Collecting: The Journey or the Destination
 

Recently I have been thinking a lot about my very large card collection and what my focus is or should be. I started collecting when I was 7 or 8 years old, which is about 40 years ago now. Like many people, I stopped collecting during my college and early career years, only to start up again about 20 years ago. I have many complete sets from baseball (oldest 1965 Topps), football (oldest 1950 Bowman) and basketball (oldest 1969 Topps). My collection ranges from a few 1887 Old Judges, 60+ T206 and many other pre war raw and graded baseball cards through football rookies, autographs and jersey cards from as recently as this year.

What this post is really about is what is more appealing, the collecting of cards or the owning of them.

I find that as soon as I complete a project/goal, I am already in progress on another goal. I also find that I don't look through cards that I already own nearly as much as I search to buy cards that I don't have yet. I love my collection and am not looking to sell, so I don't finish a project with the intention of selling to fund the next project. I would much rather build a set than buy a set and I do like owning the set once completed.

Years ago I completed a run of regular issued LA Rams cards from 1948 Bowman through all 1992 issued sets (and most of the oddball items from those years too). Late last year I completed my goal of owning at least one card of every MLB Hall of Famer, who has at least one card issued post 1900. I have also completed many baseball and football player regular issue checklists over the years. Not being wealthy, I have to stay within a monthly collecting budget, so for now $500 cards are out of reach (i.e. T206 Cobb, 1933 Goudey Ruth/Gehrig, 1935 National Chicle Nagurski, etc.). I focus on acquiring what I find interesting in a condition that I can afford.

Current Projects:
T206 Brooklyn team set (need 12)
T206 Card of Each Hall of Famer (minus Wagner and Plank)
Hank Greenberg master set
Nap Rucker master set
1952 Bowman Large Football (need 7 short prints)
1952 Bowman Small Football (need 22)
1955 Topps Dodgers (need Roebuck and Snider)
Acquisition of any pre war Hall of Fame baseball cards that I don't have

I apologize for the long thread here, and this may have been covered before I joined Net54, but I am curious to hear fellow collectors thoughts about the hunt versus ownership.

As a general rule, the hunt is more fun than the kill.

I'm 50/50. I like travelling and going to shows, antique shops, auctions, etc. I also like flipping through the cards I own and looking at my displays. I'm finding that I don't have the desire to own as much as I once did so I'm trying to focus my collection more towards quality over quantity. I much prefer displays where I can enjoy them all the time rather than boxes of stuff in the closet.

a little of each for me...but once a card is obtained...I like looking at a scan of the image on my screen more than the card itself usually!

This is a great post, thank you. I thought it was only me that found it weird to spend more time looking than enjoying. I've found when I've completed a set, I then look to upgrade certain aspects. I also think I purposely don't complete a set. For example, I am one card away from completing my Ex-Mt 1958 football set. I need a common, and I keep putting it off.

In addition, I find if I pick up a great card that I've been searching for awhile, I immediately then want to get to the next big one on my list. It's friggin' weird.

I narrowed down my collector focus too (as I get older). I dropped some memorabilia chases and focused more on cards, which still brings me back to my youth.

It's funny you say that. I'm actually a little the opposite. I've been getting more into pins lately. I think they make cool displays.

Btw, Andrew I dig your Nap Rucker master set project. Here are some Ruckers of mine...

http://www.collectingbrooklyn.com/net54/NapRucker.jpg

What's appealing to me is owning an item. I'm not sure with me personally that the hunt is that fun. I just have the feeling if I don't look I may miss something I've never seen before. My collection, at this point, is pretty focused and now I'm working on displaying items rather than just storing them. I do know I don't look at items as much once I have it in my collection; maybe I should do that more often. I think the older I get collecting is just a hobby and I don't need everything.

I find that as my collection is nearing less and less of what i need, I am enjoying going through the collection more and more. Each set not only represents that cards themselves but the stories behind how I got them.

Both for me, and I say that on a case-by-case experience.

I am early on in my T206 set journey. I started it because I want to finish it. However, I am really enjoying the journey thus far, putting me in both categories - the journey and the destination.

My Jim Thome PC will never be completed thanks to modern over-production (Thome has around 9000 total different cards), but I'm enjoying the journey.

My HoF PC is a fun journey, but I'm truly looking forward to the completion the most.

For cards, it's “The older you get, the less you want/need”. :D

this seems to be true for me!

Pete, you have just made me feel a little less crazy. I feel the same way. It is easier than opening the safe, getting out the cards, etc.. And you can zoom-in too!

I Am Starting....
 

....to feel this inclination. The "End" could be down the line! :eek:

the end is always down the line isn't it?

I have found that the journey/search is more enjoyable, for the most part, than the destination.

There are, however, certain cards that I've been searching for for sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo llllllllllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg, that I've really had it with the continual dead end. I just want the damned card!!!!!!


Steve

WTF? I'm so glad that I don't collect modern.

i thought the same thing!!!!! I remember collecting HOF'ers as a kid and mainly it was just topps...sometimes bowman!!!!

When I was collecting the '65 Topps set it was about the journey. That's why I sold them about 4 years after I finished.

With the T206 it's both. I love finding cards that I want and owning them. :)

+1 I'm so sick of looking for that T215 Merkle. SOMEBODY SELL ONE ALREADY.

While pride of ownership is fantastic, particularly once you build up a really good collection (or even own 1 or 2 cards you totally love), the most fun is the thrill of the hunt, the looking for new things to acquire.

For me, being older and having a wife with bad cancer, i worried about the future financially and stopped buying for about 6 - 8 months, and wow, even with my great collection i was missing on so much enjoyment it was killing me. I had to just a month ago find cards to collect that could be less expensive to get but be fun to search thru Ebay and other places to find the ones i really wanted (and at a low price) and since i have been doing that collecting is fun again!!!!

Nothing like the thrill of the hunt, particularly if its a little effort to find what you want!!!!!!

I'm curious at what age this starts. I'm 38 now and it's starting to turn that way for me.

Nothing but the best wishes for your wife and yourself, Arnie

My desire started to diminish at age 56 after 50 years of collecting baseball cards all the way from Old Judge to 2016 Topps and all cards in between ,game worn uniforms and jerseys , and autographs ( pictures, contracts , checks, 3x5s, letters, single signed and team signed baseballs, bats, etc) and other baseball memorabilia. My philosophy for 30 years was if I wanted it I bought it . I reached a point when I decided to not collect anymore for a variety of reasons , but it was as if each phase of my collecting had a different reason for me to stop. Every collector that I am good friends with has told me that you reach a point when you stop ; it can be for a different reason for each person but everyone does stop eventually. Now I buy but it must be something special , but yes the hunt is still the most fun aspect of collecting for me .

The hunt!

Both. But I'm at the point where thinning the herd makes sense. If I don't look at something for a long time I should probably sell it. I've switched to type collecting and HOF collecting. I'm also more drawn to the cards of the 1970s which were my childhood cards. I love the chase but also enjoy sitting down with my binders and looking at my cards. The thing I like least is having to go to the bank to see my 'good' cards.

Thanks a bunch!!!! Things are rough but thats life. Bro-in-law is in hospice now, plus I have to see a specialist about something in 2 days, its like our whole family is falling apart at once. But card collecting must go on. Now I am collecting autographed cards of players on New York teams in all sports. I already had a ton of Yankees, now going after all the other teams. Its easy to find in-expensive ones on Ebay, and its fun. Thanks again bud, hey I see you collect vintage open wheel racing, i dont collect cards of that but i am a monstrous Formula 1 fan, can't wait for the new season to start already.

I go with the 50/50.

Here are a couple of other Rucker cards.

I have around 6 months to be 56. :)
With my first collection it was about acquiring a type card I needed, period. But I will never forget when I finally acquired 1 of 2-3 known Greiner Bread cards I had been wanting for years. I paid several thousand for it and when I got home I threw it aside like a '92 Donruss. I like "owning" a little bit but I like the hunt far more. This is always an interesting subject.

I switched over to displaying the majority of my collection a few years ago and now its all about ownership. The hunt is fun, the kill is better and opening the package is still like Christmas day. But my displays allow me to continually enjoy my collection and it gives me something to Tinker with and save money during slower times.

It's all about the hunt with set collecting. Once it's complete I'm ready to sell..likely at a loss. As for individual cards...they're usually mine for the long hall.

The chase vs. completion of the goal--
 

I found out awhile back, after completing my T206 518, that I enjoyed the chase much more than its completion.
It's the reason I widened my parameters on 518 [now going for uncommon backs, stamped-backs, sub-sets and oddities] and now have over 600 in my collection.

The chase has you always on the quest, looking forward; when it's over, that's gone.

It seems that we have a few collections in common, Scott, Brooklyn Dodgers among them. I'll email you.

Same here, guys. People always ask me how I can enjoy my cards when I keep them in a safe deposit box at the bank. Then I take out my iPad, show them my killer scans, and zoom in on the dot-matrix faces. Man, it's nice to slide through a gallery of pre-war cards on my train ride to work!

As far as the initial question, the hunt is great -- moreso than ownership usually, but sometimes the ownership is identity-driving. Some pieces complete me!

It's all about the hunt.

I've purged almost everything except my run of Topps sets back to 1976. I doubt I'll go back any further, but I still buy the new set each year. We don't have many dealers or shows around here, so I've become very narrowly focused on a few T206 cards that I want. The hunt is fun, but it needs to lead to a success at least occasionally.

The thrill of the hunt is fine, good, and dandy. However, if you don't reach your destination, where is the thrill? What good was all that time in pursuing the cards and coins you really wanted, if you came up empty?

Aside from my childhood, when I collected the penny ante gum cards, I have not pursued large Topps sets. I gravitated to players I really wanted, or small sets that had eye appeal, a fascinating background story, and a promotion that made the cards challenging to collect even in the year they were issued. I realize this mode of collecting is not done that much today. Collecting cards has morphed into concentrating on 1-3 sets due to the sheer expense of collecting them. The value of the cards has made getting them more futile as the years go by.

My own cherished memories are when I came upon something I really wanted, and often did not expect to find, or even did not know existed, and seized that moment, and bought the card or coin, or won it in an auction. Though I did not internalize each occasion as "a chance of a lifetime", in the ensuing years I have come to the understanding those moments were THE opportunity for me to get that particular item.

We all have missed chances, and some can be very discouraging or irritating, and not easily shrugged off, but hopefully in the long run our prized pieces have a conversation story that at least makes us very happy.

God has been very good to me, and graciously helped me get some dream pieces, even before I was aware of His help. This concept is where I believe the late Bruce Dorskind was coming from when he habitually referred to his collecting efforts as "we". Hence, he and Almighty God were a collecting dynamo, but all of us would only know the tandem as "we". It was almost as if God's help was Bruce's exclusive relationship. Soon it got extremely annoying to many on the boards, but he never would explain his use of the first person plural pronoun. I believe what was actually getting under everyone's skin was his intense arrogance and equally intense rude, crude, and insulting remarks to everyone else. It was all about Bruce, and everybody else can eat hog manure. I may be wrong about the explanation of Bruce's use of "we", but I doubt it.

One thing is for sure, God is by no means exclusive. He wants to reach out to any and all of us, if we would let Him into our heart. The choice is up to us. However, this forum is not a platform for theology and evangelism, and I shall stop now.

Suffice to say, our prized pieces almost always have a great sea story of how we came to own them. The journey is part of the juice of the destination, and its aftertaste continually pleases our collecting palate. So, ultimately, the answer is both are very important, with the primary emphasis going to the destination.

Good topic. ---Brian Powell

I like both. I am addicted to the hunt and get a lot of enjoyment from it. I also like the stuff I have, but the heart pounding and goofy grins that come with finding something awesome are not there when I look through my collection. With that said, I still do have a lot of fun looking through my cards and I might enjoy my collection most when I get to share it with others - either in person or on Net54.

The journey for sure!

I spent years and many bucks completing Topps sets 1954-1980, but only held on to that entirety for less than a year.

The 1954-56 sets remain with me, however, to represent that destination.

Meanwhile, my 'monster number' got to 100 before my interest in that goal waned and I sold back to a 'harder' but lower number.

There are no more Sandy Koufax cards needed and the two earliest Mantles are forever outside my range.


What's an addict to do?

Well...since the new year, I have been picking up HOFers and other notables in the 1957-69 sets.

I am also about to purchase an insurance policy on the major portion of my remaining graded cards.

These sellers are just as willing to sell to me as the Burger King less than a block from home.

Well said. I have to say after selling off my first collection it has been a lot more relaxing on the second one. And I am still having a ton of fun. Now if I could find the perfect T205 Cobby I would be all set.....till the next card I need. :)

And Brian Powell- It is usually thought of Bruce's use of the word "we" as in an old English vocabulary type thingy... Personally I doubt it was God he was referring to when using the term "we".

I have done the same thing so many times and have zero organization after they get to my door. It's all hunt for me and then they get placed in a waterproof storage container until god knows when. I think the fact that I only sell things on the same regularity as presidential elections is the thing I need to work on. :(

Leon,

As I reflect on a few of the vague memories I have of Bruce's lurid, vitriolic responses to Net54 forum members, you are probably right. Thank you for setting me straight.

Best regards, Brian Powell