General Forum

Growing up in the 1980's, I collected baseball cards one pack at a time because that was the only way I could afford to collect baseball cards back then.  The ultimate goal was always to complete the sets, but many times I'd end up a few cards short of the set with twice as many useless extras.  When I got back into the hobby at the start of the millenium I had a lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of money to do it, so I found the most efficient way to complete my sets and look at them.  I did that by purchasing factory sets, boxes of pages, and 1" binders.  I developed a method of organizing my sets by team performance and player age to make my set binders useful like a book for studying each baseball season.

Recently, I was told that because I collect cards on a larger scale (sets) opposed to a smaller scale (packs), that I was just an accumulator vs. a collector.  I believe that accumulators and collectors can be found in both buyers of sets and packs.  

Some people don't know what to do with a complete set, so they have to build their sets through packs to ensure that they'll even look at their cards.  Once their set is complete, they probably won't even look at it anymore as they move to building another set.  I would argue that type of pack buyer is also an accumulator as well as a money waster.  Having more money to spend in the hobby should result in more efficiency, rather than inefficiency.  That's the difference between the poor man's mentality and the rich man's mentality.

So while I'm studying the current year's set, I'm going back to previous years and looking for price drops in either base sets, insert sets, variations, etc. to upgrade or add to my collection.  For those that need duplicates to ensure their sets are looked at, upgrading is a good and efficient way to do that.  Extra sets can broken up, and sold or traded.  Since I'm a collector of the factory set bonus packs, I'll often go back and upgrade previous year's set that has gone down in price to also get a bonus variation pack that I'm missing.   

Understanding that not everyone is interesting in completing sets, this post is only directed towards sets builders and the methods chosen to complete them.  

Interesting thought. I suppose I have done a little of everything. I don't think that makes me any less or more of a collector than anyone else. The fact that someone has accumulated tons of cards does not make them any more or less of a collector either. I'm reminded of the guy that has collected tons of 1964 Topps Curt Flood. If that is what he enjoys then good for him.

I have some factory sets (some of which have never been opened and some have) and some sets that I have built from opening packs. Truth be told I probably enjoy the pack process more, especially in modern sets due to the potential of hits, inserts. If I buy a set I know exactly what I am getting. Packs there is uncertainty which for me equals excitement. Obviously cost plays a factor in determining what I do. Simply put, I collect what seems worth it to me. Certainly I have way more extras than I need and I do need to focus more on trading those for things that fill in holes in my collection. For recent years I am working on collecting all of the Topps baseball sets(generally factory set for those as it is cheaper). I have generally preferred to do update sets through opening packs and trading for the missing pieces. Just my preference. 

For my basketball collection I have generally opened packs. Once again just my preference. 

i think no matter how you look at it, there is a method-of-madness in any hobby. No matter how the individual builds the set, it's the thrill of how they choose to do it that makes them happy and enjoyable. Like the stock, market pertaining to value, sets and individual players are always going to flucuate- I think we can say there is a fairly low percentage of consistant "valued" players over the years and sets as well- but in the end- any amount of money you spend now or amount of sets you collect - runs the possibility of it being worthless after your dead and gone. We do not know what family members or who we pass some of these massive collections will do it and if sold may only get a fraction of the price we spent on it. I commend some of the folks on here who have set collections starting from the early 1900's up to now- its like history book - a biography of the previous years. And to pass that down for continuation is priceless. Going back to the method vs monetary- it's personnal. I know i spent more than i should in one week and on one card to get what i want, but know what??? it put a smile on my face when i got it! :-) 

Aren't all collectors just accumulators? I get the sense from your post that "accumulator" has a deregatory connotation. I am also a set builder. I build sets for numurous reasons. (History, display, nostalgia, etc.). I understand and appreciate player and team collectors but neither of those type of collections does what set collecting does for me. 

I also don't open packs. I understand the excitement of "breaking wax", but since I collect pre-'85 stuff, unopened material is very expensive and hard to come by. I did by three wax boxes of 1980 and one of 1981 Topps football a couple years ago. I spent a lot of money. But I invited my brother and cousin over and we spent a Friday night opening packs. We opened every one of them. I didn't save a single pack to resell and every card either went into one of our collections or is now used as trading material.

I consider myself a collector. I don't buy as an investment. I don't ever intend to make money off my cards. I don't sell (or rarely sell), I prefer to trade. I display all my sets, and during football season my binders come off the shelf pretty frequently when someone wants a stat or to compare players. (Its much more interesting than google).

I do like pack-openers. All of my modern sets are HC sets built from trading with collectors who open packs. All those doubles served a purpose for them and for me. I just prefer to know exactly what I'm getting and I'll leave the excitement of getting a rare card to people that actually want them.

This "accumulator" vs. "collector" "distinction" never occurred to me until I got onto this site, where every now and again someone makes a reference to it. Like a few people here, my collecting (and I call it collecting) waned a bit when I went to college. Then I got back into it again more seriously and had more money to spend at a given time. So I've bought boxes of the complete Topps set every year since about 1990. How that approach makes me less of a collector, I have no idea. I suppose if I just bought the sealed box and put it in a closet and never looked at it, I might feel like more an accumulator than a collector. Because then it's just about saying they're there without ever having actually enjoyed the cards. Even that's a shaky assertion, frankly. But I don't do that, anyway. I open the set, go through every card, sort them into teams, sort the players within the teams into an order I like and put the whole thing into a binder. Then I go back and look at all my cards every few years. So I'm a collector, I think.

In short, who cares how you get the cards? How could that possibly make any difference to anyone? Having them and enjoying them is what makes someone a collector, if we must put labels on people. Mostly, I'm just offended by the concept that someone would put useless labels on people and do it in a way that purports to cast aspersions at particular methods of collecting. Just gather what you like, keep them, do with them what you will, enjoy them, share what you like to share with others, and don't judge whatever it is they're doing. Sheesh.

Sorry for the rant, but there are actual serious subjects out there for people to criticize each other about, so it really irks me that anyone would ever "accuse" someone of being only an "accumulator. It's a hobby, for goodness sakes. Huh, I used to be a pretty fast runner. Now, I'm a lot slower, but still run a lot compared to most people. I'm going to lose a lot of sleep wondering whether I'm a "runner" or a "jogger." Wait! No, I'm not! I'm just going to do what I do. Again I say, sheesh.

(To be clear, this rant was most certainly not directed at Roundthediamond87. If anything, it was directed at his "accuser." Mostly, it's directed at the concept of a difference, itself.)

Happy collecting. (Or accumulating. Or gathering. Or whatever. Just have fun.)

v3

You hit the nail on the head v3, "Happy collecting. (Or accumulating. Or gathering. Or whatever. Just have fun.)"

I don't know where I fall, but I enjoy my involvement. I sometimes wonder if I overspend, but then I think about how much others spend and I convince myself that I don't. ($20 budget for postage on trades monthly.) But it doesn't matter as I don't deprive my family of food, shelter, or clothing. What does matter is that I am happy pursuing only team sets of my Astros, Cowboys, and sometimes Rockets, and my individual pursuit of those teams' all-time star players in addition to a few others who were nemesis of my teams, but whom I appreciated for their professionalism and talent. A few I collect because of their intellect and articulate way they express themselves. I consider completing a few sets every now and then - 1966 Philadelphia or 1969 Topps Football would be the first I'd try - but then I start looking at players I'd prefer and others that I don't see how I'll ever get myself to spend money on.

Anyway, I collect, accumulate, gather, or whatever. And I do have fun.

agreed with commish basic point..Just have fun!

In modern cards, I accumulate my favorite team in lots/team trades etc.

then I work through them making team sets of some, and trading off others for hits to my team sets.

In vintage, I build sets through both the lots and singles trading/buying

does not matter what label you put on me along the way, as long as we are having fun and helping others along the way

mark z

Labels on boxes = Good

Labels on people = BAD

I've had several interactions with the member who made the original "Collector vs. Accumulator" post, and I'm not sure he meant it the way it was taken, but I think it has definitely been taken the way it was written (a roundabout way of saying I don't he meant exactly what was written, the way it was written). At least, that's how I'm taking it. If he did mean it as an aspersion on certain members of the hobby, then I will say publicly that I personally don't condone that. It has, however, brought out a good number of people to talk about their methods of collecting and why they do it the way they do it. To me, it doesn't matter why you collect a certain way (or person, or team), I may ask why out of curiosity, but all that matters is what do you want, do I have it where I can trade/sell it to you and can we all be happy. The only labels I'll use on people is "they collect x team" or "they collect y player". Some people like to collect digital cards. Some people like to collect cards of MMA (I do not, nor do I have any - that took a lot longer to figure out something I don't have anything of...). Doesn't make them less of a collector or more of an accumulator.

All I want to add is this:

Population of world > Number of Trading Card Hobbyists > Number of members of the TCDB

And I think those numbers decrease rather sharply each time. There aren't a lot of us. Let's be kind to one another. Please?

The passion for what you are collecting is what matters, not how deep your pockets are. 

It irks me when people who only care about making a profit pretend to be collectors, but we really don't have that too much here...the people on here seem to actually care about the cards and/or the subjects on the cards. Some of the Facebook card groups though, I wonder if some of the posters have ever actually watched the sport or just hear popular names and have their eyes turn to dollar signs like on old cartoons.