What is going to ultimately happen to your collection when you get old and die?
It actually depends on how long I live. If I were to pass away in the near future, then my collection would be passed down to my family. But if I am blessed enough to live a long and fruitful life, then who knows what could happen.
Maybe I'll fall on hard times and be forced to sell off my collection. Maybe I'll get bored with the hobby and purge the collection like I did in the early 2000's. Or maybe when I retire from the classroom, I'll start setting up at card shows and become a card dealer... assuming there are still card shows to set up at in twenty-five years.
Regardless of what I decide to do with my collection, I'd like to believe that there are a few untouchables... cards that I'd never consider selling or trading. Tonight I'm going to share five of them with you.
#1: 1956 Topps #30 Jackie Robinson
Surprised? I show this card off every opportunity I get. It's hands down my favorite piece of cardboard.
#2: Kurt Suzuki Sketch Card
Two years ago, A.J. also known as The Lost Collector hooked me up with this amazing sketch card based on the 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces base card design. The term "priceless" often pops up in our hobby. This sketch card is the perfect example.
#3: Perez-Steele Great Moments #62 Catfish Hunter
I love oddballs. I love oversized cards. I love cards that feature paintings. I love on-card autographs. And I love the Oakland Athletics. In short... I love this card.
#4: 1976 Topps Traded #74T Oscar Gamble
This card was a gift from Chris over at Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. It's such an iconic piece of cardboard and proves that cards don't have to be rare or expensive to be valuable.
#5: 1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn
A few years ago, this was my favorite card. It's one of the cards I held onto after I sold off my collection back in the early 2000's. These days... it's no longer my favorite card. Heck... it's not even my favorite Gwynn rookie. But it'll always have a place in my collection.
Well... I could sit here and list cards all night... but none of us have time for that. Instead... why don't you take a few seconds to answer defgav's question.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
18 comments:
If I get old and die my collection would go to my wife. That's reason enough for me to pare it down. It worries me a bit that she would be overwhelmed by the quantity and not know what was valuable and what wasn't. The last things I would sell would be my Ron Santo collection. I could see her keeping those too because she knows how much they mean to me.
Makes me sad just thinking about it.
Wow wow wow. Very honored to make #2 on that list amongst such awesome cards. Thank you so much for that.
I thought about the question a lot too. My poor wife would have no idea what to do. I think I am going to label a few boxes of the really important stuff with some of the same colored circle/dot stickers. Those are what will need to go to Joey.
The rest of the stuff she can get rid of as she sees fit.
I think my answer is like yours -- it depends on when I meet my maker, I suppose, andl if by then a nephew or niece takes an interest in cards, the they might get them. Otherwise, I'd probably have them sold off. Either way, I would just want them to go to someone who will appreciate them and enjoy them.
Very nice. The sketch card I got from AJ (or is it TJ? ;)) is in my top 5 too :).
It's A.J. I wrote this post late last night. Just another reason I tell my students to always self edit their work ;-)
I was really hoping my nephew would follow in my footsteps. But as he got older... he sort of grew out of the hobby.
No... Thank you. I love that sketch card. Last year, I took it with me to a couple of games in hopes of having Kurt sign it... but he never got close enough.
Sorry about that. It sort of bummed me out a little too knowing that nobody in my family will appreciate them as much as I do.
Well hopefully that time is far far away for all of us. I would like to think that my two sons would split my collection as I hope they get into it. If not I guess they can sell it off as they see fit.
When my time comes my wife will sell most of my collection and memorabilia besides a couple of special cards like my 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig which would go to my son.
I have a son and grandson. That could both possibly take care of the collection.
I asked this question on my blog a few years ago.
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2009/08/ugly-truth.html
No one in the family cares about cards at this point (although there is some potential promise in a young nephew). If that remains the case, I'll probably end up selling most of them, and keeping a few with a note of instruction that says: tell your grandkids these were very important to your dad).
No idea what my wife would do with it, probably give it to one of my cousins, someone that could enjoy it for what it is, or maybe my buddy's son.
I'll probably sell some and pass the rest down minus what I keep for myself.
Also, show that Jackie every day.
Amazing cards! I am inspired to do the something eventually.
I am assuming the cards would be passed down to my boys. Being that I don't have anything ultra valuable, there wouldn't be instructions to keep anything specific. I better get something ultra valuable before I go...
I appreciate the Jackie support. It's eerie how much I love that piece of cardboard.
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