Why Do I Collect?

I've picked 1985 as my start date for collecting. It could have been a little earlier, but I know for sure I was active in 85 when I got started with baseball cards and Garbage Pail Kids.

Cards were just a normal part of kid culture back then, but like many peers I found cards to be a great escape from the stresses of school and home life. I didn't build sets at that age; I just liked the cards. I'd spend hours reading the cards, using them for pocket knife baseball game line-ups, and shuffling through stacks.

Preserving cards for later was saved for the annual sets I'd receive as a Christmas present that I'd leave sealed. One factory base set and one traded set for the Topps release that year, courtesy of the Sears catalog. The cards from packs were for messing around with, condition be damned.

That all changed for me in 1989 when Upper Deck entered the scene. From the premium cardstock, the exceptional photography, and the hologram everyone my age suddenly saw cards differently. We started using penny sleeves and top loaders. Trades become much more serious. We referenced Beckett and Tuff Stuff for values and hot lists.

I know some people lament when card values enter their consciousness, but to me it made them a lot more interesting.

I appreciated the art of a cool design and liked getting my favorite players, but suddenly my rips could be converted into other things I wanted if I got the right pulls. However, it quickly became clear that back in that era the best stuff was very hard to get and very expensive (for a kid) to chase.

The natural cycle of life changes adjusting priorities kicked in around 1991 and I didn't get back into cards until 1999 when I had my first job out of college and had some money to burn. The card landscape changed tremendously, but my enjoyment of ripping and the thrill of chasing the good stuff had not. Especially now that the good stuff was much, much easier to pull if you paid the premium.

I started selling on eBay in 2000, which fundamentally changed how I approached cards. It provided a purpose to what I was doing and made me think strategically about how I applied my rip habit. And also started my journey of picking up singles solely with resale in mind.

That largely hasn't changed in the last 26 years. I enjoy cards and other collectibles a lot, but at the end of the day I'm only a collector in a colloquial sense. Ultimately, everything is for sale; some things just are going to stay with me for a longer time than others depending on where I think they could go.

So why do I collect? It's fair to say I don't. I build an inventory using my interest in collectibles and I churn that inventory regularly (apart from the original art I still have; that likely will remain with me).

For a long time, my retirement goal was to just have a card shop for fun. As those little card shops started to disappear, I let that go but then realized I already have the card shop--it's just a digital storefront (with a very rare IRL transaction here and there).

But collectibles do mean a lot to me in a way that I can relate to the pure collectors out there. I'm blessed to have skills where I could make side incomes in a number of areas; I choose this one because of how much I enjoy researching and learning about new and new-to-me collectibles. I also enjoy the game of finding great opportunities and tracking how well I'm doing with those. And of course writing about collectibles and their markets.

Collectibles have given me something to think about through some very tough moments in my personal and work life. I'm very thankful I discovered them early on.

I can't say I've been a collector for a long time, but I have a lot of cool stuff to share with you.