Like many of you, my collecting has slowed down quite a bit as prices have gotten out of control. However just like $GME, I’m not fucking selling!!
Maybe reevaluate your goals, or just buy less, or maybe (crazy idea) just enjoy what you have already. But I guarantee you will regret selling parts of your collection. Think about why you bought it in the first place, and how excited you were. Maybe now you just want what you can’t have…
Yeah this is a wise decision as it is generally best to be patient and hold what you have before rushing any decisions in the collecting game. Even if prices continue to rise, you will still have the option to sell and re-invest into the set you’d prefer to complete!
I’d would hold them. If you’re doubting of selling them, then it looks like you would regret it.
My collection goals are not the same as before because of the high prices today. My oldest collecting goals i’m still trying to complete, but i need to have patience (taking years sometimes)
Sometimes it burns to see your long desired wanted cards never shows up and if they do it sells for a much higher price then you estimated. Patience i guess
It is funny where collecting can take you. I’ve been collecting for more than 50 years. And while I have stopped collecting some of the things I used to collect, there are always a few items I keep. I haven’t collected coins, stamps or sports cards in many decades, and have sold off a ton of what I had in each, but there are a few items I kept for each collection. Not surprisingly those reminders have gained enough value over the years and decades that they might be worth the effort to sell.
The same is now happening with my Magic and Pokemon items. Newer collections for certain, but still nothing I have been active in over the last decade. Because I was always better at buying than selling, there have been some wonderful benefits of not selling them too soon.
One benefit has been the recent joy of finishing Magic and Pokemon sets that I left hanging when I got distracted and life got in the way many years ago. If you are a collector there is always a thrill to finding items you need, and in interacting with fellow travelers in collecting. Compared to my recent focus of interest, card collecting is much more social in these pandemic days. The higher demand and value of older cards has made it easier to fund the cards I have still needed, and to find buyers for items I want to sell.
Another benefit is that higher card prices have made it easier to fund pieces of vintage audio gear (my newer obsession). I was heavily into high-end audio during the golden age of US manufacturing. But I couldn’t afford to actually buy much of it at the time. Today the price equation has changed. The used gear I want is much cheaper and I am better able to afford it. While items are not ridiculously expensive, they are often extremely heavy or fragile or both. Shipping becomes a major cost. And because the gear is older (typically 40 to 70 years old for the pieces I collect) there can be a lot of electronic refurbishment and cosmetic restoration involved. I can do it myself, but the money allows me to hire experts for some items. And because the gear is large, card sales have funded a workshop/storage unit so as not to clutter my home with anything but the totally restored components.
My current collecting passion relates to my ability to hear, and remains exciting as long as my hearing holds. But I am at an age where hearing can and does deteriorate, which would mess up the incremental rewards of my purchases.
And then, hopefully something else will grab me. I’ve always had to collect something. Time will tell.