To collect for keeps or sell?

[Rochon Laverdet]

o.K. I will be the first! i just stumbled on this website, and joined immediately. This is great! I discovered this as a hobby last year, and now consider it necessary therapy that fascinates my soul like nothing else can!  It has also been quite profitable. Who knew?!

O.K. I will stop rambling. How about this? At what point should you decide to part with a piece of your collection or a rare find? Which is best? To keep it "safe" with you or should you share your knowledge it with others?

I mean this in the way of say, a library/museum archive etc... and specifically, to share certain knowledge with the youth of today. There are too many kids who don't know the feeling of opening a hand-written letter, or witting one for their grand parents or a friend. Our kids won't save their photographs in negative form. They will cherish their photos that were taken with a digital camera in the form of a CD, and this is just one example. I hope I'm making my point here. One day, we may have nothing TO save because the only ephemera in existence will be  what we have collected now, as a hobby, then gave away or sold! 

So, when do you part with what? i would love to learn how others feel and what they do. Thanks!

[ExileBibliophile]

My answer: it depends. As my collections grow, they need more focus, so I'll get to what feels like critical mass and then start selling. With serendipitous finds, very cool stuff but I don't collect, I'll usually share it with a few interested people, sometimes making a gift of it, or trading or selling to them-- if none of those, I sell it, usually after a few months of enjoying it.

[ExileBibliophile]

PS, Welcome!!

[Rochon Laverdet]

Oh thank you for your response as it falls right in place with my thoughts exactly! What is always a a concern, for lack of a better word, is that I hear stories (a crazy one last night) from people who excitedly tell me about a purchase made on ebay, that turned out to be an amazing find because the seller had no clue as to what they were selling. Last night's story was about a stamp purchased for 55.00 which turned out to be 1 of only 4 known in the world, making his number five. Value: 750,000. I mean really, would you believe this? Or do things of this sort happen? if I sold or gave away a 750,000 stamp I would be very ill, for the rest of my life.

Between both of your responses, it seems as though anything I decide to do is a personal choice, with no right or wrong answer.

I guess I should focus on learning what is "junk" and what should be preserved and archived.

Thanks so much, and I hope to share other stories often. :)

ExileBibliophile said:

My answer: it depends. As my collections grow, they need more focus, so I'll get to what feels like critical mass and then start selling. With serendipitous finds, very cool stuff but I don't collect, I'll usually share it with a few interested people, sometimes making a gift of it, or trading or selling to them-- if none of those, I sell it, usually after a few months of enjoying it.

[Rochon Laverdet]

Thanks! I'm so happy to be here!

ExileBibliophile said:

PS, Welcome!!