Trying to change how and what I collect and why.

I've been collecting for about 15 years now and have been selling and speculating for the last 5 or so.  But I think its time to slow down.  I have spent a lot of time and even more money hunting for and buying books just to resell them.  I have pushed my personal collection to the side and looking back I really regret doing so.  I cant even imagine the books I could have picked up for myself 5 years ago and the prices I could have got them for if I wasn't so focused on speculating and buying multiple copies of books I didn't even want. I have spent way to long chasing variants and so called key issues and first appearances of characters who have no staying power.  Its time for me to end all that and refocus on actually collecting.  I need to finish off my JLA run that I've been putting off forever. I only need about 30 issues which I could probably find at just one convention if I tried.

For those of you who are just getting into collection my recommendation would be to just collect what you like.  Don't get caught up in movie and tv spec and don't chase variants just because they're variants.  Buy what you want.

I still love the convention scene and will continue to attend as many as I can.  And don't get me wrong if I come across a book for a great price that I know for sure I can make money on I will buy it, but I'm not going out of my way to look for those books, especially the cheaper ones.  I have boxes of what I would call convention stock, books ranging from $5-20 and would like to sell them all.  If anyone is interested in those types of books leave a comment or hit me up on google hangouts and we can work something out.

Also slabbing books can be good and bad.  I have about 30 books at CBCS right now and have been waiting 3 months.  That's a lot of money to be sitting on for that long.  And if you don't get the grades you want it can really cost you.  I recommend CBCS over CGC.  And if you're going to submit books I would go ahead and do the pre screen. The pre screen allows you to put the desired grade you want for the books you submit.  So if it gets the grade you're looking for then all is well and if it doesn't then they don't grade it and only charge you a small fee, I think $4 a book.

My focus for the rest of this year and definitely for the years to come will be collecting golden age books.  Mainly golden age Batman books as well as pre code horror books.  I will also continue to collect Original Art and get commissions done at cons.

My pull list is crazy.  I have 3 different pull lists at 3 separate LCS's which translate to me spending about $100 a week on new books which seems crazy to me.  I could save all that money and buy a nice key issues each month instead.  I will probably cancel all my pull list books by the end of this year.

The market fluctuates so much that new books are too unstable for me and I need books that will be solid investments over time.  I like the quick flip when it comes to spec so I want to buy then sell asap.  For books in my collection I want to know that they will increase in value over time and not have to worry about the speculation down the line.  I don't want to invest in spec anymore.

Let me know how you guys feel on the current state of the market and what you think the future holds? Have you changed how you are collecting or are you thinking you will need too?

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