To sell or not? (1 Viewer)

[gk5717]

Sorry if you read this post on the other board, when posting I thought I was on this board.
I,ve collected things all my life, as a kid baseball cards and plastic soldiers.
In 1978 I started up again with baseball cards until 1993, when I got into old plastic soldiers, Marx etc. Did those until 2002 when I discovered K&C.
My question is, I sold the cards and currently I,m selling the plastic, I sell something when my interest in it is gone.
How as a K&C collecter can you sell part of your K&C collection to finance buying more K&C. I guess I can understand if you sold all your Civil War to just concentrate on WW2, but to sell older pieces to buy new sets, I don,t understand.
This is not a knock on anyone, but I would no more sell my winter kubelwagon, even at 10 times more than I paid for it, to buy some new sets.
Gary

 

[Flammenpanzer]

It always seems that you feel good when you sell an item for a lot more then what you paid for it, but later on you will regret selling the item. I have a few K&C pieces that I could sell for a profit, but I originally bought them because I like them. And the new items will be around for a while before they are retired, so the purchases can be spread out over time to keep the cost down.

 

[Gideon]

All I have are regrets, regrets, regrets. On a different note, I sold off a bunch of my tin tanks when I thought I was losing interest in them. I got nearly 10 times what I paid on most of what I sold. But, I quickly realized when my interest picked up again that I would have to pay that much more to "re-aquire" them.

When you get that urge to sell, take a step back and a breath. Ask yourself how much it will cost to replace it should you just be going through a phase.

Eventually, most of what I own will be up for sale but only when circumstances demand for it or I want to buy a house.

 

[Alexdakar]

I'm with Gary on this. I won't sell my retired pieces to get new ones. It seems if you do this its a trend thing. The winter pieces are out and everybody loves them so you sell your retired pieces to get it. What happens when the next batch of the latest stuff comes out. On the other hand its a good thing. People will sell there retired pieces and put them out there for circulation for other people who are dying to get that piece. My 2 cents.

 

[vandilay]

Hi,
I dont have a problem selling an older piece to buy new ones,As i only have limited space to display them if i see something that i prefer or have
2 items that are very similar why not.
I dont realy feel the need to own every set in a particular range.

 

[Leadmen]

I seem to hang on to most of my collection. I sold some a few years ago and wished I still had a few pieces. I buy K&C sets some time and the Marine Amtrac is the only vehicle I bought. Years ago I did not like K&C painting or size of figures. Now I get their figures regulary. I still like model building and yes plastic figures also. I do have a few composition figures I am saving for Pete. I know if I got rid of my Britains and other stuff I would be buying them back. Also I am not good at selling stuff. Sold a whole professional made model RR for twenty-five bucks (HO scale). Did not feel like taking it when we moved to Michigan. I sold other stuff cheaply just to get rid of it including my boat this summer. Don't have a good track record on selling so I just hang on to it. Leadmen

 

[noli-poli]

As for me, the primary objective in collecting is compatibility in size and scale and looks. While K&C has superior design & quality, earlier designs were crude (don't get me wrong, they were the best of its class at that time). Putting them in a diorama would look awkward (unless it's on the background). A good example is putting the earlier M3 Half Track (DD09) with the most recent Halftrack (BoBA5) with Mortar and the Haltrack Quad (DD35)...it's like day and night. DD35 & BoBA05 are compatible in looks and sculpting. As a result, I sold my DD09 to a fellow Treefroger for $250 incl. s/h. This same piece sold for $400 + $25 s/h in an earlier E-bay auction.

NP

 

[nmrocks]

I don't have a problem selling older items, in the end it's just "Stuff". When it comes to paying off the credit card every month or keeping my stuff, it kinda puts it all in perspective. My particular case is my wife went back to college full time just as my daughter started college and we rely on my income to get us thru all. It's really put a crimp on my disposible income and selling the old stuff at a windfall allows me to buy new and even chips in on the week to week expenses. I also have been a collector as long as i can remember and toy soldiers goes back to my 1st box of airfix marines and giant brand soldiers. In the end I have always gone on to other collections but somehow I feel I will always have a hand into K&C, this one has sunk it's fangs deep.

 

[jazzeum]

I've only been collecting for less than two years and it's taken a lot of expense to get it to the point where I don't or want that many more retired items. Oh, there's a few I'd like to have but I'm not worrying if I get them or not. At any rate, I won't be selling what it took me to get. That being said I have and am in the process of selling the early Normandy village which I bought earlier this year. It doesn't real seem to go with what I have and it can bring in dollars for other pieces, new and old. But that's about it as far as selling the old stuff. After considering this for awhile, I've cut off my collection at the 21 level, both WS and DD. Everything before that the sculpting isn't that great (with a couple of exceptions), while beginning with the 22s it dramatically improves. I know many of you collect everything K & C but that isn't my mantra.

 

[Njja]

To each his own, we are all in different situations, so what works for me may not for someone else. Everyone has a differnt approach to collecting, I certainly find no fault with the seller or holder.
Life is certainly short so do what makes you happy!
Njja

 

[CannonFodder1971]

Gary I'm cutting/pasting from the other forum on this too,

I keep my K&C collection to about 70 sets, with perhaps 30 on display. I rotate them every few months so that all 70 sets are on display at various times of the year: a winter campaign diorama etc.

I don't get any enjoyment out of keeping things just for the sake of it, nor do I have the physical space to do so. In that regard I usually sell a few sets every few months to bring in new items to my collection. I've sold K&C's Alamo (AM and RTA), Arnhem (AN), Fallschirmjager (FJ), Russian (RA), Spanish American War (RR), Defence Work /Strong Point sets (SP), Vietnam (VN), Waffen SS - Winter (WS/W), The West (TW) and so on.

Whilst on some occasions it was like a dental extraction on others it was welcome to bring in new sets. On nearly every occasion the new sets have been vastly superior to that which went before them. Besides, these are not 1/72nd scale soldiers and vehicles that we are collecting: they take up a lot of money. However, principally the issue is one of space, and I'm at a stage in my life (33) where I need need the room for additions rather than having empty nests etc etc.

Some people like the hunt for a rare piece but then want to move on. Others love acquiring duplicates and triplicates of every figure and vehicle to the point of financial ruin. I think 2002 was probably a good time to become interested in K&C given the rise in quality and the general availability of many items - I came on board in 2003 - but I couldn't imagine still holding some of those sets I first bought back then. For example the WS12(W) and WS17(w) are crude, and the 'pyjama' effect of some of the camouflage does compare at all with what's currently on offer. However, I understand that many people want to complete their collection and I've no problem with that: in fact I'm the sort of person who puts a lot back into circulation in that regard. Equally it is true that K&C is continuously evolving, and yet revisiting similar themes - see the WS08, WS27 and WS58 patrols for comparison, or the WS09, WS31 and WS62 tank riders too. It is therefore nice to have in your collection an example of each era. But I'm still the sort of person who couldn't enjoy having a basement full of boxes whose contents get an outing once a year: I don't regard them as Christmas-type decorations and am therefore happy to buy in the new Battle of the Bulge and Fields of Battle and stand down some older WS and DD in the process.

Everyone has their own style of collecting. I don't think K&C could function without it. One interesting thing for K&C collectors is to keep an eye out on the K&C UK website for the new 'live auction' section. It'll operate like eBay but will obviously be a K&C-only auction site. It'll contain sets that K&C UK receive as trades for newer sets, as part of estate sales, former dealer stock surrender and so forth. As you're probably aware, K&C prices in Europe are about 30-40% higher than in the USA but if the auction site works it'll at least provide a means of returning into circulation many retired sets. Personally my fantasy would be the wooden Junkers Ju-52 (with a few FJ sets thrown in)!

Overall I'd be interested to hear of other people's collecting patterns, i.e. do the eBay prices tempt you to list a set of which you've a duplicate? Do you sell off to make room or to fund the acquisition of new purchases?

Certainly I'd recommend that newer K&C collectors focus on the spectacular quality of the currently-available sets and then just pick up the retired items they really want or which come reasonably priced.