If You Lost Your Collection....

[Ben]

$25,000?

That's twice what my car cost brand new 4 years ago.

So, it scares me to think how much I've spent total on this stuff.

[Morgbug]

A little generous  A lot generous, I was thinking about that the other day, If I ever decided to sell my stuff how long would it take to get rid of?  Over a year I would guess

Quite so.  I'm getting rid of my childhood toys and it is taking a long time.  Listing, answering questions and then shipping take a ton of time.  Max I list is 10 items a week.  I have a job and a family too, both of which are priorities.  

That guy is hugely generous with his amounts.  
$10 for a vintage power droid?
$45 for a vintage boba fett?
$45 for Jedi Luke green saber

His carded POTF2 prices are way, way out of whack.  He man LUke with short saber $14?  Try $3.  

He's got one commtech Motti and 8 Greedo?  Not a good prognosticator either.  

Anakin Skywalker Pilot EP I $17???

The man has been reading price guides, not watching ebay.  

[jokabofe]

38 emperor palpatines???
19 leia as jabba's prisoner???
23 darth maul sith lord???
17 12" darth maul???

i'm into army building and stuff, but come on. but hey, at least he's including the shipping cost in the end value of the auction, and not trying to get another $600 for shipping. not that i think anyone will be bidding on that.

[Brian]

I was just thinking about this again lately, and had another question for you guys.  If you had lost, sold, got rid of....whatever....your collection, and you were starting from scratch, or re-starting again....what would be the first thing or area you would buy?  Where would you focus, or what would you want to have first?  For me, it would first off be in the Original Trilogy area.  From there, it would either be my loose vintage figure collection (nostalgia and these figures is why I collect Star Wars in the first place), or the 12 VOTC figures.  I think at first I might lean towards the VOTC figures, and then build the collection from there, picking up some of the other "best" figures from the modern era.  I think those would be the areas I would focus on, if I was starting from scratch, and maybe eventually branch into the other things again.

[Morgbug]

Simply put, I wouldn't start again.  At least that's how I feel at this moment.  It's a huge 'waste' of money.  I could have easily bought my '67 Camaro by this point.  Heck, I'd be close on two years of money alone. 

That I have all of this stuff is self perpetuating, but losing it would simply kill the urge. 

[Brian]

That is something I was curious about Brent, whether many of us would even start back up again.  I know I don't have near the collections of many others, but I feel I have quite a bit of "stuff" too, and it would be kind of overwhelming trying to get it all back.  I think I'd still want something, and the VOTC line might be the route I would go (or even the OTC - since they wouldn't be "repacks" to me then - or vintage figures).  Of course, we all know how that goes, once you start...it seems to keep building and building, and branching out and branching out.

[Ben]

I'm getting ready to offload some Transformers reissues.

Transfans are the worst when it comes to lowballing.  I realize the packages are open, but the stickers aren't applied and I've only transformed them about three times each.

It's an odd feeling, parting with stuff that you dig. I don't want to imagine what it would be like losing the entire collection instead of a few pieces.

[Nathan]

I've actually been thinking about this a bit lately (partly prompted by a couple big storms we've had recently and a tornado not all that far from here). Also looking into what school I want to transfer to after finishing my two-year degree next year, which means I'll need to figure out where to put all my crap, etc....

After my initial sitting-on-the-couch-in-my-underwear-and-sobbing-uncontrollably mourning period, I think I would just restart collecting from that point onward. But I suspect it would have permanently crippled my enthusiasm for the hobby, meaning whatever came after would only be halfhearted.

I'd go back and replace a handful of my favorite items. But it wouldn't be practical (or even necessarily desirable) to try to replace every piece, since it's taken me a decade to amass what I have. And a fair portion of it isn't readily available anymore -- nothing super rare or expensive, just not so easy to find. Never mind the fact I haven't cataloged my collection so I don't even have a full accounting if I wanted to replace it all.

I would begin with the POTF2 and Episode I figures I got when they were new, and which I therefore have greater emotional attachment to. Later on I've picked up some others from these lines, but they're not as important to me as the ones I had from way back when.

One thing I probably would try to completely replace is the book collection, since most of them are still available in paperback form. It'd be hard to find all of the hardcovers again, though.

[Taminar]

About 7 or 8 years ago, I created a computer database of my collection and plugged in values from current price guides and magazines.  It was worth more than $20,000.  Then my database got too huge for my computer at the time and started freaking out, and I got behind, and prices have changed, but I figure with all the new stuff, it's gotta be in the $20K-25K range, at least.  We talked about trying to get an insurance rider for the collection, but until we get the stuff organized (still waiting to tile that Star Wars room) and cataloged again, I'm sure we can't even *talk* to our insurance agent about it.  Plus, with the cost of insurance in Florida right now, it may be more than we can afford. 

Bottom line, if I lost my collection, I'd probably lose a lot more as well, and at that point, there'd be more important things to spend any insurance money on than rebuilding the collection.  Plus, as some of you have mentioned, I have a few rare or hard-to-find pieces, and lots of vintage stuff.  I mean, I've been collecting since the first movie came out.  Plus, like some of you have said, I don't know if emotionally I would be able to keep collecting.  I would definitely be heartbroken.  I'd probably have to take anti-depressants or get therapy or something if I lost it all. 

[Lady Jaye]

First off great question!!!

I would just hang it up!!! My collection spans decades, and would just be too much to try to get it all back!!! Even if I had insurance, which I don't have, I'd just use the money for something else!!

[JesseVader08]

If I lost my collection, I'd cry like a little baby for days.   

I've put my heart and soul into my collection, so to lose it would be tough.  Very tough.  But I honestly don't think I could collect it all over again.  I'm a collector of the modern lines at this point, but it's my vintage toys from my childhood that mean the most to me.  Sure, they're all beat up, but the connection to my childhood is the reason that I collect.

I think if had to start over, I'd just buy a few of my favourite modern Hasbro pieces.  Instead I'd focus on the upscale pieces and use my completist gene to focus on vintage collecting. 

Let's hope none of us ever have to actually make this decision.   

[JoshEEE]

Hey, I remember this topic.

One of my friends had this happen last year in a fire that devasted his family.  Friends were able to help him start rebuilding, but he's playing catch up like crazy.

If my whole collection were to go, sadly....I think I'd pass on rebuilding it. I'd buy choice pieces, but I can't see going back and buying everything (all that POTF2 stuff) again.  I'm just not interested in it....but I also don't want to sell it.

[Darth Broem]

Yep, I would just go after certain pieces.  There is no way I could go out and rebuy 28 years of stuff.  I, like most of us, buy pieces as we go along throughout the years.  Obviously some more than others.  After awhile it all builds up into a massive collection for many.  I never dreamed I would have this much Star Wars crap.  LOL!  It's insane.  I don't even have everything and it's still nuts. 

Regardless I would be sick if I lost all my collection to some sort of disaster or whatever.  It just would not be financially possible for me to rebuild it.  I would use the money for my kid's (or future kid's) education fund.  That or money for a new house.  At any rate it would not be used to rebuild my former collection. 

[Darth_Anton]

I nearly lost my vintage collection to a fire once. Some ships and my DeathStar got smoke damaged and a little warped and few odds and ends seemed to have vaporized. but 99% of it was okay.

If I actually lost my entire collection in the near future, I would hang it up for now. However, I would make it a goal to re-aquire it down the road if I get ahead financially.

[jjks]

I'm with Josh, I'd try to replace a few choice pieces, but cannot fathom trying to rebuild everything. While i have no desire to part with anything I have, I know I wouldn't have the passion to go back and start from scratch.

All that money would go towards this instead: