It’s amazing how reading something can call up so many memories all at once. Pierre’s recent blog about holy grails in collecting immediately called up so much for me…times in my life, emotions I was feeling, and yes…things I was collecting.
My collecting history actually sucks. I was never motivated to work or finish college, so my jobs were menial and my paychecks small. Plus I ruined my credit when I was 19, so anything I bought I had to pay cash with. Couple that with a very immature approach to not paying bills and that adds up to a very strange way to collect.
In other words, I never had money to start a new collection, so I’d sell/trade everything I previously collected to finance the new one. Suffice to say, the past is the past, but it sometimes causes me pangs of guilt/embarrassment when I think on it now. I was a huge idiot, and if you don’t believe THAT, then I’ll start in on the mint carded POTF set I traded for a gold & platinum Valiant comic set. How’d THAT work out, ya idiot?
Anyway…that sets up the ‘holy grails’ angle of this post (rant? confession? therapy?)…the fact that I’ve owned more personal ‘grails’ than most collecting forums see in their existence, and yet still own NONE of them. There are major mistakes I’ve made in my life…and selling off my collectibles is certainly big enough to warrant a place on the ‘failure’ shelf.
I’m actually not even sure why I’m posting this…it’s a beautiful afternoon, the sun is shining, no-one is at the pool. My job pays all my bills and gets me spending money, I have a loving girlfriend, my relationship with my parents is the best it’s ever been…there is nothing I should be complaining about in the grand scheme of things.
Yet this is seeming more and more like a whining-complaint blog than an upbeat one.
I was going to post the pics I found, but I think I’ll just cut this off here for now. Let me see if I can think of some positive theme I can frame the images around, and I’ll start again at a later date & time.
Thanks for listening to me vent, regardless…I’ll publish this and hopefully get some positive thoughts from anyone who cares to read along.
Peace,
Chip
Chip,
It’s really hard to justify keeping everything isn’t it? I used to have almost all of the first two waves of Super Powers, including the vehicles, Hall of Justice and carrying case. I never could find the 3rd wave so I gave up on them and traded them off over the years. I had all but TWO Secret Wars figures, and traded them off. Star Wars,G.I. Joes, Transformers, Masters of the Universe and so on….. Most all have been traded or sold to feed my DC Animated obsession. And I’m mostly complete with that!!! I feel your pain…..
I’ve had them all too. I actually just recently got rid of a ton of Transformers and MOTU. I want to move cross country to San Diego, so that is helping me fund it. I’m only keeping my Super Powers and my JLU’s. That being said, we are still young and can just get them again. LOL. Ideally, I’d like to have again… Full sets of Super Powers, Secret Wars, Transformers (the first 3-4 waves) GI Joe, up until that Tiger Strike crap, MOTU, and Thundercats. I’ve had them, a few times, but in this economy, I can’t justify sitting on them.
Thanks for sharing this Chip. I suppose the collecting community helps define which items are “grails”, but I think it’s really up to the individual. The way I see it, none of these may have been true ‘grails’ to you, since you were ok with trading them. Of course there’s always regret, but maybe it’s because others find them desireable and worth something. How many of us keep things simply because others want them and therefore create a sense of value for it?
Did any of these really mean that much to you personally? Maybe you’re waiting to find that one thing that hits on a particular memory or bit of nostalgia…