With
having quite a few medical bills (I am digging out of this hole slowly) I have cut my collecting purchases to a
minimum and it has led me to re-evaluate my collection. Over the past few years
I have made some changes, both large and small, and I have found that
eliminating some of the things I collected made life easier. Since I began the
blog in 2009 I have stopped working on set building, cut out a large portion of
my non-discretionary purchases, stopped buying boxes/blasters/packs, donated a
couple thousand cards and decided to set up primary and secondary collecting
goals to keep my collection focused.
I
think one thing that has helped greatly was that I set up a Want List in a Word
document and if a card is not on that list I normally don’t purchase it. The
list is fluid and does change, often, when I purchase a card or find a new card
with the occasionally deduction. This list has helped me stay focused on my
primary and secondary collections, which have also changed over the year.
The
last few days I have been considering the future of my collection, it has been
on my mind the last few months really. I had started “secret” PCs, these are
personal collections I have not posted much about for whatever reason. For example,
my Mariner Moose collection, I picked up a card or two here and there and
before I realized it I had became a super collector purely by accident. Over the
last year I had started PCing the 2013 Chrome Marshawn Lynch rainbow, Sheamus
and Becky Lynch (Irish wrestlers), UFC Conor McGregor (Irish fighter), comic
characters Rocket Raccoon, Ant-Man and Radioactive Man (The Simpsons guy).
I just
sat down and whittled down my Want List and removed many of those secret PC
collections. I will keep what I already have in binders or whatever is
currently sitting in my COMC account but I removed any cards from the list that I was on the fence about. It
felt good to delete card after card, shortening my list.
My
primary PC is now only three athletes; Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner and Ryan
Bader in addition to Manfred von Richthofen and sketch cards. Vintage cards
(sports and non-sports), movie/comic autographs & relics, Mariner Moose and
Rocket Raccoon are all secondary and everything else on my Want List is now “only
if it is real cheap” type of cards. This means Steve Largent, Steve Kerr, Randy
Couture, Seattle teams and University of Arizona team cards become a third
level of collecting.
My
Wants List is sitting at 2,049 cards but 1,517 are my Griffey wants, 172 Buhner
wants and 93 Ryan Bader wants. So out of that 2,049 total cards 1,782 cards are
for my PC guys so I think I have gotten the list under control. Plus with Bader moving to Bellator MMA Topps will not be including him in any future UFC releases which helps keep my list limited to just his past cards.
In
the future, I would also like to work out some trades to clear out some of the
cards I have sitting in 5,000-ct boxes. I have roughly 20,000 cards in my
collection and probably 15,000 are players, teams and sets that I do not
collect. I am selling what I can on eBay and I also just sent my first
submission to COMC so that clears out some cards but I have plenty more to go.
Since I can not close a post this long without showing something on cardboard here you go, a recent Griffey pickup:
Sounds like we all are hitting this part of collecting. It's not easy as I know but at least we aren't stepping completely away
ReplyDeleteI can understand where you are coming from with collecting cards. If you have any Indians cards you are looking to unload, I would be happy to help you out. If interested, you can email me at tim(underscore)gretchen(underscore)marriage AT yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI have Indians cards, not sure how many but I will take a look and send you and email this weekend.
DeleteYep, combination of reasons for me but my collecting has changed as well. Best of luck with your changes.
ReplyDeleteI see that there are a few of us re-evaluating our collections. Glad to hear you're digging yourself out from under those medical bills. Best of luck with selling on COMC. I was thinking about doing that myself.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame you have to downsize your collection to pay medical bills, but I admire your ability to focus. Not buying cards that are not on your PC list is not something I could train myself to do. Not while COMC exists anyway. There are Radioactive Man cards? Are there also Fall Out Boy cards? Cause if not, I've got an idea for another series of customs. Lol...next year, maybe!
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome Griffey insert. I saw it on COMC and let it slip through my fingers cause I was saving my pennies for something else. :/
There are cards with Fall Out Boy on them but he doesn't have his own cards.
Delete