Selling Up - Your Views & Advice Please

[mancitymark]

Selling Up

After many changes in my life over the past year or so I’ve been toying with the idea of selling up my collection of programmes, I only collect City and have done for over 25 years and are just two short of having every home and away City programme in all competions since 1965/66 - 2009/10 and I have recently started adding to the collection from 1958/59 - 1964/65 where I have well over a 100 so far. Now collecting has been such an enjoyable passion and hobby for so long and of late I’ve had spells where in drift in and out of collecting, What I mean by that is 'mad for it one month' and 'cant be arsed the next'.

Now before I make any decisions on this I would like to get the thoughts of the members on here - I would dread to think what I have spent over years and how would I ever regain the collections true value.

Mark
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Every Man Needs A Hobby

[tommy]

Contact Chris Williams at Sportingold. He is a Man City man and will advise you as to the best way ahead and give you a good idea of value.

[foxes1]

I have been selling a lot of my Leicester City collection off over the last 18 months (Because I had to many of them).
How I did it was went through them to find out which ones are valuable ie early Lge Cup, Friendlies (particulaly from abroad) also postponed games where the original prog was re-issued with a single sheet insert.
These I put on Ebay or put them in auctions and got some very good prices.
With the more common ones I usually put a couple on Ebay to see how they go and have built up a database of Leicester collectors, what I do then is email them and request their list of wants, most of them are realtively new to collecting and want to build a collection up, some of them just want to fill gaps up. This way you save on Ebay fees.

[ForestMick]

DON'T DO IT MARK!! I am exactly the same type of collector as you, one minute I have the time and energy to be obsessed with collecting, and I'm on it, next minute, I can't be arsed!! If you give up, that will make me more inclined to give up too. I also think, from what other people have previously said, that you might end up regretting it in years to come.
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[ForestPaul]

One day in years to come someone will ask you if there's anything you regret, if you sell your programmes your answer will be "yes getting rid of my City programmes"

[Tynie Topics]

Ask yourself if you're going to enjoy what you do with the cash more than your collection? if the answer now is a definate yes with no regrets, sell-up and take the cash.

If you're unsure at all - which you seem to be - don't do it, at least for now.

Step away totally from collecting for a month to see if you miss it, if you dont, go another month, and keep doing it until you either feel certain you want to sell, or the attraction is too much and you return to actively collecting.

Rash decisions are usually always regretted later.
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/footballprogrammes/albums

[surfinjim]

Mark- the way to look at it is that pension funds are shagged.

Hang on to the collection, you never know when you are really going to need the cash.

Alternatively, thin the collection down and target something in particular. I used to collect Wednesday homes, but was getting to a point of not caring anymore/not being able to find the rarer issues as every other collector was after the same ones.

Now I just concentrate on neutral/rep games at Hillsborough and Owls v Foreign opps. Still tyime consuming and expensive but not as many to aim for. Still some pretty valuable programmes in that collection as well.

Jim
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26th December 1979

Bolder, Blackhall, Williamson, Smith, Pickering, Hornsby, King, Johnson, McCulloch, Mellor, Curran.

Scorers; Mellor, King, Curran, Smith (pen)

GODS EVERY ONE OF THEM!

[Rocky]

It all depends on your circumstances mate. If it's because you can't be arsed then store your collection away for a year or so. If you require the cash quickly, then Im afraid selling your collection will be one way of raising it.

Read the thread titled 'Your Biggest Regret' (in the Anything Goes Chit Chat section) taking note of Posh1959 and OldburyWBA's posts. Some food for thought there.

Good luck

[holtie96]

the best person to contact is phil noble, a really nice guy

www.mancityprogrammes.co.uk

he will give you some honest advice

holtie

[OldburyWBA]

Rocky Boro wrote:

It all depends on your circumstances mate. If it's because you can't be arsed then store your collection away for a year or so. If you require the cash quickly, then Im afraid selling your collection will be one way of raising it. Read the thread titled 'Your Biggest Regret' (in the Anything Goes Chit Chat section) taking note of Posh1959 and OldburyWBA's posts. Some food for thought there. Good luck

Yep, regretted ever since, even now I have the same feelings, one minute i'm all for starting again, next minute I can't be bothered.

[goonerboy]

mate, you me both. I was just thinking this morning that maybe its time to sell up and be done with it. Like others on this thread I have a pretty full collection and the few things i need hardly every come up and when they do all the other arenal collectors want them so there is now an increasingly diminishing return on my time. But then maybe its just time to be more casual about it for a while and take time out. It is great fun getting those missing items and I started collecting because i wanted a collection. So maybe you are like me and too stuck in the "hunter gatherer" phase. Have a rest and instead dip into your collection and savour some of the items that you have spent your time and money hunting down. Wallow in the nostalgia of the programme from 20-30 -40 years ago. There is nothing wrong in having down time after all its a hobby and to be enjoyed rather than become a chore. In a while you will be up for it again. I have been at this cross roads before and each time i come back with a zeal to expand my collecting even further. Save the cashing in for your retirement.

[Kickoff3pm]

The only person who can put the correct value on any collection is the one who spent the time and money doing the collecting. You'll never get that value and so you will always feel like you lost out. So think hard, perhaps just forget about the collection and programmes for a month. Then if you feel the same expect to spend a year selling them or expect to take an heavy loss on the amount you receive for them.

[Auchinleckian]

Your major problem is there's nothing really collectable there to the people who pay good money for programmes. The championship season would get you a few quid, but not over much. You might sell a few from odd seasons that are very collectable - all clubs have them - but otherwise you're looking to try and get as good a price as possible for modern issues. Check out ebay league issues from 1960 onwards - nothing sells for more than a few pence each, if at all. The only people, I would suggest - unless you strike it lucky with somebody wanting such a collection - who would be interested in the collection are dealers. They don't pay top whack for something they're looking to pass on through their lists of contacts.
Put them away in a dark place, but not damp, and just forget about them. The only time they're likely to be an investment is when you retire, given their modernity.