Do You Collect To Invest Or Collect To Collect?

[3arod13]

I use to collect to collect. I would buy pretty much anything of Juan Gonzalez. Later, I added Alex Rodriguez to my collection. I now find myself collecting to invest. There is so much stuff out there now, I will pretty much pass on many arod items, unless they are rare and I see the potential value when selling down the line.

Example: I pretty much pass up on many arod signed baseballs (unless the signature is full and really clean). There are thousands of Arod signed baseballs. The one attached, arod signed in 1994. Picture is the original picture taken of him signing the ball. To me, this is rare because the signature is early, on a Bobby Brown ball, and the #3 is added. With the picture, rare.

What about you?

[TNTtoys]

Without any hesitation, I collect to collect. I have found that there is little investment in this hobby unless you are willing to buy real high end pieces from years past and be able to sit on them for a long time. I stick to things that I love and intend to hold onto. If I am inclined to sell anything (because I either need the money or would rather own something else instead), I am content to get my money back on the original item.

[89ASMVPBats]

I too collect to collect. Like TNT, I look for items that I intend to hold onto and only sell when I am refocusing my collection.

[RyanZimmerman11]

I'm just starting out getting into GU memorabilia, but I am doing it purely to collect.

I want what I like..not what anyone else might want someday.

I'm 32 now (yea, late getting into the game :( ) but I intend to leave every piece I buy to my children or grandchildren...one day.

For now, I just want to have some fun, collect a ton of memorabilia, go to a few games, autograph signings and maybe meet some really nice people along the way.



Jay

[3arod13]

Thanks for all your posts. Always interesting to know what others do and how they think.

I'm 47 and have been collecting for 30+ years. My collecting habits and interests have changed over the years.

I mainling went from collecting to collect, to collecting to collect and invest, only because of how expensive the hobby has gotten today. It's difficult to buy everything out there of one player. So I'm more selective. I buy something things that I'm not interested in collecting, to turn them around, make money, and support my collecting habit.

[ironmanfan]

I collect to collect. If anything I own just happens to "go up in value" it's purely a coincidence.

[jon_8_us]

I collect to invest in my collection ......you get it?I bought a Sheffield bat a fews months ago at a very small price.I then did some investigation on the piece and subsequently sold the bat for 3 times what i paid.That money will go right into my Manny Ramirez collection.What better way to subsidize your collection then by making a little something off of game used?I love the whole experience of buying cheap,doing my homework,and ultimately making a profit that goes directly to my personal collection.Kinda like the stock market a little.
jon

[3arod13]

I collect to invest in my collection ......you get it?I bought a Sheffield bat a fews months ago at a very small price.I then did some investigation on the piece and subsequently sold the bat for 3 times what i paid.That money will go right into my Manny Ramirez collection.What better way to subsidize your collection then by making a little something off of game used?I love the whole experience of buying cheap,doing my homework,and ultimately making a profit that goes directly to my personal collection.Kinda like the stock market a little.
jon

Jon, that's exactly what I do also. Although my main focus is collecting Arod, I do buy other things that I know I can turnaround and make a profit, in order to support my arod habit. Sometimes, I even come across something that I end up keeping just because I like it.

I find there's just to much stuff in the market today. So, I enjoy COLLECTING what I like, and INVESTING to make a few dollars.

[gatorcollector]

I absolutely collect to collect. I'm certainly not going to get rich selling my Tony McCoy, Adrian White, Ernie Mills, and Godfrey Myles jerseys. But they were all great Gators and that's what I love.

[jayt1234]

There are too many other sensible options for investment purposes that have much more certainty than sports memoribilia. I have only been colecting since January, but since then I have certainly become much more distrustful of a lot of stuff out there, meaning you usually have to pay a pretty high premium for things that have some level of authenticity, and this is usually for players who are well below star caliber.

I collect only football items and really enjoy finding new stuff out there and have developed a pretty good sense of what is worth buying for my collection and budget. Luckily I collect pretty much only Dallas Cowboys stuff so not only is there an abundance of there stuff out there, but also they sell direct so I know for sure it is real. So I only collect common players but I am much more comfortable paying a much smaller amount for a Sam Hurd GU helmet than the going price for say Tony Romo or Terrell Owens.

Jay