When is it time to stop collecting?

[Goldeneye]

I don't care what you collect. Books, statues, cards, coins, or tattoos. What age is it time to stop?

 

I mean, are you going to be buying comic books for your collection when you are 88?

 

I know that each of us makes that type of decision based on our own desires and circumstances. Duh. But today, when do you think it will be right FOR YOU to stop?

It is time to stop when you have to ask or question yourself like this? Never ask or question just enjoy reading as much as you can for as long as you can.

[GoldCap]

As for the original question...I enjoy thinking of my collecting efforts as somewhat being those of a curator...you know, as if I'm acquiring and conserving valuable historical artifacts...I suppose that I won't stop as long as I view things in that light, because that work is never finished...

 

(thumbs u

 

Until I've collected everything that interests me...which could take a WHILE!

 

To put a number on it...ask me again in 35 years

[Buzzetta]

When it becomes a job rather than something I enjoy. I stopped participating in Fantasy Baseball once it was becoming a job. It was no longer enjoyable to get up and devote an hour every day to look over pitching matchups and the lineups and conditions for every MLB team to ensure that I knew what was going on with my team.

 

Too much work...

 

 

Once it switched over from something I want to do into something I feel compelled to do, it loses the fun factor and I stop.

[Kystix]

I agree.. The excitement of going to the comic book rack at the gas station or finding Spideys at the flea markets and yard sales as a kid will be hard to replicate now when you can have any comic you want with a click.

 

I dont know. I agree it may be like that for some. But not me, I am only 20. I got into this amazing hobby a little over a year ago, and I love heading to my LCS and seeing whats new. And going through Flea Markets and yard sales and long boxes and long boxes of 90s Drek. Those are some of my most favorite things to do. But I think it has to do with the fact that unlike most of my friends that I have gotten into Comics, Im the only one that collects Silverage and CGC books. They only collect the new stuff. Which I do too. But I could never go digital. I love that old comicbook smell.

 

For me, sharing my love of comic books with my son helps to fuel the hobby.

 

I've been able to do this with a few kids. One of my younger cousins is pretty big into comics. He has transitioned to mostly digital. I also gifted comics to a nephew and a neighbor's son.

It's nice when comics "sticks" with a kid. However, overall it feels like a losing battle. I also tried to get a couple other younger cousins into comics but they didn't take. Hoping to have better luck with my daughter.

I grew up riding my bike to the corner store to get the latest issues from the rack; maybe you did too. I don't think the younger generation will ever have quite the same fondness for comic books simply because that feeling of nostalgia won't be part of it.

 

I dont think that is true, as I said above, I haven't been in this hobby long but even so I used to drive my best friend in between classes at the college to G.A.tor's Shop and it became like a special thing each Wednesday. And now that I have moved to Orlando, I keep thinking back on those days and remembering how much fun it was. It still is fun, but the nostalgia is still there. Just not as old.

[shadroch]

You are in the hobby a year and already looking back at the good old days?

[A-DONIS]

Soon... VERY SOON

[porcupine48]

For me, sharing my love of comic books with my son helps to fuel the hobby.

 

I've been able to do this with a few kids. One of my younger cousins is pretty big into comics. He has transitioned to mostly digital. I also gifted comics to a nephew and a neighbor's son.

It's nice when comics "sticks" with a kid. However, overall it feels like a losing battle. I also tried to get a couple other younger cousins into comics but they didn't take. Hoping to have better luck with my daughter.

I grew up riding my bike to the corner store to get the latest issues from the rack; maybe you did too. I don't think the younger generation will ever have quite the same fondness for comic books simply because that feeling of nostalgia won't be part of it.

Yep,growing up on the outskirts of the city,I would ride around on my bike,looking for moneyback bottles to bring to the corner store to trade in for comics.Also,some of the out of the waynshops I could reach would have lots of leftover books from the year they didnt seem to send back,just left on the shelves til they sold...sigh...ill never stop.

[ElvistheSniper]

My time is NOW. I'm bored. I still collect JSC covers but even that isn't a fun as it once was.

 

I've been selling off a lot in the last year, and haven't bought anything from my LCS in months.

 

 

[delorean1981]

Excellent question. Harry Rinker did a special series on this, but it was more geared towards 'why collectors stop collecting' NOT when. That being said, the link is below. Scroll halfway down the page and you should see the articles in question.

 

http://www.harryrinker.com/columns.html

 

Kind Regards,

 

'mint'

 

I appreciate you linking that article, an interesting read. I've only been in the comic collecting arena for a year now, only recently on the hunt for that ASM grail AF15. But I've been a collector of things, whatever it may be, for years. I honestly can't say that I don't know a collector, of some sort or fashion, in my circles of family and friends. Be it cards, angel statues, giraffe statues, comics, guns or dolls, there are collectibles for everyone.

 

For me, it's the hunt that excites me. Finding that item that has eluded me for oh too long and to finally get my grubby hands on it... that is satisfying.

 

As to the OP's question: when it's time to stop breathing.