Would you ever sell your entire collection?
 

Lately I noticed a huge TMNT fan/collector fell on some hard times, but is refusing to sell any parts from their collection.

Personally, I would have no problem selling figures, and stuff like that since they're not too personal. Art, totally different story. I could never bring myself to sell any art that I've been lucky enough to get over the years.

So the question is, would you ever sell your entire collection? Is there anything completely off limits?

I know who you are talking about and I find it ridiculous that person is not selling any of their collectibles to help fund their thing but instead is asking for everyone else to fund their thing. It's not the first time the same person has done this and I doubt it would be the last.

I myself would sell my collection in a heartbeat if I needed to. I would hate to see it go but it's only stuff and I'd rather have my life over stuff.

-ms

I have sold almost all of my star wars collection and a lot of my hockey card collection due to my kids getting sick. Fell on some hard times and still just trying to get by. Collections are fun to have but if it comes down to it, I'd sell everything I had for my family. You can't take the stuff with you when you die but then again it could be used to fill your own King Tuts Tomb.

A tomb would be awesome but I'd rather just become dust personally. I have a hard time supporting someone that by my count has asked for funding on four separate occasions now for personal reasons without ever selling anything from their own collection. All the while traveling across the country to con after con, plus toy fairs, etc... It's b.s. in my opinion and a slap in the face to anyone that really needs help.

-ms

Push comes to shove, sure. In the end it's just things, would I be apprehensive on selling certain items, of course it is only natural. Some items are not easy to reacquire and some have a special meaning for me.

I don't know that I'd ever sell all of it, mostly because large chunks of it aren't probably worth all that much.

My favorite parts of my collection are the series of covers I've collected over the years. From the unused Palladium RPG covers I bought at GenCon in 1999 for a quarter a piece, to the coverproof of Shell Shocked that I've been slowly getting signed. I can't imagine they'd go for much.

The Playmates and Sideshow statues, on the other hand...
Those I could probably unload and at bare minimum get asking price for.
With that in mind they'd be the first to go if the going got tough for me.

I sold at least 50% of my TMNT toy collection, and a large chunk of my comics as I transitioned to trades over the last 3-4 years or so.

The only toys I still have are the classic figures from the original toyline that I can't part with because of my childhood.

I did some years ago.

If it fell on hard times I would sell things and eventually buy them back some time when its over but for now, keepin it all

To me! And I cherish all of the comics that you sent my way, as well as my custom figure you made me. I do not ever plan on selling anything but if it came down to me not being able to do what I need to do to live, I'd sell these in a heartbeat.

-ms

TMNT is one of my passion, recreation, hobby, whatever. Very related to my childhood. As with most of you, TMNT is not my only purpose in life. I am a guitar player and collector, furthermore I love to see other places in the world, look beyond my own box, and therefore you need money. So it's quite possible that sooner or later I will arrive at an intersection, and when I have arrived there, I will sell my collection, including my MOC Purple Armor Super Shredder, Sewer Playset MISB and so on... but it will be for a very good reason!

With the exception of some personalized things, like original art, I'd do it if the price was right.

there are certain pieces in my collection i could never bring myself to sell but some stuff mostly Nick merchandise i could. i have alot of nice stuff and i worked hard to get it and i dont intend to give it up

Yeah, I think we're all in the same boat that we would sell all if not most of our stuff. That's why I posed the question. I can't imagine anything besides the art in my collection being off limits if I hit bad times. I hope it never gets to that.

It's all going to my kids. They can sell if they want. But I collect some nice stuff so if they ever need some cash for emergency, they can sell whatever they need.

If I fell on hard times or my daughter needed help I'd certainly sell my collection rather then ask my peer group to pay for whatever struggle I was having, even if it wasn't self inflicted. I obviously had the money to purchase my collection and would hope that I could use it as a last resort to raise funds should they be needed. I find not parting with anything for fundraising and requesting help demonstrates priorities being way out of order.

Ok so I apparently missed it. Who was begging others for money?

For the entire thing, I'd have to pretty much be flat broke to go that far. If I just needed cash for something I'd sell my less integral stuff off though.

I've gone through this. When I launched my own company and became self employed, there were a lot of lean years. And I racked up a considerable amount of debt, mostly on credit cards. So even as things picked up with the business, it wasn't enough to catch up with the debt. But I was fortunate in several regards. The first was that this all coincided more or less, with the lull in the popularity between the 4 Kids era and the Nickelodeon era. So the collection didn't require much to keep up with it and it wouldn't have been all that valuable if I had wanted to sell it. That helped make selling the collection or even part of it a last resort. The other big advantage I had was that I wasn't physically hindered. So I had the option of finding additional work to make up the difference. And that is what I did. I spent over five years working 80+ hours a week, often going months without so much as a single day off. And fortunately it paid off in the end. And after everything I put into attaining and retaining my collection, you're going to have to pry it from my cold dead hands at this point. (Not really. But I have no desire to get back into that sort of situation again.)

Yeah, I recently learned about this as well, & it's one of the most shameless displays I've ever seen. They have the power to instantly create thousands of dollars, well into the double digits, & that's just based on selling some of what they have. You've gotta also factor in not spending more, were they to change their habits, that'd be additional funds. & I heard through the grapevine this person also had a sizable amount of cash, like, new car money, donated to them by a certain company who too shall remain nameless... People just keep sinking their dough into pity without any care for the action they (the person in question) themselves can but refuse to take... F**k that.

I don't want to sell any of my more favored items, it'd be one of my last resorts due to sentimentality & the difficulty of attaining some of it. But obviously if I found myself in seriously dire straights, I'd be moving much of it. As it is, I regularly sell stuff. While I see myself being a collector for life, I do want to break away from the "gotta have it" mentality, & physical excess. It's not great to have a bunch of sh*t that you can't even display & have to store, be it in a closet, garage, shed, or paid facility. The only things I absolutely do NOT want to part with, are certain works of art. But even then, you could always scan them at a high resolution & make quality prints down the line. I mean, it's not the same, but it's something.