How has your collection & philosophy of collecting changed in 2015?

[mouschi]

Across several boards, I've heard the question "What are your goals of 2016?" I haven't seen questions about 2015 though ... maybe I'm just blind though

In 2015, how has your collection, and your philosophy on collecting changed?

Here is my answer:

I went from (almost) nothing to ... a ton.
Looking back on my blog posts, mine has changed like crazy. I went from almost nothing to a massive, meaningful (to me) collection. I have also re-connected with the emotional side of collecting as well. Being a reseller for several years, I completely forgot what it was like to have an emotional connection to certain cards. I have developed a softer spot for player collectors.

For the first time also, I have constructed a checklist that I live by. A switch has been turned on.

When searching eBay, if a card comes up that I have interest in, my decision to buy has gone from

"Oh, that's a cool card ... maybe I'll get it!"

to

"Ack! I don't have that one! Gotta get it!"

Another thing that I have noticed (maybe this is nothing new, or maybe the tide is turning) is that collectors are becoming less and less concerned about checklisted and "book value" items for their collections, and more interested in things that are visually appealing to them. I've had a ton of interest in people having me do custom card / art pieces for their collections. Some of them are at the expense of valuable cards with high book values. Last year, I would have never dreamed that such heresy would have existed in the collecting community, yet more and more people keep sending me their bigger $ cards to be hacked up! Hey, I'm not complaining - I've enjoyed the heck out of it!

So, how has your collection, and your philosophy on collecting changed in 2015?

 

[jszczech]

I've slowed down tremendously on buying high end Puckett cards. I still add cards but I don't buy 15 or more autos a year anymore. Part of the reason is that stuff I don't have doesn't pop up much but the biggest reason is that prices got out of control and I just couldn't afford it.

 

[fordman]

The number one reason I do this is for the fun! I have taken the whole "this card is worth this and that one is worth that" aspect out of my PC. I really enjoy my collection as well as seeing others.

The one thing that has changed about my collecting habits is that my PC player has tanked the last few years in performance. His card prices have plummeted, therefore getting big cards at a fraction of what they were two-three years ago. Those that sunk big $$$ into his cards are trying to get the same back out of them but finding out there is little to no interest at the price point they have them for sale at. Since coming back into the hobby in late 2012, I've been PC'ing my player going forward since then, now, I'm going back to 2008 and filling the voids in for pennies. I'm getting stuff in the mail almost every other day if not every day. I've spent more on shipping charges than on the cards themselves with 90% of what I've bought this year.

2016 looks to be more of the same for me but I'm going to include my 9 yr olds baseball team a little more by giving them packs of card after each game. Possible taking them to see Pete Rose in Feb at a local signing as well. See if Pete can give the players as a group some words of wisdom (don't gamble).

Fordman

 

[16christensen16]

Collecting to me is FUN!!!!! I really concentrated this year on having fun wi my cards and purchases. I cared less about what cards cost and more about how much fun they will be in my collection! Some of that has led me to "destroying cards" in order to make custom cards that suit my collection. I assure you I enjoy all of these custom cards very much.

Another thing i have have done is I have slowly started winding down a portion of my collection and am concentrating on a few specific areas.

 

[DaClyde]

I think I did a fairly OK job of making my hobby fund itself. I've tried very hard to only spend money on cards that was made from selling cards, both to reduce the pile of junk I've accumulated over the last 20 years, and also just to not hemorrhage money.

The only real exception to that was the Metz Bakery original art of Dave Winfield. But that's @mouschi's fault.

 

[mouschi]

Collecting to me is FUN!!!!! I really concentrated this year on having fun wi my cards and purchases. I cared less about what cards cost and more about how much fun they will be in my collection! Some of that has led me to "destroying cards" in order to make custom cards that suit my collection. I assure you I enjoy all of these custom cards very much.

Another thing i have have done is I have slowly started winding down a portion of my collection and am concentrating on a few specific areas.

I love it! I have you and a small handful of other folks to thank for commissioning me to do some pretty wild things with bigger pieces. I can't have a higher compliment than having a big-time collector with high dollar cards in their collection say that my work is among their favorite cards they own.

I think I did a fairly OK job of making my hobby fund itself. I've tried very hard to only spend money on cards that was made from selling cards, both to reduce the pile of junk I've accumulated over the last 20 years, and also just to not hemorrhage money.

The only real exception to that was the Metz Bakery original art of Dave Winfield. But that's @mouschi's fault.

LOL - I still have mine displayed. It is a thing of beauty!

 

[banjar]

I would echo most of mouschi's original post. I started a player collection (R. Alomar) around 1990, but gave up on it around 1996 as the sheer number of cards issued - and their prices - got to be too much for a college student. It sat idle until early 2015 when I pulled it out of the closet and starting thumbing through cards. I remembered how much fun it was to see the variety of cards that companies came up with, how gratifying it was to finally track down that hard to find oddball or parallel, and all that. The emotional connection. Plus now I have a real job, and...the internet! Turns out Robbie had gotten into the HOF in 2011, and I didn't even know that.

So in 2015 I dove back in with both feet, and went from ~400 unique cards to almost 2900. In addition to satisfying my own personal brand of OCD, it is just a blast to open the mail and finally fill that long lost hole in the collection, and wrapping my head around all the sets from the last 20 years. Bits of jerseys embedded in cards? 2004 Leaf Exhibits?? One of Ones??? $2000 boxes with 8 cards inside???? Gack. But I find it all fascinating. I even joined this message board .

2015 was a lot of fun, but I still face certain fiscal realities. So from here onward I am going to slow it down a bit. The cards I'm missing now are getting expensive, and I have the rest of my life to work on this peculiar hobby. So if it takes a little longer to find that missing card at a reasonable price (hello vintagesnowmobiles!) then that will be alright.

Happy new year to everybody...

 

[16christensen16]

Well mouschi I have a couple more wild ideas getting tossed around in my mind for next year!

 

[Hawk8]

Maybe one day I will pick up that Dawson Museum Jumbo Tag and get you to make a custom out of it for me

 

[mouschi]

Well mouschi I have a couple more wild ideas getting tossed around in my mind for next year!

Sounds good to me!

 

[mouschi]

Maybe one day I will pick up that Dawson Museum Jumbo Tag and get you to make a custom out of it for me

Would be sweet!

 

[predatorkj]

I haven't lost interest but I've gotten a heck of a lot pickier. The majority of what I buy now is either autos or patches. Pick up rookies I don't have of players I collect as well. I focus on football and basketball more.

Bagwell is still my big focus but with his inclusion in new sets, 90% of my pickups are new cards and not stuff from his playing days.

 

[mrmopar]

I go in phases, but it seems in the last couple of years, I think more and more about how the fun seems to be slowly disappearing in the hobby for me. I think about the possibility of trying to sell things, but the daunting reality usually grounds me. When I do drift away from my primary focus, I can finds all kinds of fun things to buy, which is dangerous. I wonder if trying a new focus wouldn't help spice it up, but I feel that at this point in my life, it is not a good idea.

I, like everyone else, have faced stiffer competition when the entire world is your foe, since I found ebay back in the late 90s and it also seems to go in phases. I am finding that there is less time that I am not battling someone or several people for everything, all the time, at higher prices than I would like. I control this to a point, based on how much I want to spend, but when you back off the pedal, you lose more often. When you mash the pedal, you go broke!! That naturally sucks the fun out of it somewhat as most of what I want now is odd or limited, so if you don't make a serious run the first time, you may not get another chance for a long time, if ever again. I want to spend less on the collection like anyone else, so this is just a tough issue to face. How bad do you really want that next item???

I moved my collection from a fairly good sized "double" bonus room into a cramped spare bedroom, so getting to anything is now a chore, which makes it harder to share and enjoy the collection. I want to remind myself what cool gems I got back in the day by looking through my player files, but they are buried. I yearn for the room to lay out 10-15 5K boxes side by side and leave them there until I am done with them and not have to stack them 10-12 high just to get them out of the way. my ultimate goal before I die or rid myself of the collection is to finally consolidate all of my singles into alphabetical order and have the ability to check and see if I have that 1990 Fleer error card or that 1997 subset card simply by walking to an organized, shelved system where I can pull single box w/o having to move 30 to get to it! This is a goal I may never meet….

Here is to hoping I can continue to enjoy it, organize a bit more and not overspend in 2016.

 

[dano7]

I stayed pretty true to form for 2015. I think the biggest difference was the interaction with other IP collectors at the ballpark in Salem. They started to become like family!
DANNY

 

[mchenrycards]

I had literally over a half million cards left over from when I had a card shop and closed it down in 2003. These cards have been sitting in boxes in my parents garage since then, all virtually untouched but that was before we had to sell my mom's house this past fall. I had to make many many trips with my pickup truck to bring them all home to my garage and in doing this, the shear amount of cards became real to me and I knew I had to do something.

I had intended to go through each and every box and pull anything that was sellable and spend time at flea markets, card shows and Ebay, selling what I could. Well that quickly went out the window as I went through boxes and pulled cards I thought may have value but in reality didn't sell for much on line. So now I have been going through and pulling cards for sets I have been working on or have interest in and leaving everything else as it is. Unless it's a Tom Brady rookie (which I have found a few) or other larger dollar cards everything else gets put back in the box. I have already sold off about 175K of cards as a bulk purchase and plan on doing the same with the remaining inventory some time this summer. I just do not have the time or motivation to piece these cards out and make a few bucks here and there. So I have gone from a seller philosophy to a "just get it outta here" and let me concentrate on being a collector once again.

 

[Austin]

I rarely buy cards anymore, except for the occasional Topps packs, but I consider myself as much of a collector and hobbyist as ever.

That's because I've learned to stop searching eBay and worrying about buying cards or filling in checklists, and now just enjoy what I have.

I built a massive collection over the past 30 years. (Collecting seriously since the summer of '85). And I have booksheleves and bookshelves of complete sets in binders (as far back as '58 Topps) that I love looking through.

One night, I'll pull out my '87 Fleer set binder and page through it while all the memories of the players and building the set and trading and that season and going to Rangers games with my Dad and brother fill my head with happiness.

Or I'll bring the '58 Topps set to my parents' house during Christmas vacation and my Dad will tell me all about the players he grew up watching. I built that set because it was his favorite as a child, so it has special meaning to me and he loves reminiscing.

I page through my many binders of 2,000+ autographed cards from in person at shows, games and events, and through the mail, and remember where and how I got each one.

My collection is about memories and the past, not about the future of making it better and spending more money on cards I don't need.

Except for the base Topps cards I buy each year, my collection is basically complete and I'm happy about that, since I never get tired of looking through it.

 

[magicpapa]

From This...............

To This....................

 

[mchenrycards]

I rarely buy cards anymore, except for the occasional Topps packs, but I consider myself as much of a collector and hobbyist as ever.

That's because I've learned to stop searching eBay and worrying about buying cards or filling in checklists, and now just enjoy what I have.

I built a massive collection over the past 30 years. (Collecting seriously since the summer of '85). And I have booksheleves and bookshelves of complete sets in binders (as far back as '58 Topps) that I love looking through.

One night, I'll pull out my '87 Fleer set binder and page through it while all the memories of the players and building the set and trading and that season and going to Rangers games with my Dad and brother fill my head with happiness.

Or I'll bring the '58 Topps set to my parents' house during Christmas vacation and my Dad will tell me all about the players he grew up watching. I built that set because it was his favorite as a child, so it has special meaning to me and he loves reminiscing.

I page through my many binders of 2,000+ autographed cards from in person at shows, games and events, and through the mail, and remember where and how I got each one.

My collection is about memories and the past, not about the future of making it better and spending more money on cards I don't need.

Except for the base Topps cards I buy each year, my collection is basically complete and I'm happy about that, since I never get tired of looking through it.

Awesome! Simply awesome!

 

[Hawk8]

From This...............

To This....................

Noooo!!!!

 

[magicpapa]

Noooo!!!!