Friends & family's attitude towards your collecting?

For me, any mention of my collecting of vintage baseball cards to friends and family usually elicits one of three responses:


1. Complete indifference

2. Eyeroll

3. "How much are they worth?"


How 'bout you?

4. You are so gay.

just wants to hear about the $ i make from selling. Then she makes plans on how to spend it.


Mark

5. It's just cardboard, how can it be worth so much??
(I hear it all the time)

Tony

3-2-count wrote:5. It's just cardboard, how can it be worth so much??
(I hear it all the time)

I get that also tony. When I tell them it costs hudreds, they freak!

-Randy

Hi Randy -
It's good to have a group like this you can go to and find other people like ourselves who do understand, huh?

6. They want to know what hot rookies you have and other modern players. When I tell them, not counting my cards from my childhood, I don't collect anything made after WW2. When I mention some values, the first response usually is, you should sell them all and buy a car, etc. I tell them no way. That would be like flushing money down the toilet. Most people I know collect something, they understand the collector mentality.

Now I just need to get my lazy butt motivated and list all the last of Indian Chief collection. I still have some stuff like a rare Ganaong Chocolates card of Geronimo and complete set of 1958 Fleer Indian cards made from a wax box that was opened back in 1996 and some cool turn of the century Rheinhard postcards of Red Cloud and other famous chiefs.

Jay

3-2-count wrote:Hi Randy -
It's good to have a group like this you can go to and find other people like ourselves who do understand, huh?

I agree, there is only one local card shop in my town (which I just got a card from). Other than the owner, there is nobody else to talk cards with. That is why I joined (and to play fantasy baseball! )

My wife is mostly ok with it. Sometime if I buy an expensive card she will complain a bit. I try to tell her its an investment . She relpies with a " yeah but its not an investment if you never sell it!"

My wife tolerates it, as long as I spend my own money. Nobody in my family or friends even knows who Willie Keeler is. So, I just don't bother to show them my cards or talk about it much.
While were on the subject of family. I have a 42 yr old little brother and I tried to get him interested in the hobby at least 50's cards, he's a baseball fan and is old enough to remember atleast the 60's/70's players. I even gave him some 50's hofers but he's buying those damn Numbered Jersey cards and such. I try to give him hints about the number gimmicks and hype trying not to make him mad. I hate to see him spending his money on that new stuff.

#3 since my cousin is this guy on eBay - http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmnmiracle2004

I don't really understand the new stuff that he sells, but last week he sold a Tiger Woods card for $20,000 in a private sale. I think that's crazy.



My family is pretty tolerant of my collecting after seeing
some of the money these little pieces of cardboard can be worth.

any of you ever ask your wife for their opinion on a card? I have...my wife's gotten pretty good at grading cards. She's a bit tougher than PSA and SGC.

cmoking wrote:any of you ever ask your wife for their opinion on a card? I have...my wife's gotten pretty good at grading cards. She's a bit tougher than PSA and SGC.

Almost. My wife's a fairly lenient grader. I think she may moonlight at PSA.

My wife is very understanding about my passion for this hobby. She's the only person that knows how much I love these old cards. If we had the money, she would buy me cards all the time to make me happy. I love her.

Most of my family and friends are indifferent towards it so I rarely talk about it with them. My wife doesn't care as long as I spend money that I've made in the hobby on buying - I usually show her anything new that I get, but she may spend about 2 seconds looking at it and she always says the same thing - "Neat". My youngest brother doesn't collect it, but he knows what is what and he finds a lot of memorabilia for me at auctions and sales. I have no one locally that I can talk about prewar baseball - not even my card shop guy (who has been a friend since the early 1980s when we used to hang out in the only card shop in town - some guys basement)...he may have the occasional T206, but other than that he doesn't really carry anything older than the 1940-50s Topps/Bowman and he has no real knowledge of the old stuff.

I can only dream that my son who is 7 now will take an interest in the prewar stuff in the coming years.