Question For Those Who Have Sold It All 2 2

[comicginger1789]

I’ll lead with my question and follow it up with more detail…for those who have sold all (or most) of their collection, how was the experience? Obviously bittersweet depending on the reason I’m sure but I’m more so wondering if someone who had to sell say 10000 comics wished it were only 3000. 
 

The reason I ask is that I’m considering fine tuning my collection. Out of about 4000 books, I have a healthy ASM run from 1-500 that I am considering focusing solely on to acquire some of the big guns. If I sold the other 3500 or so comics, I know I could get quite close to both AF15 and ASM in low grade of course. I’m just thinking of future me when I might have to sell it all and whether this would be easier. Otherwise I’m likely going to eventually get to 7000+ books and if that experience is a drag, maybe I should take the quality over quantity approach. Or perhaps those with large collections enjoyed the selling process as it brought back memories. I would love to hear people’s feelings and thoughts as they went through this. 

[MattTheDuck]

I haven't done this (although, like you, I'm "oversupplied" and need to sell some), but in reading through other threads, it sounds as though using something like MCS has been a pretty painless process for those who have used it.  

[comicginger1789]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:51 PM, MattTheDuck said:

I haven't done this (although, like you, I'm "oversupplied" and need to sell some), but in reading through other threads, it sounds as though using something like MCS has been a pretty painless process for those who have used it.  

Yeah like I figure when I get to the point of selling (I’m on 34 as of Monday), I’ll probably be retired and not mind the time aspect of it. I was just curious if someone was happier that they only had to sell say 1000 vs 10000 books. Especially if the value was similar. I will say I like my variety and getting rid of 3/4 of my stuff to find a couple books is a tough call 

[Nick Furious]

On 6/10/2023 at 10:13 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I will say I like my variety and getting rid of 3/4 of my stuff to find a couple books is a tough call

Yeah, I agree.  If you don't have access and boxes are stored or stacked on top of each other, then quantity is not so great.  But in the right situation, where each box is easily accessible, I really enjoy the quantity over quality.  It's like having my own little private comic book store.  I've been thinking lately that my 5,000 or so raw books are actually my true permanent collection that I will be glad I still own when I am old and have lots of time on my hands.   While my more valuable books, the 200 or so slabbed books, are fair game to sell.  

[shadroch]

I sold everything last fall and don't regret it in the least.  I bought a few books that I've consigned to MCS, and a couple of BA story arcs that I've yet to read.  I have some Omni's and the Taschen books that I intend to read, but I've yet to get to.

[DeadpoolJr.]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:45 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I’ll lead with my question and follow it up with more detail…for those who have sold all (or most) of their collection, how was the experience? Obviously bittersweet depending on the reason I’m sure but I’m more so wondering if someone who had to sell say 10000 comics wished it were only 3000. 
 

The reason I ask is that I’m considering fine tuning my collection. Out of about 4000 books, I have a healthy ASM run from 1-500 that I am considering focusing solely on to acquire some of the big guns. If I sold the other 3500 or so comics, I know I could get quite close to both AF15 and ASM in low grade of course. I’m just thinking of future me when I might have to sell it all and whether this would be easier. Otherwise I’m likely going to eventually get to 7000+ books and if that experience is a drag, maybe I should take the quality over quantity approach. Or perhaps those with large collections enjoyed the selling process as it brought back memories. I would love to hear people’s feelings and thoughts as they went through this. 

I sold almost all but one of my graded comics and a lot of OA pieces that I didn't think I would have let go. It's bittersweet since they were pieces I really liked and have gone up a lot more in value since I've sold them meaning getting similar example to replace them would be very costly or even impossible now. Plus original art being a 1:1 means if you really liked a certain piece you can only get it if you can locate the new owner and able to get them to sell it back.

The reason I did this though was similar to you; to put towards a much larger purchase. In my case it was original art. I think you should ask yourself how hard would these books be to replace if you ever regretted selling at least some of them and if you would be willing to pay the current or possible future higher prices to replace them if you bought your original copies when they were much cheaper. The majority would probably be easy, even more so if you were willing to settle for a lower grade but paying more might be a mental block if you remember grabbing it much cheaper and not willing to justify it to yourself.