Life After You Stopped Collecting?

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Kharlamov17

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I think i've reached a crossroad in my life when it comes to collecting.

I've been selling off parts of my collection already, but seeing how some Kharlamov cards have been selling really well, I can't help but think that perhaps it's time for me to unload my main collection. Right now as I write this I don't think I will regret the move, but I probably will.

Collecting in general has been some form of structure for me when times have been tough in the past five years, but lately, last six months or so, things have been better than ever and I am thinking I could use that hefty amout of money from those boxes that are sitting on my Ikea shelf towards my future or say, a Springsteen roadtrip on the West Coast. :crazy: I've become less and less materialistic and have very little need for "stuff" in general.

Should I still hold out or just start unloading? Obviously that will be my decision, but I'd love to hear some thoughts and/or experiences.
 
It's a hard decision, but it really comes down to how you feel about collecting in general. A few years back I decided to scale my collecting habits drasticly. Now, I've all but stopped collecting pretty much anything. For me it got to a point that I thought "hey, these cards are pretty, but they don't DO anything." That was enough for me to justify liquidating 99% of my PC. The only things I kept were my 2 Selanne shield cards, and some older RC's that my parents had bought me 20+ years ago.

That being said, I really do enjoy lurking sites like this to see the pretty cards that get pulled, but I can't be bothered to shell out the cash to either bust wax of pick up singles any more.
 
I sold my entire collection almost a year ago now & I miss absolutely nothing about the hobby, other than the people I got to know & did business with.
I have loads of extra money to do what I want with now, no eBay headaches or dealing with other morons.
I've been very surprised at my total I could care less about the hobby feelings, thought it would be harder to leave but not so.
 
If you unloaded your collection just so you could see Springsteen in concert yet again, I'd personally fly to Sweden and slap the enamel off your teeth.
 
I reached that point when I found out we were having twins. Before that, I was selling most of my stuff anyway in hopes of streamlining my collection (which was getting out of hand). I sold A LOT of what I had. What I have kept is my PC stuff (Jays World Series collection, Lindros/Rocket Ismail/Jose Cruz stuff) and I will tell you it has been HARD to keep from not buying new stuff.

I have grabbed a few Lindros cards I wanted (including one that was too hard to say no to...check the show and tell for that one) but I have stayed away from buying collections or cases of stuff and it's been good because I have had my twins replace my need to play the case lottery. They have me VERY busy and I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I still come here and I still try to keep up, but I'm not jonesing for it...

Bottom line, it ain't easy, but it is doable.
 
The one year I stopped collecting, I saved a lot of money. That was before I had a player p.c. and before I bought stuff on Ebay as well. If I stopped for a year now(even ignore big cards for the p.c.), I wonder how much money I would save.
 
If you get rid of it, and the urge strikes you again, you can just start right back up. At least you'll know what the stuff was worth.......cuz you sold it!!
 
TanguayFan said:
If you unloaded your collection just so you could see Springsteen in concert yet again, I'd personally fly to Sweden and slap the enamel off your teeth.
Click to expand...

Great minds think alike, even though they are an entire country apart...

I wouldn't fly to Sweden to do bodily harm to the Commie. Springsteen is in Vancouver in November, so the Commie will most likely be here then.

That would be my opporuntiy to slap him silly.
 
Here is my suggestion: I wouldn't unload the PC just yet. You don't need to add to it, so you could save money, but if you ever get the urge to pick it up again, to find all of those amazing pieces that you unloaded again would be next to impossible. Enjoy what you have, try to find a way to display them if that would make you feel like the are "doing" something.
 
Ive basically trimmed my entire collection down to bare bones and regret none of it.

Ive spent that money on other stuff I collect and savings.

I had some bad experiences in this hobby and was kinda soured me to sell off quite a bit.

Although im keeping some portions of my collection and still collect certain things as they arise
 
Thanks for all the thoughs and what not. The junkie in me still looks at auctions daily, hell even looking at certain players that I don't collect.

I guess i'll wait a bit more to unload the card collections. Only missing five or six of Kharlamov. I've also thought of maybe just collecting some less known, cheaper instead of Kharlamov in which I have quite a bit of money invested. Just to kill the abstinence. Like Viktor Konovalenko or someome who has basically no cards at all and they're all cheap.
 
Make sure you want to sell it all. I sold off my Felix Potvin collection and I still regret it, I am still slowly picking up the rare ones again. Even though you are not as interested now you will likely regain the interest when the season starts or somewhere down the road. Maybe stop buying and use all the extra cash you save for your trip. It is your decession but I say hold onto it until you are 100% certain.
 
Before you decide to sell anything, sit down and look at the stuff. Still give you shivers? Then keep it. That doesn't mean you need to keep adding to it.
 
I'd say start small, then figure out from there what you'd like to do.

Just recently, I decided to unload all of my PC cards (except my Hejduk collection) and take a step back from box breaks. I was kind of in denial about the amount of $$$ I was spending, and like you had said originally, I got the feeling like "These things don't do anything, but I'm blowing all my cash on them".

I offloaded a lot of bigger PC items (and still am), and used alot of that money to eat away at bills and things I said I would do but didn't because of my card "budget".

The one thing I'm glad I did though, was keep all of my Hejduk cards. I don't know if you've only got the Kharlamov PC, but if there's other things that eat up time/money in the hobby for you, I'd suggest eliminating those first. Myself, I've seen huge benefits just from ending my minor PCs and box breaking, and I can still enjoy the hobby.
 
Brother,

Keep what you like always, you will miss it when it is gone.

Sell off what you dont care about and take a break!
 
I always looked at my collections as a sort of "savings plan". I don't have a lot of money in the bank, but I've got thousands tied up in a box in the closet. If I ever needed to, I could dip into that "savings" and sell a few cards. Will I get what I paid? Not always - but there's still a lot of equity in what I've built up. That being said - if you're going to sell, do it when things are at a peak. My dad and I collected model trains for years - had one of the best collections in the world - and he sold it all when things were hot and people had extra money to spend on things like model trains (and sports cards). Now, those 50-somethings are 65-somethings, and they don't have the income nor the money to shell out top dollar for this stuff. You don't want to gold on to things too long that they lose their value - if you're trying to "cash out". If it's just a want to not collect anymore, and it's not the $$, then hold on to some stuff, sell some others, etc. In the short while I've been collecting, I've downsized a bit, and refocused my collection. I see other collectors doing that, like Matt (AndroSFL, fellow Lundqvist collector). He's just focused on Henrik's auto cards, therefore selling the rest of it, and having more cash in his pocket. Definitely keep the stuff you REALLY like though - the rest is replaceable.

Just my thoughts.
 
Tough call but I think you will be very pleased with your decision if you decide to go out and live your life and have some fun with the money you get after selling your collection.

I have thought about it but card collecting is the only thing i liked about my childhood lol. it just brings back good memories and I want to pass my cards onto my kids if they want them,, when I have them haha. Maybe they will be worth more money and can use them to buy something nice.
 
I've taken a break for the most part, and sold off some cards, but have hung on to my favourites. Perhaps just focus your collection more, but don't do anything rash.
 
I stopped cellecting because of a similar divergence from material goods, and ended up selling a good part of my collection. I still have my entire Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, and Oduya collections, and from time to time thouroughly enjoy looking at them. If you realy want to stop collecting and trim down, i would start by selling a few cards. If you don't instantly regret it, i would try selling a few more. Under no cicrumstances would i recomend selling any card that means alot to you. In my opinion, its just not worth it unless you really need the money. If you find that you can live with getting rid of some cards, go for it. Just dont get to carried away at first.
 

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