POLL: When (if ever) will you retire from actively collecting OA?

[MyNameIsLegion]

Great poll and discussion!

 

My OA collecting-- like other hobbies I've enjoyed-- started with a "Wow!" followed by rapidly increasing "activity" (measured by spending time/money/emotion) as I am now building my collection, moderating whenever my available funds decline and/or other priorities begin to conflict, and eventually declining when the hobby provides less enjoyment/satisfaction. In business, this Intro-Growth-Maturity-Decline progression is called the 'product life cycle' which might explain alot about how my OA collecting might evolve:

 

 

Like many, I began collecting OA in the past 5-6 years and currently in Growth phase celebrating every acquisition, actively building my collection and relishing the buzz in hunting for, acquiring and owning these treasures while staying true to my budget. I truly envy those 'seasoned' collectors with jaw-dropping grail pages and their tales of buying Miller and Byrne pages for $50 way back when. If only...

 

Eventually, when my collection peaks and the hobby 'buzz' loses a bit of intensity ("decent Watchmen bro'... :cool:"), I'll enter the Mature phase. I'll stop actively acquiring (except for a few 'must haves' and trading) since I'll probably think prices are too high compared to years past. In today's market, many dealers and established collectors are already here, having built solid core collections and have moderated their purchases except for opportunistic buying/selling ("please inquire") or selective trading ("trade only"). I'm already here in GA comics and, if fortune shines, my OA hobby will reach this phase in 8-10 years.

 

Finally, when the OA 'buzz' wanes for me , I'll plan on selling most of my OA so that other/newer collectors can enjoy and appreciate these works of art... keeping those 4-5 trophy pages that will adorn my beach villa in retirement.

 

...or maybe not.

 

Dino

 

 

 

Great post Dino. I've used that same chart for business just recently! It might be more telling if everyone were to plot a point on the chart that represents where they are in the collecting life-cycle, since age isn't always the most telling descriptor since it depends on when you got into the hobby, where the market was at the time, or other barriers to entry, etc. Speaking for myself, I'm just now "over the hill"