Letting stuff go 3 3

[oakman29]

16 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

You guys all sound like lightweights. 

If I could get it down to about 150 short boxes from about 250, I'd be happy.

I need to build a house around my short boxes , do you think I have a problem?

[ygogolak]

5 hours ago, NoMan said:

but once you let them go they somehow always look better then when you had 'em.

And they were in better condition...

[batman_fan]

Every year I say the same thing "this year I am going to start trimming the collection and every year I never get around to selling anything.  Well 2018 is going to be different.  My big problem is when I see pretty books I like I have to have them but somehow never part with anything.

 

[Silver]

Guess I don’t understand the “don’t want to leave someone 30 boxes” problem. I don’t think of my collection as a problem for whoever gets it. They can do whatever they want with it, call a dealer, and bam...that problem is done, if they see it that way. I think my family knows what the collection has meant to me. I just don’t feel the need to consolidate and liquidate so my heirs can just inherit numbers in a bank account. Just my 

 

[thehumantorch]

2 hours ago, Silver said:

Guess I don’t understand the “don’t want to leave someone 30 boxes” problem. I don’t think of my collection as a problem for whoever gets it. They can do whatever they want with it, call a dealer, and bam...that problem is done, if they see it that way. I think my family knows what the collection has meant to me. I just don’t feel the need to consolidate and liquidate so my heirs can just inherit numbers in a bank account. Just my 

 

It can be a problem for a family if the collector hasn't done any 'comic estate' planning.  What are they worth, how should they sell the collection, If choosing a dealer is he paying a reasonable amount or is he ripping them off?  

I can appreciate that you love your collection and it means a lot to you at all ages of your life but it wouldn't be a bad idea to give them the names of a couple dealers or auction houses you trust and a list of the better books and their values, just in case.

[marvelmaniac]

5 hours ago, Silver said:

Guess I don’t understand the “don’t want to leave someone 30 boxes” problem. I don’t think of my collection as a problem for whoever gets it. They can do whatever they want with it, call a dealer, and bam...that problem is done, if they see it that way. I think my family knows what the collection has meant to me. I just don’t feel the need to consolidate and liquidate so my heirs can just inherit numbers in a bank account. Just my 

 

Same with me, I agree 100%!!!

You do not stop living and doing what you enjoy because you are getting older and you may/will one day die.

Now if (God Forbid) I was diagnosed with a terminal illness then I would get with my family and help them liquidate my belongings while I was still here and able to help.

Other than that NOBODY knows when their time is up.

2 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

It can be a problem for a family if the collector hasn't done any 'comic estate' planning.  What are they worth, how should they sell the collection, If choosing a dealer is he paying a reasonable amount or is he ripping them off?  

I can appreciate that you love your collection and it means a lot to you at all ages of your life but it wouldn't be a bad idea to give them the names of a couple dealers or auction houses you trust and a list of the better books and their values, just in case.

All done three years ago!!!

Sometimes OCD is a Good Thing.

I have left written detailed instructions/suggestions as far as the handling/grading/selling of my comic books along with where all reference material is located on my computer and in my apartment.

I graded and recorded the grades of all books (3600) with grader notes and all books were photographed and both the graded list and photograph's have been saved to my computer and two separate flashdrives.

I check eBay completed purchases every 4 month's.

I keep records of eBay completed purchases for the "key" books in my collection that are in the same grade as mine so there is a written record of what these books are currently selling for and the average price of what they have been selling for, I have been doing this for three years.

Who gets what is laid out in my will and besides myself three others have a sealed copy.

[marvelmaniac]

To the OP...

I only own one copy of each book except for one exception.

Books that were Wizard World Exclusives that "we" were given at Wizard World Philly for purchasing advanced tickets so we have multiple copies of two books.

So, IMO, you keep what you need to complete runs of the series you are collecting or a book/story you really enjoy reading over and over and do not want to damage a higher grade copy, other than that multiple copies are not needed.

[lizards2]

9 hours ago, oakman29 said:

10 hours ago, lizards2 said:

You guys all sound like lightweights. 

If I could get it down to about 150 short boxes from about 250, I'd be happy.

I need to build a house around my short boxes , do you think I have a problem?

Admitting you have a problem is the first step.

However, Rehab is for quitters.

[mattn792]

16 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Rehab is for quitters.

Spot on.  And yet most people look at you sideways when you tell them that...

[Get Marwood & I]

13 hours ago, fmaz said:

A few years ago I started the process of "consolidating" my collection.  The thought was, I didn't want to eventually give our son 30 long boxes of problems to deal with... I wanted to give him 3-4 boxes (at most) of really good books that a) were a representation of my favorite stuff and b) easy to sell if he ever decided that he "to heck with keeping dad's favorite stuff, let's get some cash".

Anyway, part of the process is obviously asking yourself "What is really my favorite stuff?"   But then the harder question is "What book/s are sufficient to represent that favorite?"

I'll give you a very small, specific example.

I was a fan of Nova when he came out in the 70's.  Do I need to have a full run of the 70's original series, plus all his subsequent relaunched series?  That's what I had before I started to consolidate.  Well I've since acquired a CGC 9.6 of Nova #1.  And yesterday bought an original art page from that 70's run which I'll frame and add to my collection.  Now maybe I'll look to upgrade that graded book to a 9.8, and maybe I'd love to get an OA Nova cover some day... but those two pieces, I think will represent my love of the character and allow me to let all the other stuff go.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on... but that's sort of how I deal with things on a case by case basis.

Oh and by the way... I've sold my Nova 70's series... and subsequently bought another one... sold that... bought another one... and so on.    It's like I tell my wife:  This process is like knocking over a Coke machine.  You can't do it in one push - you have to rock it back and forth several times before it goes over for good. 

Good luck!

 

 

Your post resonates with me fmaz, the keeping of the favourite books / those which represent your collecting history. I managed to whittle 8,000 Spidey books down to this innocuous pile:

 

My collection was fairly staggering in it's completeness but I had to stop for various reasons which I won't go into again here as I've bored everyone elsewhere with it several times. The rationale for keeping these though was as follows:

• Andru was always my favourite artist, so the art had to stay (still can't believe I managed to snag the 179 page)
• AF 15 - first Spidey, fairly obvious why I wanted that to stay
• ASM 1-17 are my pence copies. A quick glance at some of my threads will tell you why they had to stay
• 30/35cv sets - again, being a variant nut I found these too hard to part with
• Printing Errors - I had about 100 ASM print errors before the big sell off. Loved them. So I kept my favourite two (Green Spidey #5 / Black price box 65)
• I kept the 194 as it's a Mark Jewelers (I nearly got the lot from 96 to 349)
• I kept the other 3 CGC's as they're keys, great stories and may make a buck down the road

Not shown, I also kept ASM 176-180 in NM raw, as this was always my favourite Spidey story arc as a kid (hence 179 OA delight!)

These all reside in one neat case along with flash drives showing everything I had, the documents and spreadsheets etc etc. So they more than show that I was once a comic nut. I still am, but only dabble now in low grade investigation purchases (Miller, Pence etc, see my signature line threads)

There's a great scene in the much unappreciated film 'A Good Year' where Russel Crowes wayward city trading character asks his super rich boss when he has time to see the original Van Gogh that he has stored in a vault while a 'cheap' $100K reproduction graces his office wall. "What point are you making?" his boss replies.

I think as long as you had fun building your collection, there's nothing wrong in selling up and just keeping a few cherished items back as your reminder. What's the point of 8,000 comics sitting in boxes, rarely if ever looked at, when you can have one small box to bring out and reflect on?

I break collecting down as follows:

1. Deciding what you love
2. Seeking it out
3. Finding it!
4. Bagging it, logging it, filing it
5. Cherishing it
6. Selling it

I had the fun of all 6 elements for 98% of my collection. Selling was unexpectedly good fun. The only thing I can't do now is to continue to cherish that which has gone. 

There's a thread somewhere about selling up to ease the burden on your loved ones when you go. I can't find it, but it had a lot of similar sentiments to this one.

So, I've rambled on. Don't fret over selling. It's not the end of the world. And you can always then collect it all over again! 

Spoiler

P.S. All that said, if I was rich, and had a massive house, I'd have kept the lot and would likely be adding to it now at a furious pace!

 

[KirbyJack]

My own Spidey run got whittled down to these;

#1-4, sold AF 15. I am a run collector at heart, and this kept the door open to potentially reassemble the title. #4 will stay as long as my FF run stays (so, forever).

#8, Kirby!

Annual #1 and 2. I really like early Marvel annuals, and #1 has all those villain splashes...

Various 70s issues I remember fondly from an older brother's stash. (Gibbon!)

Now, Marwood (I?); we have to talk. How can anybody keep a personal Spidey collection and NOT keep The Master Planner Trilogy!? 31-33 are kinda mandatory. 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

8 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

My own Spidey run got whittled down to these;

#1-4, sold AF 15. I am a run collector at heart, and this kept the door open to potentially reassemble the title. #4 will stay as long as my FF run stays (so, forever).

#8, Kirby!

Annual #1 and 2. I really like early Marvel annuals, and #1 has all those villain splashes...

Various 70s issues I remember fondly from an older brother's stash. (Gibbon!)

Now, Marwood (I?); we have to talk. How can anybody keep a personal Spidey collection and NOT keep The Master Planner Trilogy!? 31-33 are kinda mandatory. 

 

I kept pictures! 

     

I always remember my pence 33, as it was a nice high grade book. Until I ripped the right centre corner off with a tape pull that is 

[KirbyJack]

You should hope that I'm your Secret Santa next year. 

[NoMan]

46 minutes ago, Marwood & I said:

Your post resonates with me fmaz, the keeping of the favourite books / those which represent your collecting history. I managed to whittle 8,000 Spidey books down to this innocuous pile:

 

My collection was fairly staggering in it's completeness but I had to stop for various reasons which I won't go into again here as I've bored everyone elsewhere with it several times. The rationale for keeping these though was as follows:

• Andru was always my favourite artist, so the art had to stay (still can't believe I managed to snag the 179 page)
• AF 15 - first Spidey, fairly obvious why I wanted that to stay
• ASM 1-17 are my pence copies. A quick glance at some of my threads will tell you why they had to stay
• 30/35cv sets - again, being a variant nut I found these too hard to part with
• Printing Errors - I had about 100 ASM print errors before the big sell off. Loved them. So I kept my favourite two (Green Spidey #5 / Black price box 65)
• I kept the 194 as it's a Mark Jewelers (I nearly got the lot from 96 to 349)
• I kept the other 3 CGC's as they're keys, great stories and may make a buck down the road

Not shown, I also kept ASM 176-180 in NM raw, as this was always my favourite Spidey story arc as a kid (hence 179 OA delight!)

These all reside in one neat case along with flash drives showing everything I had, the documents and spreadsheets etc etc. So they more than show that I was once a comic nut. I still am, but only dabble now in low grade investigation purchases (Miller, Pence etc, see my signature line threads)

There's a great scene in the much unappreciated film 'A Good Year' where Russel Crowes wayward city trading character asks his super rich boss when he has time to see the original Van Gogh that he has stored in a vault while a 'cheap' $100K reproduction graces his office wall. "What point are you making?" his boss replies.

I think as long as you had fun building your collection, there's nothing wrong in selling up and just keeping a few cherished items back as your reminder. What's the point of 8,000 comics sitting in boxes, rarely if ever looked at, when you can have one small box to bring out and reflect on?

I break collecting down as follows:

1. Deciding what you love
2. Seeking it out
3. Finding it!
4. Bagging it, logging it, filing it
5. Cherishing it
6. Selling it

I had the fun of all 6 elements for 98% of my collection. Selling was unexpectedly good fun. The only thing I can't do now is to continue to cherish that which has gone. 

There's a thread somewhere about selling up to ease the burden on your loved ones when you go. I can't find it, but it had a lot of similar sentiments to this one.

So, I've rambled on. Don't fret over selling. It's not the end of the world. And you can always then collect it all over again! 

  Hide contents

P.S. All that said, if I was rich, and had a massive house, I'd have kept the lot and would likely be adding to it now at a furious pace!

 

awesome post. thanks!

[Chip Cataldo]

I regret selling what I had every single day. Make sure you know what you're feeling when you sell and won't regret things later. It sucks. 

[TheFifthHorseman]

2 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

. I managed to whittle 8,000 Spidey books down to this innocuous pile:

 

Nothing special here!

[ADAMANTIUM]

2 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Your post resonates with me fmaz, the keeping of the favourite books / those which represent your collecting history. I managed to whittle 8,000 Spidey books down to this innocuous pile:

 

 

   

[Lucky Baru]

2 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Your post resonates with me fmaz, the keeping of the favourite books / those which represent your collecting history. I managed to whittle 8,000 Spidey books down to this innocuous pile:

 

 

 

What a great pile!

[1Cool]

10 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

It can be a problem for a family if the collector hasn't done any 'comic estate' planning.  What are they worth, how should they sell the collection, If choosing a dealer is he paying a reasonable amount or is he ripping them off?  

I can appreciate that you love your collection and it means a lot to you at all ages of your life but it wouldn't be a bad idea to give them the names of a couple dealers or auction houses you trust and a list of the better books and their values, just in case.

  I told my wife a couple years ago that she should contact Hector on the message boards if something should happen to me and she wanted to sell my collection.  That was when I didn't really know Hector but thought he was a cool guy who would give her a fair price.  Should probably tell her to go another route after getting to know Hector better

[KirbyJack]

6 hours ago, Chip Cataldo said:

I regret selling what I had every single day. Make sure you know what you're feeling when you sell and won't regret things later. It sucks. 

That's rough, man.

Fortunately, I have experienced zero seller's remorse. Quite a bit of the stuff I know I can't financially replace, but none of it was rare.