Have you ever wanted to just sell your Autograph collection?
 

hey guys,
I had an interesting conversation with a co-worker and it got me to thinking.We were talking about my autograph collection and the conversation turned into whats going to happen to your collection in 30-40 years? and a you came into this world with nothing and you will leave this world with nothing conversation so why collect and spend money on autographs that you cant take with you. then i was looking at some threads about long time collectors in our hobby and also about people who have bought long time collections from the estates of collectors and it all got me to thinking. i wonder if i should sell everything in my collection as its all just possessions and material things? (im already selling of my doubles and cards/items i no longer want) but holding onto my favorite items. at first i was thinking about just handing down my items in 30-40 years to my children, but they dont have the passion in collecting autographs that i do. so i was thinking is is best to just sell of ones collection and enjoy the money now or best to just keep collecting autographs that will sit in boxes and albums for decades? have you ever gotten to a point where you wanted to just sell off your collection and be done with the hobby? i actually see both sides of the coin. one side says this has been my passion for almost 40 years! another side says why collect things that you cant take with you when you leave this earth (part of de cluttering ones life from earthly possessions) then i think, this is what ive loved all these decades it would be so strange not to collect, then i think, it would be really nice to just sell everything and enjoy the money now versus some other collector/person inheriting my collection and making money on it later! what are your guys thoughts on this subject? just wondering if others ever felt this way too? thanks

Have you ever wanted to just sell your Autograph collection?
 

All the time because of fakes etc and whether my passion was still in it


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I agree with both of you (BTW if you live in Hawaii we should get together sometime). In some ways my collection controls my life but it is probably worth at least a few hundred thousand and to sell it would take the rest of my life unless I dumped it on an auction house. Just selling dupes and some of the thousands of signed cards of non HOFers over the past year- is just the tip of the iceberg. If someone handed me fair market value for the whole thing I would think about it seriously. Some of the joy is in the hunt and getting items I need is few and far between these days and prices on the items I need are way above what I am usually willing to pay.
The fakes are very depressing and even tho the vast majority of mine are fine- I would love to wake up one day and have all the ones that are not real just disappear. But I have met some great folks too and I am still addicted at 63.

I haven't thought about selling off the whole thing. Bits and pieces I've lost interest in to pay for things I do want, yes, but unless something seriously goes haywire I'll hold on to it. I figure if my kids are interested in collecting, I can pass it down to them and if they aren't (or if I never have kids) I'll dump it on an auction house.

I struggle with this same decision all the time...I have downsized my HOF collection quite a bit to pick up more high end pieces that I enjoy more. Having 3 little girls (6, 4, 10 months), I have also shifted a focus to Presidents as another means of interest to them in the case that baseball isn't their cup of tea.

the problem is when you try to sell them in most cases you will not get offered what you want and you realize that you enjoy collecting them as a hobby and not about money....

I think about it all the time. I enjoy collecting immensely but if someone wanted to offer me the right amount they can take the whole thing off my hands. I'll even load your car up for you!

I have thought about it a lot recently...as we had a sudden death in the family and are trying to clean out the estate

Thank you all for your posts, some very good thoughts! I am glad to see that others have the same problem as me as for a long time i thought i was the only person in the world that has this dilemma. so glad to see im not alone!

For me its hard as this hobby has been a lifelong passion for me for almost 40 years since i was a small child. one reason im not sure if i really want to sell my collection completely is that i feel that if i do sell everything, i will miss it and will just try to buy everything all over again!

There are so many pros and cons to keeping/selling a collection. I feel that buying autographs is like buying a brand new car. once you buy an autograph in most cases (not all) it goes down in value as no one seems to want to pay fair market value for autographs anymore. it seems like everyone wants autographs for dirt cheap (but will sell theirs for alot! its the whole low book value for your cards and high book value for my cards!) trying selling something on EBAY and i swear if I pay $100 for a card, i would be very lucky to get $25-$30 for it! we would all be broke if regular investments had that kind of depreciation! it seems like the only people making money on sports cards are the sellers im buying them from!

for me personally, it comes down to im just tired of living paycheck to paycheck because i buy so many cards! lots debt because of baseball cards as im not very patient and need a card i want right now! that mentality has racked up alot of credit card bills for me.

One big eye opener for me was when my tires got bald and i needed to buy new tires, i had no money too. i had no money in my savings account, no more credit on the credit cards but i had lots and lots of albums and boxes of baseball cards! my wife said why dont you sell some of your extras to pay for the tires. so i did and guess what? i sold enough cards to buy some tires! it was a great feeling to get rid of some of my extra cards to buy some much needed tires. then i saw this nice radio that i wanted. again i had no money, no savings and no more credit left! so, i sold some cards and guess what? i and extra money to get that radio! i did the same for a new pair of shoes, soon, i started listing more and selling more and to be honest i kind of like the extra money to do and buy different things i "really" need.

another big eye opener is when my mom recently passed away she had soooo much stuff. we donated half of it and just threw away the other stuff. the people in her nursing home who probably at one time in their life had possessions and collectibles. were laying there dying with not one of them. i saw with my own eyes that in the end, you cant take your things with you, not even baseball cards! its so true we come into the world with nothing and we can take nothing with us.

The big dilemma for me now is. i have two choices keep all my very favorite autographs and continue to live paycheck to paycheck, continue to be in debt and have no savings or sell my entire collection and for once be debt free, have a savings an no longer live paycheck to paycheck. selling all my cards will finally get me out of debt and allow me to have a clean slate financially, but ill miss my cards! see the dilemma?

oh what to do, what to do? your thoughts please.

If your overstock problem is as big as you're making it out to be, then it sounds to me like the thing to do is go through what you've got, decide what you want to collect/keep, and begin looking to sell some or all of the rest. You don't need to sell your entire collection; only what you aren't interested in anymore and would rather have the money.

While I am much more of a card collector than an autograph collector but I think about this all the time. What I have realized over the years is that most of the thrill of collecting (at least for me) is actually collecting not just owning. I love the thrill of the hunt. To find a rare item or build a set or collection based around something, that's fun.

Many times I am laser focused on a project but once completed it get stored and barely looked at since my focus changes.

I have sold parts, both large and small, of my collection in the past to fund an experience. For example, about two years ago I sold half of my HOF card collection and gave the money to my wife for her 49th birthday to take a trip of her choice. She planned and took a trip last year that she wouldn't have done otherwise. We still talk about everything that we did on the trip but I rarely look back at the pictures of the cards I had to sell to fund it.

The only things I won't sell is items that were given to me along the way. My wife has given me some amazing pieces in my collection and they are among the most treasured to me. My mom only ever gave me one card in her life before she passed away but I would never sell it or get rid of it even though it has almost no real monetary value anymore. (1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa rc).

It almost seems to me that you are starting to see this in your collection. Sell off some things that owning isn't as fun as when you found them and buy something needed or fund a new desire.

It is all cyclical. What I worry the most is passing on suddenly and leaving my collection for my wife and kids to figure out what to do with. None of them have any interest in it at this point so the burden for them to sell seems great.

Drew

i have already done that. im at a point now that i need to decide, sell my best stuff and become debt free or keep it and enjoy it but stay in debt. ive already listed and sols alot of my extras, now its getting down to the good stuff and my favorite stuff that i have to decide to hold or sell. thanks

drew,
i totally agree with you. i sold some cards once to take my wife and kids on a trip and it was a great time and it only cost me some baseball cards! like you mentioned, the trip we still talk about and to be honest i cant even tell you what cards i happened to sell, i totally dont miss those cards! thanks for posting.

About 10 years ago I decided to sell off my entire collection. A 1953-1975 complete Topps baseball run, several boxes of vintage HOF cards, and over 100 HOF autographs. On the ride home after completing the transaction I started having regrets. And after another year or so passed I just couldn't take it anymore. I've since spent the last 7 or 8 years buying back all the sets and cards I got rid of. I guess for me it will always be more about the journey than the destination.

Just my opinion, but by reading your posts it sounds more like your priorities rather than selling/keeping your collection. I think we all, at one point or another think about selling their entire collection, at least I do from time to time. I personally enjoy collecting, but it's not my priority.

Now, is collecting a "hobby" or is it your priority? Getting into debt because of card purchases sounds like cards/autos are a priority, even if your thought or mind says it's not (just going on what you are writing, i.e. read above). You said you take nothing into this life and you take nothing out and that's very true. You know you can't take tires or a radio with you as well (just a thought).

If you're concerned about leaving your family with your collection to sell, since they may or may not be interested in it. Then set up something beforehand with an auction house or trustworthy individual to sell the collection. If not, start selling, but then again, you can't take money with you either.

I consider myself an autograph 'renter' rather than a 'collector'. I love the chase. Learning about a new niche of players to collect or about that particular medium (Albertype postcards, Perez Steele's, Callahan's, Rookie cards). Who's tough to get in that set? Etc. But once I get going, I always find myself selling for hopefully more but if I lose $, I chalk it up to paying for the experience of researching, haggling, searching, etc.

I love my HOF autos but more and more I think about selling due to an increasing feeling that the market for them is gonna drop out all of a sudden. It has also been so hard to add to the collection anymore.

Though I'm prepared for bidding in REA tomorrow. There are worse monkeys to have on one's back...

Thanks guys for posting. True you can't take money with you as well, but at least with money you can sure enjoy life now doing fun things an taking trips with the family etc. and your right I can't take tires and a radio with me but also I can't drive a car with bald tires either! The radio was just one example of how nice it was to sell cards and use that money to buy something I could use daily without having to pull money out of my pocket to pay for it . I don't miss the cards I sold to pay for the tires or radio but I feel I might miss
My favorites cards if I sell them. But on the other side of the coin it would be nice to be sent free.

Unless you are collecting cards in the same way someone would invest in stocks- I wouldn't go into debt to buy. That is insane. get all the "necessities of life" taken care of first, and your family stuff

Trust me I know this....Depending on the pieces, you need to know that going into it.

Priorities
 

What you stated is showing my point of priorities in life. What is your first, second, third, etc. priority? This will show what's important to you. Getting into debt purchasing auto/cards would show this as a priority. Now, I'm sure that's likely not your chosen priority, even though this is occurring. So then change the priority and do what you need to do to "enjoy life now doing fun things", "taking trips w/the family, etc.". Usually that's a change in your thought process. Change your mind on things you "want" to things that you "need in life" or what is "important in life".

Just a side note I fell into some of the same situations you're discussing here and I had to change; so it's from personal past experience. I no long "need" everything that is out there that's collectible. I choose to purchase what I can afford and still have needs met and the enjoyment caring for and being w/ family.

Having seen you post on different boards over the last couple of years, it seems to me that you are not into "collecting" for the enjoyment of the collection. I'm not sure what your end game is, but you definitely seem to flip-flop around a lot. First you are buying any and all Dodgers at any price just to get them, then you are selling them. You wanted signed Diamond Kings, then Perez Steele, then 8x10s only, all the while you frequently talk about liquidating everything. You also seem to need or value the input of near strangers for collecting decisions, which is fine, I suppose, but it should be about what you want.

This is also the first I have seen of you actually needing to sell cards to meet the necessities of life. if that is the case, then you really should sell it all and enjoy the "finer" things, since cards don't seem to be providing that enjoyment to you any longer, if they ever did.

My opinion is that you should not have to sell something like a card collection to fund tires or groceries for example or you should not be amassing large debt by collecting. I can see funding a special vacation or something like that where it is an unnecessary expense and you are trading unnecessary cards for unnecessary entertainment, but you should always be able to buy the essentials and if that money is going towards cards and signatures, then your priorities are askew.

.
I love my HOF autos but more and more I think about selling due to an increasing feeling that the market for them is gonna drop out all of a sudden. It has also been so hard to add to the collection anymore.

This is why I dont think we have even come close to the peak. Collectors realizing how tough these are to come by. Barring someone selling their collection, its hard even to add on or two and the same names appear on every want list

Thank you all for yoyr responses. You are right curt , I do flip flop a lot because I don't know if I wntvto keep my collection. Or sell it, hence why I started this thread. I think maybe I need to get my priorities straight and also focus on one or two projects to collect Instead of 4 or 5 projects. And just sell the rest to pay down debt and enjoy life. I think 1 or 2 projects is enough and will keep me focused and not so spread outside with my collecting.

Bam Bam,

Sorry, but I don't know your real name.
Virtually every collector reaches a fork in the road where you come to the realize that you can't collect everything for several reasons including the monetary side of things.

You are best to find a focus that really interests you and knock the crap out of that theme. At the end of the day you will find yourself enjoying the hobby more. ;)

Another consideration is resale. I realize when I win some auctions that I am probably not going to recoup my investment when I sell, but I also win some auctions 'knowing' I will do well breaking down the lots and reselling. In the end it seems to even out or make a modest profit. I just take it case by case. I've had some of my cards since I was a kid, some of them since I was a young adult at my first job with more money [a laughably small amount but seemed immense after 7 years of living the life of a poor student] than I could spend, and others I go into and get out of virtually overnight.

In the end it is all just 'stuff' and I try never to let having stuff trump having a life. There was a fellow here, now not, who publicly espoused the opposite view and he led a sad little life indeed.

A collector friend of mine who had a massive collection decided to down size substantially a few years ago. One thing he said that struck me when we were discussing it is: "Cards don't love you back"

NOR do they hold grudges or complain!

THAT IS HIS REAL NAME, and the appropriate form of address would be

Aloha, Bam Bam

Good to know about his name, Frank! ;)
I certainly wouldn't have guessed it...

Hi Bam Bam, Personally I think you should change your name to Joe Rockhead...:D

You shouldn't have ANY credit card debt and if you are up to your limit, you should sell EVERYTHING to pay it off PERIOD> Giving the banks 10-25% interest on your credit card debt is MORONIC. Not having money for tires is just plain stupid and irresponsible. Things come up every month and credit cards are for monthly emergencies and for items you can easily pay off when the bill comes. This is Econ 101. I'm sorry you have to hear it from Fudd, but I feel bad for you. You should sell EVERYTHING and get yourself out of debt, especially credit card debt, the worst kind. You have NO F YOU fund and you are 1 emergency or job loss away from bankruptcy.:o

Sell Mortimer, sell sell sell.

Agree with Fudd. If you can't pay for tires, yet have a house full of collectibles, you need to re-prioritize. Certainly there are some things you can easily sell without missing them too much. If you can't pay for something with cash, you can't afford it.

We haven't carried a credit card balance in many years. Yep... I've probably missed out on a few items because I didn't have enough cash in my fun account at the time, but it's a great feeling not having credit card bills.

http://www.daveramsey.com/home/

:)

Leads to another topic.... How does one build their fun account? Is it only from items you sell? Do you get an "allowance" each payday? Just curious how others work, specifically when you have another half.

We budget accordingly each month and have a set amount for "Fun/Spending"....Depending on your income this can get you pretty far in your collecting hobby or force you to look back to your 13 year old self and save up to get what you want. I have been collecting since I was an early teen, so the sheer amount of "stuff" I have collected has recently been sold to put the money towards other pieces.

I recommend factoring in any debt you have to the budget and aggressively get that taken care of before you begin making any major purchases. Once you are debt free and can budget for "fun things", your life will be much easier. :D I know it could be "easier said than done", but the way I look at it, if you are in debt then you don't need that next autograph or card. :(

I can identify with . . .
 

.

Bam Bam. It is when a passion crosses over the line and becomes an obsession, and then an addition, that priorities become meaningless.

I wasn't going to comment much about this, but have had a change of heart, because this points towards an ugly truth, and is also personal.

At that point, there is only one priority; acquire that next item. It does not mean that "right choices" are not recognized, but that choosing is a
tormenting battle within. I have been there. Twice. And both times I sold a wonderful collection (first time coins; second time vintage baseball cards) inorder
to pay off the outstanding debt used to acquire those treasures, and to try and start clean again. Twenty-two years later, I now (happily) have a
small autograph collection, and virtually no debt.

Am I looking for sympathy or praise, or condone such action ? Absolutely not. I knew right from wrong, made poor choices and paid the consequences for
them. But whether I admit it or not, I had an addiction. And most days, it was a tormenting struggle.

So my advice for Bam Bam, realize you may have an addiction, and seek help.

Thanks.

I agree with everyone saying you need to take a step back and re-prioritize. I am pretty sure I would sell and get out of debt if I were you. I don't think I would quit collecting. I would start again with a portion of disposable income and make sure not to get into debt again.

One thing to think about: As long as you are in debt, you're basically paying a tax for holding your collection. You could do the math on how much $ you are paying each year on interest, and see just how much your collection is costing you. You're basically paying rent on having the collection. If you sell everything except for your favorite couple items and start again but this time within your means, you'll save a ton of money.

Scott, don't you know that when you get to a fork in the road, you take it? LOL

thanks guys for your responses i appreciate it. i wanted to clarify one thing. my credit card debt is NOT from buying cards. it is from unexpected life emergencies and other expenses but NOT from card collecting. i was using that as a reference to explain or ask, why do i have debt but a ton of cards meaning should i sell off my collection to pay off my debt. since starting this thread i have decided to refocus and re prioritize. the first thing i did was reduce my buying/spending i have cut my buying/spending on cards by 95%! second, i made two stacks, one was a thing to sell and one was a small box that i put everything i wanted to keep. once the small box was filled, that was it everything else i am selling! looking at my pile to sale if i sold everything i will be debt free! i will now just keep a very small percentage of my current collection and sell everything else. i mentioned the tires as an example of how nice it was to sell cards to pay for items i needed. This thread has been a big eye opener on me spending less and selling more. ive sold a ton of cards already and it sure is nice to have some extra cash to pay down my debt. now i ask you, if someone offered you cash for your collection would you sell it all? i would in a heart beat sell if offered cash for my collection!!

Good news, Bam Bam. :) Sounds like you are making some wise decisions.

To answer your question, I would sell my whole collection if someone offered me a sick amount of cash. If I had to guess, I could probably sell 75% of my collection and not miss it too much, but that other 25% would be killer. That's what I would need the sick cash for. :D

:D:D

"i wanted to clarify one thing. my credit card debt is NOT from buying cards."

So, which is correct, what you stated above or what you recently stated? Again, if I were you, after reading your posts, I'd sell everything card/auto related to get out of debt, do what you enjoy which by what you stated is not cards/autographs and get the money to do so.

Matthew 6:24

which is correct is my credit card debt is NOT from cards.the debt i was talking about is when i buy something from ebay and pay with my bank account. so in lamans terms. if i buy $1000 worth of cards and pay for it with my bank account (not a credit card!) then over time that money coming out directly from my bank account can add up pretty fast. then i have to use credit cards to pay regular bills, versus if i didnt buy cards, that money in my account would pay for the bills (instead of cards) that money coming out of my bank account directly could of been used to pay off my bills and credit card debt instead of buying more cards.. im pretty sure i probably just confused you more, but i tried my best to explain it as clearly and elementary as possible. thanks for your concern though!

Following that logic, since you will one day be dead, why do anything?

because bo says just do it!

At the end of the day it's all coming out of your income, so if you're paying through checking or by CC or with magic beans, you're still clearly amassing debt by buying cards. In other words, if your bank account runs dry, and then you use your CC to pay what would have come from your bank account, then wouldn't it be true that the things you used your bank account for (cards) would be what's driving your debt?

You mentioned emergencies coming up and that happens, so you need to have that set-aside money to be able to handle those curveballs when they come your way. Maybe just put a tighter focus on your budget? I find that paying in cash helps reduce spending. In this day of Paypal and automatic withdrawls it's easy to spend money and not realize the impact it has because it's just numbers on a computer screen. Holding cash in your hands make you think twice about what you're using it for. At least for me it does.

very true! thank you for your post, i appreciate it. i have cut my spending a TON since this thread started. I finally got away from the mindset that i NEED that card NOW! and now my mindset is, if i see something i like, i will first sell cards for the price i need. then once the price i have is deposited into paypal, THEN i buy what i need. so far that approach is working much better for me. i think one of my problems before was that i always worried that if i dont get the card NOW it will never show back up on ebay so i must get it now. im learning that is not the case with most cards as i might have to wait longer to buy ,but im seeing that eventually everything resurfaces on ebay at some point , so if i dont get the card now, eventually another will show up on ebay later to buy. so i no longer have the need to buy cards right now, i simply now wait until i have the money.

I think most hobbyists have gone through some sort of budget issues. I consider myself very good with money, but with so many cool things out there, I can sometimes get overly hungry-eyed. I keep a close monthly budget and sell items to offset purchases. I occasionally take an inventory of my collection and weed out things that no longer speak to me.

getting out of the hobby
 

There is a reason other than $ that sometimes makes me want to get out. I had given my son about 200 signed vintage cards to help with his mortgage alittle bit. For the most part sales went fine. They there have been 5 cards which were returned for being "fake". One was a Stengel the buyer sent in and it was rejected by PSA (I felt it was good). I then had a friend take it to JSA who then slabbed it. I just heard that a Durocher and a Gehringer were rejected as was a Faber. I know these guys autographs very well. Can tell the difference easily between a Faber and a wife signed. Not only are some of the companies slabbing fakes right and left but sometimes they reject good ones. And you have collectors who are not well versed trusting these guys as the gospel truth. I am not the expert some of you are but I know a decent amount and I know who to trust if I am unsure but for me the authenticators have ruined the hobby tho I guess they do some good. It was so much nicer collecting in the 1960's. Tempted to sell it all and buy an amazing condo somewhere. I'd probably have to collect something tho as I went from cards to autographs to comic books, to persion Jewish antiques and then back to autographs. No idea what would come next.

Personally, I could never stomach the Autographs being real or not unless I got them myself or they were on legal documents (which probably have a very high percentage of being real). It's hard enough on the cards side. But a card that is deemed AUT instead of getting a number still has good value, most times. Not so much with Autos.....I have acquired some autos just because they came with the card, and sometimes I didn't even know they were real!! Still, I know a lot of collectors have fun with autos and it is a great collecting niche. (for others)

I have been collecting since 07 and from time to time think about it.....

People need to have hobbies, otherwise, they're boring.
I know people who play golf, or own/ride horses, etc...and that can be just as expensive as autograph collecting, BUT my take is that at the end of the day, I still have the investment, whereas a horse owner can't get back board/changing shoes, etc....

But like I said, I do think about listing my entire PC up for a lump sum, just as a feeler. Maybe nobody bites, or I get lowballs, (probably a ton of people hoping I part out) but there might be some rich person that wants to jump in, and maybe just get it all at once.....I don't think I would turn that down......so if you see a massive HOF collection on ebay one day for like 50k or more, lol it might just be me.