Why do you collect?

[thesnake87]

The joy... and to rub it into my friends that I have a rare piece of a famous players jersey/stick/glove... haha

Also like mentioned before. Since I'm starting a collection at such a young age, and a pretty respectable one at that for my age, I'm planting the seed for collecting and giving my future children something to enjoy and hopefully that has a good amount of book value (O-Pee-Chee master set for instance...) but has a lot of sentimental value to them because I can go back and say "You know how long it took me to find every card I needed for this set... 5 years and a good $300 of my money, and I was a teenager. But it pays off because give it time, and this set is worth $2500 now. And I have 3 others sets from that year. Think about it, in the end all that work pays off."

That's an example of course, but it shows my future children that collecting takes dedication, time, effort, and a good chunk of change and some good people skills. Collecting is not for everyone, but I'm glad that I have the maturity and can fit with the big dogs (for the most part... I of course can't go spend $2500 on a case of The Cup any time I want... lol) and be accepted in a hobby that very few are suited to do. This isn't Hot Wheels (though I do collect those... over $400 put into that...) or pins, stamps, the list can go on and on. The pure joy there is when pulling that cards you've been after forever but being stubborn enough to keep to it and trying and trying again shows dedication and perseverance, and I'm glad I can share that with others that love to do the same as I do!

[whatagoalie43]

i collect because i enjoy "the art of the deal". I absolutely love selling things, anything, does not matter.

Everything in this world is a commodity, and somewhere there is a buyer. Cards are simply easier to store than boats, cars & dilithium crystals, so why not.......besides, they are like hot women, every 3rd or 4th one just catches your eye and you've got to have it.

+1

[mugmasher]

i collect for a few reasons...for starters i just love ripping packs open and hoping to find that hidden treasure!!!! but the main reason is it just brings me closer to the sport itself weather it be football, baseball or in my case hockey!!! i to me it's like espn in a pack!!! there is so much i learn about the players and how amazing some of them are..if not all of them..and when i'm opening a box or looking thru my collection even though small i am in m,y own little world maybe it's sound s dumb..but out of a usual 15 hour day i put in at my two jobs more than half of that time i am thinking of what player i want to go after next..or how proud i am of the cards i own...you know,, there are a ton of people out there that think what we do is a true waste of money and time..but the funny thing is we don't bother a soul..we love what we do and the passion and the dedication we put into what we do is just unmeasured !!! i tried collecting other sports in the past but nothing compares to collecting hockey!!! i am here to stay and have no plans on leaving..i'm glad i walked into that variety store back in 1997 and i saw that box over the counter staring at me..i think if i never walked in there i would probably not be here rite now sharing my stories with so many great collectors and some friends on here!!!

[stop__dreaming]

Am a huge hockey fan, even bigger than our national sport football (soccer to a lot of you ;)) and nothing would ever top that. Obtaining a piece of game used or autograph memorabillia is such an honour!

I love the thrill on the walk home from work wondering if there is going to be a package on the floor awaiting to be opened not knowing which card(s) it could be. My girlfriend wants to open one and I've banned her from doing so, haha.

You have to love and find collecting fun in order for it be a success. I personally find it very fun scouring various places for my cards and making a deal.

I also love waking up in the morning, logging on, hoping to see if I've won this particular item.

[Footnote75]

I just love the look of a well-designed trading card, to be honest. I also enjoy opening parcels, and now I can buy whole packs, I rather enjoy opening them up and seeing what's in there!

[wild4life]

This is a good thread, it's cool to read everyone's thoughts and opinions.

I guess for me, it all started with getting into hockey. The Wild is the closest team to me and I can watch a good portion of their games via FSN. I really started getting into it and decided I'd like to get to know more about the players I was watching, especially Derek Boogaard because, of course, he's just one bad dude! lol

So I ended up going to the local card shop and bought three cards of the Boogeyman and a pack of UD (Series 2, I think); ended up pulling a John Tavares Young Guns in my first pack of cards. I was hooked from there.

It's been about eight months since then and my collection has grown to a couple thousand cards and is continually growing. I have some cards that are worth a lot and others that are worth a few cents but I'm just in it to have fun collecting my favorite players, team and sport and am looking forward to sharing this hobby with my own children some day.

Dakota

[ibanezplayer409]

ive always been a huuuuggge hockey fan ever since i was little. my dad use to play goalie for 15 years and id always go watch him play in his hockey leauge and since then ive always had a passion for hockey.

I first started collecting when i was in middle school. i started out with football because my dad had a couple old boxes of like fleer 92'? and had the whole set. after my dad bought a beckett to find out how much it was worth, i was hooked. from about 10 to 12 i really liked going after john elway cards and just started collecting base of john elway. as i grew older and started earning an "allowance" i started trading on beckett fourms. I first went for john elway cards but soon realized his cards were a little pricey for me, so then i skipped to different players all the time. went from vikings players to cardinals (boldin mainly) then to bengals (mainly rudi johnson at the time).

i then took a break from cards for about 3-4 years and got back into the hobby when i was 17, about a year ago. now 18, i collect mainly hockey with a little baseball on the side. Im a die hard minnesota wild fan (since i live in mn) and collect mainly minnesota wild.

My main pc is chuck kobasew, with side pcs of martin havlat, jason spezza, robbie earl, and now casey wellman. i chose chuck kobasew because at the time he just got traded to the wild and cards sparked my interest from there. i soon started noticing how affordable his cards where and it hooked me from there! now i can honestly say i have one of the greatest chuck kobasew pc's with about 110 cards most being rookies/autos/gu/patches.

so this is my story thru collecting :) sorry for the long read, but im a die hard hockey fan and love this hobby so reading all these awesome storys is why this hobby is amazing.

[Yipper]

I go for the thrill of opening packages. Opening mail, opening packs, opening anything wrapped. It gives me the sense of personalization, something which belongs to me and the excitement when you open that sealed pack and having that very feeling when you see what's inside is just awe! No one can take that away from you.

I also like that fact of selling, buying, trading sort of thing. Once again, it doesn't matter what.

I narrowed this awe and excitement to my favorite sport: hockey. Been a fan ever since the Canucks marched to the Stanley Cup Final in 94. Collecting hockey and hockey cards is just plain awesome. You actually get a chance to know almost EVERY SINGLE player in the league. You read into the sport more, you interact more, and you simply know more.

[Orion]

Because I work in a card shop.

[Wickabee]

Hockey cards were huge here when I was a kid in the early 90s, though we mostly played with them. My dad was a collector back then and had some really nice stuff. Fast forward to about a year ago, I found a box of all my old hockey cards and decided to finally finish my set of 92-93 Upper Deck Low Series. At the same time my dad picked up his collection of O-Pee-Chee Canucks cards and started filling it in again on E-bay. In the last year I've begun helping him with that, as well as starting a small collection of Canucks autos with him. I, myself have been collecting Canucks Captains (though I think I'm going to narrow it down to retired numbers) and we've had a blast helping each other out with our collections. So, long story short, it's a way to get closer with my dad and hopefully, along the same lines of thesnake, it will be a way to get closer with my kids when they arrive (got one slated for late March!)