Anyone else quit collecting, and start up again, multiple times?

ChuckNorrisFearsSid

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Long winded thread alert!

Am I the only one that can’t give collecting up? I collected when I was a kid obviously, and then randomly when I was in my mid-20s I stopped at Target one night and bought a blaster of 05/06 MVP. Had absolutely no idea what was good or bad and that’s what was on the shelf. Pulled a Gomez GUJ and thought I hit something awesome, not knowing how the GU thing had exploded to the point of almost overkill. So I broke all sorts of wax, eventually gravitating towards ITG products. I liked the thought behind their cards and especially appreciated the detail on the GU cards being very clear who wore what, and in some cases even the season it was worn.

I stuck with it for 3-4 years, then gave it up and sold everything. Then somewhere around 13/14 started going again, breaking all sorts of stuff and accumulating quite a PC. My PC consisted of cards I got excited about pulling. Didn’t matter what it was or who necessarily, but just whatever got me excited. One that stood out in particular was a John Garrett BTP patch. Not a big name, but just a nasty Nordiques patch that got my jacked when I pulled it. I dove into collecting vintage ITG stuff for a while and stockpiled yet another impressive PC including one of the BAP Vezina pad cards.

I lacked any sort of focus with that and burned out, and again fire sale time. Along the way I tried to learn about the vintage guys I was collecting and in doing so I became a big fan of Giacomin. I watched one particular video about him and he seemed like such a humble guy, and his love for playing in NY was something you couldn’t help but appreciate. The video also touched on the fire he was injured in yet managed to still play through despite some horrible sounding injuries. One comment was about how he had to soak in order to get his equipment to come off the burns. To have that kind of love for the game how could you not appreciate it? I became a big fan of his and the collecting shifted to him.

I was still breaking piles of wax, and keeping the guys that got me excited. I ended up breaking something like 10-11 master cases of 13/14 BTP over a summer and had an absolute BLAST in doing so. Spent entirely too much but some of the cards I pulled were just incredible. Some of you may remember seeing those breaks posted on here. As time went on I had a boat sitting in a garage that needed repairs and the ITG products had dried up so I ventured to UD for a while. Pull of my life was a Gretzky Limited Logos expired redemption. As I left the card shop that day the guy asked me what my mic drop pull would be. I replied a Gretzky patch/auto from his Oilers days. I came close, and was crushed at the same time by the expired redemption. I think that might have been part of the most recent decision to sell everything off. I’d managed to pull a McDavid Premier ARP shortly after the Limited Logo and was literally shaking when I hit it. That’s always been the thing for me, that crazy adrenaline when you hit something massive or really unique. I was still lacking focus and buying wax like a junky as a friend likes to put it. Products I was interested were scarce, and I was still kind of soured by the Limited Logo letdown so I contemplated selling it all, yet again. Thought the money would be better served fixing my boat up and getting back fishing like I spent the majority of my life doing, so sold it I did.

Fast forward half a year and the boat is decked out with all sorts of fancy technology, still can’t catch fish, but I can’t blame the boat! The urge to break wax crept back in so I figured what the heck, let’s grab some Dominion. That led to some Cup, then a case of 11/12 Cup and the excitement was definitely still there as well as the fondness of collecting Giacomin. I’ve already bought back a few cards from my last PC. Cards I got extremely excited about that I shouldn’t have sold in the first place. I’ve also got about 15 Giacomin cards incoming now. Will this be another fire sale in the future? I think I’ve finally given up on trying to quit this dang hobby, it’s just too much fun at times. Next time I waffle I think I’ll just let it sit until the bug bites me again, which it always seems to. Planning to stick to collecting Giacomin, and breaking whatever older ITG stuff I can find, and maybe eventually starting a Roenick and Belfour Hawks PC as they were my two favorite players in the early 90s when I originally collected.

Has anyone else gone through this or am I just a nutjob? Thanks for anyone who manages to read this blabbering but felt like venting in a way and seeing if anyone else has done similar in their days.

All the best to all of you folks!

-Ron

P.S. If you have any Giacomin game-used cards I know someone who might be interested, at least today.
 
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I did ;-) Sold everything I had in 2004 ( started mid-90`s ) , began again in 2005 , but sold everything again in 2010 . I just didn`t enjoy it at that time the way it should have been . Began in late 2011 for a third time , and that was a good decision :-)
 
I haven't posted in quite sometime because I quit collecting for good when I moved back to Toronto from NL (2009). Been lurking on this site since because this site is still awesome and interesting!

Do I miss ripping wax? I did at one point, but now I vicariously live through others who rip wax.

Do I miss collecting and my previous collections (used to collect mainly HOFers in both hockey and basketball)? Yes and no. What I missed about collecting was the social interaction (trades, attending the expo, joining the pre-expo dinners). No, I do not miss it because my life priorities are different, and also knowing my collection went to collectors who love the hobby.

So, like some, will I get back into the hobby? Never say never, but I must admit, I did have sort of an itch the past month to collect/box break...but reality kicked in. :laugh:
 
Yup. I never. Liquidated everything but I have stopped actively collecting a few times.

Started collecting in 90-91 and stopped in about 94-95. Started back up around 2000-01 but then stopped again in 2004-05 (what a dumb year to stop). Then back into it around 2008-09 and haven’t stopped since. My collection has changed directions a few times since but I am super happy with it now and don’t see that changing. I may add some more to what I call my side PC but collecting my Roy base/inserts/parallels has made collecting fun again.
 
Stopped collecting a few times, yes. I think like most people here... I stared collecting as a kid. For me that was in 1990. Somewhere in the late 90s (I'm going to say 1998, but not exactly sure) I stopped. Didn't get rid of anything, but wasn't buying new stuff.

What got me back into it, was a well targeted eBay add in the early 00s (can't remember the year). Saw an auction for a Bill Ranford Moncton Golden Flames card. I signed up for eBay, bought it.

At that point, I re-started my Bill Ranford collection, but wasn't breaking much wax. The odd box here or there. I had always chased getting every Ranford card... but the internet suddenly made finding those rarer parallels much easier than simply going to my LCS or Shows.

I took another break in 2006-07. Again, didn't sell anything off... but stopped buying anything.

I think it was 2008 I got active again. I was chasing all the Ranford stuff still, but also doing UD 1/2 sets.

By the early 2010s, I was collecting Ranford, all-time Oilers (RCs, Autos, GU), HOFers (RC, Autos, GU), and doing the annual UD S1/2 sets... while also working on all the prior years. Had a few other sets on the go too. Busted close to two cases of 2013 Edmonton Oilers collection, was working on that set as well.

Mid 2016, I decided it was time to refocus. No fire sales though. I dropped the HOF stuff, and sold off much it. Sold off all of my UD1/2 sets (90-91 through 15-16). Gave up on a few smaller projects too, including my slow build towards a master set of 2013 Oilers Collection.

Any time I've sold off stuff, I've never rushed it. I don't think I necessarily maxed out every dollar I could have made selling (I know I didn't. I'm sure I left money on the table if I'd just broken up those UD sets..... but that would have taken months to do properly, and I got a very fair deal selling the whole lot in one shot).

Anytime I've stopped collecting, I've never had the mindset "everything must go". There was nothing wrong with boxing it up, and not looking at it for a couple of years.

Of course I enjoy collecting too much, enjoy the chase. I'm sure the time will come that I'll want to refocus things again, and move some stuff out. Cards that I consider big parts of my collection today. That's okay. I'll probably never lose the collecting bug though.
 
Great post and stories from other members on this topic.

I have been on the roller coaster ride of off and on collecting. Dating myself here but I started as a kid in the 70's with Baseball mainly and then some of the other sports.

Even collected Star Wars and such. As you go through life there are things that are more important at the time (raising children, work, travel) that puts the cards into hibernation.

Of course whenever I stop collecting is when the good RC come out to name a few Gretzky, Lemieux...etc. As I am typing this it is depressing me (lol),

What got me back in was 2004-05 ITG Franchises Canadian box. At the time my GF pulled a 1/1 Glenn Anderson Complete Jersey card.

That created a fury of ITG collecting. Always had a blast at the Expo @ ITGLand.
Really enjoyed breaking boxes and getting Redemption cards from Dr. Price.

When Brian stopped producing in 2014-15 I lost the interest.

Then the McJesus craze hit and I was lucky to pull 4 of his YG RC's. But then lost the desire when UD continued to flood the market.

Now I am focused on completing some of the ITG sets that I have. Also in the mood to reduce the massive amount of sets/base cards collecting dust.
 
I've never really quit but I have hit the reset button a few times.

I collected everything from 1988-2001, then sold everything and bought Jason Spezza stuff, sold everything and got into baseball (while dabbling in everything else), then sold everything NOT baseball related and haven't looked back.

I love that I'm priced out of boxes now so I don't waste money on those and can focus strictly on singles.
 
I've never really quit, but I have shifted my focus numerous times. There was a long stretch where I was trying to slowly put together all the autograph base and subsets from Legends Classics, Legendary Signatures, Panini Classics, 06-07 Parkhurst, 05-06 Flashback Fabrics, anything Gilbert Perreault, etc. I realized at a certain point that I was mostly adding players I already had numerous autos of and my effort and money would be better served with other projects.

I also entered grad school in 2017, which severely cut into the time I had to devote to projects. Now I mostly focus on white whales, adding certified autographs for each year's HHOF class, and completing the 2002-03 ITG-Used Vintage Mem set.

Honestly, scaling back has made it feel much more special when I do bring something new into the collection.
 
I am on the other end of the spectrum. I have been collecting continuously since 1985. I really enjoy the hobby, but the last couple of years I have been asking myself one simple question "Why". Neither of my kids like to collect. I don't sell anything, and I don't have any series collectors locally to deal/trade with. I have complicated selling everything, but where do you start. I can certainly see how people take breaks from the hobby. Maybe I should take a 1 year break. Maybe 2021 will be the year, and see if the passion of collecting is still there.
 

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