Make me feel better about myself. Do you guys ever do this?

[G1911]

All the time, sir! I always get sidetracked into other things because there are just so many awesome vintage cards out there. Post-war vintage Topps/Bowmna baseball sets are my #2 focus, but I often get dragged into new ones even though I haven't finished the last dozen I'm working on, or picking up new cards because I found a good deal as a type, liking the type, and then ending up with 20 more from that series. It helps that while I love Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, I really just love baseball history and so I enjoy cheap common players, and end up with tons of stuff. I'll shift to football for a month, or some random regional I'm checking eBay every day for for a few weeks.


I never sell or trade off when I come back to a 'primary' focuses though. The only hard rule I've set for my collecting is that all items must be cards (otherwise I'd run out of space) or related to the issuing of those cards, like a cigarette pack of Mecca or documents from an issuer or proofs or plates etc. I just keep those cards I got that were off-track, because while off-track, I got them because I thought they were cool and enjoyable, and that never changes for me personally, focus or not it’s still a cool card. I've got my organized set boxes, and then boxes of type cards and partial sets and random items I saw and liked. In a way, I find the 'extra' stuff is as enjoyable as my focuses, I never have a lack of items to go through, and my collection has turned into a very personal 'these are things I like' instead of a strictly defined focus, and I have decided that is okay. It's always fun to take out a box of my random types and go through them again, to enjoy the wide breadth of items out there that are affordable and cheap enough to be impulse-that's-cool buys. Sometimes a random from years ago becomes a new focus, and I have a starter set as I go off on yet another set build. I have come to enjoy having a mini-standard-catalog within my boxes. From tobacco cards of cowboys to Post cereal football cards to Topps baseball, it's all fun and caught my focus at one time without ever being not cool. And so I'm happy to let my wandering eye lead me to new fun stuff, even if its out of focus.


The best part is there is no good or bad or right or wrong, whatever you are feeling is fine. Consolidating down to focus on a few sets, throwing focus out the window to accept the pick up anything cool that strikes your fancy, and everything in between is a valid thing. If a card isn’t bringing you joy anymore, move it along to someone else to buy one that will instead. It’s all about fun, so whatever brings the most fun is the right path. When you stray from a focus, you shouldn’t feel about it. The worst case scenario is that you got a cool old card that doesn’t quite fit your collection and will need to be traded or sold, but you get to enjoy for a bit first. There’s no losing