that than take out a bank loan, to be perfectly honest.

And like I said above, I just don't have the connection that I used to have with the collection. I've started a University of Kentucky basketball collection and I'm having so much more fun with that.

bracken is selling his entire collection and has been doing so for months. He lists about 100 cards a week all auction style. He also has a lot of super rare ryan cards, so there are many people who check his auctions out every week, grabbing him extra imcome.

There is also another big ryan seller who sells all of his cards to build his collection. He buys cards and then lists them back up for twice the price. He has so much stuff that he does pretty well and many people will buy multiple items from him to save on shipping.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

I have collected mattingly ever since I was a kid as well. I focus on getting as many copies of 1984 - 1986 I can get. Good luck and if you got some stuff your getting rid of that would look good in a man room send me a pm please

Don't do it!! If you absolutely have to do it for financial reasons then go ahead but if not you'll regret it in the long run. I've known collectors that can sell and never look back and i've known a few who have started all over again weeks after they sold. The odds are you will probably lose money in the long run.

If you have that many Mattingly cards then some love of the collection kept you going over the years. I suggest you try to rekindle the fire by doing something like making a website or something to try and reconnect. If, however, you feel that it will truly benefit you in the long run then make the sacrifice.

Hate to see a player collector fade away and an 80's player collector is even tougher.

Agreed! I don't know if I could part with my Will Clark collection. It's never been about the money for me and I just couldn't justify selling it unless I absolutely had to. I'd find another way. Now, I do get bored from time to time b/c sometimes its a struggle to find something that I need, but something usually inspires me to keep going or I find something else to pursue while the Clark hunting isn't as strong. Certified autographs or cards to resell usually keeps me going.