Should I sell my collectables from youth ?

[Spunky1]

Taking a break from going through boxes of my stuff that’s been stashed away.
I kept a lot stuff that once was decor from my teen years room at parents place and bachelor pad.
Mostly pop culture stuff from 80’s 90’s like Simpsons figures in pack, graphic novels, original concert bills and movie lobby cards , horror movie figures Mcfarane stuff, hot wheels from when I was a kid ect.
I can sell , I just don’t know if I want to . Had them for so long, memories of great days.
Probably moving next year so I‘m not sure I want to lug these boxes to another place, and it’s not like I’m going impress any women with my season 1 south park figures on a shelf like college days.

 

[Ceiling Cat]

Collectables have gone down in value since it is easier to find these things on the internet. The internet changed the world around 2000 when everyone got computers. Activities like skiing, hunting and fishing went down around 2000 and may have recovered a bit since then. Collectables went down as well. Logically, the world is less likely to pay the best price at this time, you may want to wait for better times.

 

[Davey416]

Reminds me of The 40 Year Old Virgin where Steve Carell struggles to part ways with his collectibles lol

 

[Butler1000]

Yup. Its time. Because you asked the question. And it was boxed and not displayed. You gain no joy from seeing them. So sure, sell what you can.

 

[Knuckle Ball]

I think you have to weigh how much emotional value they hold for you vs what you can get for them on the collectors’ market.

It doesn’t sound like any of these items are worth very much on the market? On the other hand, if all you’re gonna do is keep them stored in a basement then I’d just get whatever I could to be rid of them.

 

[onomatopoeia]

Collectables from the 1970's and earlier are much more valuable than anything later, unless you have things that are 'hot right now' in the market.

Before the 80's, kids tended to not keep their toys in good condition, so the few toys, comic books, etc. that were in mint or near mint condition were very valuable, but copies with minimal wear and tear were worth only a small fraction.

In the 80's/ 90's, many kids, (and adults), bought toys and comics as investments, but few of them increased in value because there were and are too many copies in mint condition.

Younger people today, on the whole, are not interested in owning 'physical entertainment' like books, magazines, DVDs, etc.

 

[Indiana]

Sell it all or give away,
I’m doing the same.
I hate clutter, and don’t want any hassle about leftover stuff next time I move.
Would rather a a few bucks from it.

 

[Sonic Temple]

Sell mate - see what you can get - otherwise - just donate them or give them away. See if you can get some cash.

 

[NotADcotor]

If you want to keep it, keep it, if you want to declutter than do so. Don't bother making the decision based on financials, it's a bit of a mugs game and as buddy said above mint condition more recent stuff tends not to hold it's value for the most part. I mean if you got rookie season mint Babe Ruth card or 1st ed Superman, maybe considering holding on to it, or not, you could just take the money and invest it somewhere else.

I sold all my RPG stuff, couldn't find a buyer for my D&D stuff and ended up selling it for 25 bucks, then discovered EBAY and sold the rest of my stuff [Hero system, Twilight 2000, Bloodbowl] for about a grand. Would have made 2 grand if I knew about ebay earlier but alas...
I figured I'd never play again as it was very hard to find players and if I did the DM would have the books and I read through the books enough to pretty much have memorized them. The first part ended up being true. However part of me wished I had kept it, be able to go through the physical copy again [pdfs I don't like] but on the other hand having to lug all that stuff and find shelving across thousands of km would be a bother. At the time I sold it, having those books just reminded me of the sadness of not being able to play anymore. I have found a group in my small berg recently and we play a much newer edition so I don't need the books.

I donno where I am going with this, maybe this stream of consciousness would be of some help.

 

[Insidious Von]

When I was a wee lad, my mother threw away my hockey cards. I was heart broken, among the cards was my prized Sheldon Kannagiesser rookie card.

These days I don't put much value in collectible, but I do collect Roman Coins. I don't keep them in the house naturally. Recently a treasure trove of silver Roman Coins was found in South-Western Turkey, near the ancient ruins of Philadelphia. Another trove was found near Chennai, India proof positive that the two cultures traded goods openly.

 

[Spunky1]

Reminds me of The 40 Year Old Virgin where Steve Carell struggles to part ways with his collectibles lol

I don’t have that much, I wish I did ! $$$

 

[Butler1000]

If you want to keep it, keep it, if you want to declutter than do so. Don't bother making the decision based on financials, it's a bit of a mugs game and as buddy said above mint condition more recent stuff tends not to hold it's value for the most part. I mean if you got rookie season mint Babe Ruth card or 1st ed Superman, maybe considering holding on to it, or not, you could just take the money and invest it somewhere else.

I sold all my RPG stuff, couldn't find a buyer for my D&D stuff and ended up selling it for 25 bucks, then discovered EBAY and sold the rest of my stuff [Hero system, Twilight 2000, Bloodbowl] for about a grand. Would have made 2 grand if I knew about ebay earlier but alas...
I figured I'd never play again as it was very hard to find players and if I did the DM would have the books and I read through the books enough to pretty much have memorized them. The first part ended up being true. However part of me wished I had kept it, be able to go through the physical copy again [pdfs I don't like] but on the other hand having to lug all that stuff and find shelving across thousands of km would be a bother. At the time I sold it, having those books just reminded me of the sadness of not being able to play anymore. I have found a group in my small berg recently and we play a much newer edition so I don't need the books.

I donno where I am going with this, maybe this stream of consciousness would be of some help.

You would have to pry my 1st and 2nd ed D&D books from my cold dead hands. And you should try playing online. It was a sanity savior during the pandemic and now I have games at my convenience. As well being able to play in my comfy clothes with kitchen at hand is awesome.

 

[NotADcotor]

You would have to pry my 1st and 2nd ed D&D books from my cold dead hands. And you should try playing online. It was a sanity savior during the pandemic and now I have games at my convenience. As well being able to play in my comfy clothes with kitchen at hand is awesome.

Sacrilege! Heresy! There is only one response to heresy, Exterminatus!.
Playing D&D on line is a bit like taking a shower in a raincoat. Not having the nerdlings gathered around the table in person just doesn't cut the mustard. I also dislike reading ebooks vs reading real books. I didn't pick the Luddite life, the Luddite life choose me.

 

[Butler1000]

Sacrilege! Heresy! There is only one response to heresy, Exterminatus!.
Playing D&D on line is a bit like taking a shower in a raincoat. Not having the nerdlings gathered around the table in person just doesn't cut the mustard. I also dislike reading ebooks vs reading real books. I didn't pick the Luddite life, the Luddite life choose me.

Realistically I play with people from all over the world. USA, South Africa, Britain, Denmark, Canada and more. The mapping works great, use disord for voice, its A LOT EASIER to get games together on a regular basis with adult lives.

It works. If I could get a regular group together I would. I imagine in retirement it will happen again.

 

[JackBurton]

I just recently found a small accordion folder thing with an elastic around it in a box of stuff. In it were all my first generation D&D Manuals, books modules, dice, figurines, character sheets… it took me right back to grade 6.in the basement with your friends. Pop and chips and sleeping bags.

It was a great trip down memory lane of something I had forgotten about it completely.

 

[loverofallthingsfemale]

I collected a lot of sports memorabilia back in the 70's/80's/90's. Have some pretty neat stuff like gretzky 79/80 rookie as well as complete set from that year. Many more cool rookie cards like lemieux, roy, etc. Most of the older cards were obtained from opening up packs as a kid and did very little buying of cards from dealers.

I find looking at this stuff kind of depressing for some reason. Not sure why but it does. The only reason I am still holding on to this stuff is to pass it down to my kids but I don't really think they give a shit. Like someone said earlier, once the internet came along, nobody really seems to care for this stuff all that much.

 

[onomatopoeia]

I collected a lot of sports memorabilia back in the 70's/80's/90's. Have some pretty neat stuff like gretzky 79/80 rookie as well as complete set from that year. Many more cool rookie cards like lemieux, roy, etc. Most of the older cards were obtained from opening up packs as a kid and did very little buying of cards from dealers.

I find looking at this stuff kind of depressing for some reason. Not sure why but it does. The only reason I am still holding on to this stuff is to pass it down to my kids but I don't really think they give a shit. Like someone said earlier, once the internet came along, nobody really seems to care for this stuff all that much.

The people who pay big money for collectibles usually fit one or more of these profiles:

a) Super-competitive men who are often more interested in preventing someone else from acquiring something than they are it acquiring the item themselves.

b) People who acquire something rare with the intention of flipping it for a profit to one of the unsuccessful bidders.

c) People who have too much cash; they want to diversify into other holdings that have value.

d) Middle-aged affluent men who want to either re-acquire something they owned in their youth, or to acquire something they once really wanted, but couldn't or didn't have.

e) Geeks and incels who want to impress others similar to themselves.

 

[GameBoy27]

I collected a lot of sports memorabilia back in the 70's/80's/90's. Have some pretty neat stuff like gretzky 79/80 rookie as well as complete set from that year. Many more cool rookie cards like lemieux, roy, etc. Most of the older cards were obtained from opening up packs as a kid and did very little buying of cards from dealers.

I find looking at this stuff kind of depressing for some reason. Not sure why but it does. The only reason I am still holding on to this stuff is to pass it down to my kids but I don't really think they give a shit. Like someone said earlier, once the internet came along, nobody really seems to care for this stuff all that much.

A quick Google search turned up this. "The 1979 O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky is often one of the most sought-after rookie cards around. Due to its iconic status, it remains the holy grail of hockey card collectors."

 

[onomatopoeia]

A quick Google search turned up this. "The 1979 O-Pee-Chee #18 Wayne Gretzky is often one of the most sought-after rookie cards around. Due to its iconic status, it remains the holy grail of hockey card collectors."

I would think that the 1979 Topps Wayne Gretzky would be worth a lot more, because half of the text on the back of O-Pee-Chee cards is in French.

 

[onomatopoeia]

A 9.5 Mint 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card sold for $12.6 Million USD in August, 2022.

Reasons why the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card is worth so much:

Besides the fact that Mantle had a Hall of fame career, 1952 was both his rookie card year and the first year of Topps baseball cards.

The cards were released to stores in four series; cards 1-80; 81-250; 251-310 and 311-407. Mantle's card was #311. The fourth series was released late in the baseball season, stores ordered fewer copies, and many boxes were returned unopened. Rather than storing the unsold cards in their warehouse, Topps hired a tugboat, and dumped most of them in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of New Jersey.