As you may or may not know, I got married a couple days ago and the bride truly is my best friend and for all the right reasons. She’s been with me through everything and we’ve made it through each hardship that has come our way.
But, one thing she has done for me that she gets very little credit for is change the way I collect sports cards. See, I’ve been a collector since 1987 when I was five and I was given my first few packs of 1987 Topps featuring baseball cards with the wood paneling border. As a kid I collected what I liked regardless of book value and many of my favorite players could be found on the commons list. However, with the advent of eBay and the ease it provided in selling cards online, I slowly garnered the “dealer mindset” where most of what I purchased was based on “flipping potential” and less about having fun.
Then, right around 2008 when my wife came into the picture she became interested in what I was always doing on eBay and gradually began to ask more questions. She would ask the typical questions; what was I buying, selling, how much, etc. But, then she started asking a question I wasn’t used to hearing or even thinking about myself; did I really want to sell that particular card? The more she’d ask it the more I’d sit and think about it. Often, I would sell a card online whether or not I wanted it for my collection if I could expect a favorable return. But, in doing so, I lost the collector mindset and was buying for financial reasons only and really wasn’t having a whole lot of fun.
Once I started thinking about “collecting” more and about “selling” less, I truly began to enjoy the hobby again. My collection has grown by leaps and bounds since then and actually contains some valuable cards that I have no intention of selling, which is fine by me.
I owe a lot to my wife but this is a big “thank you” to her because I am actually enjoying collecting more than I have in a long time and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon!
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