Have you ever wanted to just sell your Autograph collection?

theshleps · #1 04-22-2015, 10:30 PM

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.

egri · #2 04-22-2015, 10:41 PM

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.

jgmp123 · #3 04-23-2015, 08:36 AM

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.

1952boyntoncollector · #4 04-23-2015, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgmp123

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....

Exhibitman · #5 04-23-2015, 04:15 PM

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!

MacDice · #6 04-23-2015, 05:40 PM

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

hawaiian bam bam · #7 04-23-2015, 08:14 PM

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.

jgmp123 · #8 04-24-2015, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

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....

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

Republicaninmass · #9 04-24-2015, 10:42 AM

.
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

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