definition of card collecting?

[whatismagic2011]

So what do guys think of collecting cards? Option 1 or 2? And some views for people who lies in option 1 and option 2.

[Joshua Robinson]

i said slowly

[Curt]

The main factor in how people collect is their financial situation and how they choose to spend their income. The same argument would be made if someone collects vintage cars and says that your not really a collector if you buy your cars professionally restored compared to restoring them yourself.

A collection can be defined as "a number of things collected or assembled together" so the timeframe it is assembled is irrelevant. If you have the ability to spend money on cards and create a vast collection quicker, then, you simply build you collection quicker than you would if you slowly saved the money to purchase cards for your collection. Both situations are a collector, its just a timeframe difference that you are talking about.

[Paul Carpenter]

I think that a more important question than speed is the motivation behind why you even want to collect. (For the record, I voted for slowly, as it can take some time to learn what you lie and desire to truly have) 

I had written this in another thread:

My perspective on this is that when it comes to cards (or really any kind of collecting) there are two main mindsets: collect to enjoy, or collect to resell. Sure there are degrees of both, but in the end one or the other is dominant.

Me, I'm an 'enjoyer.' I don't buy things to put them away in the hopes that maybe someday they will be worth more than I paid for them. I buy a thing because I like it enough that I want to use it. I want to hold it, use it, admire it. When it comes to cards, I buy just one of any deck I'm interested in and I open it immediately. I don't really care if it's 'rare' or not. Particularly with cards, if you never open it you aren't seeing like 98% of what you bought.

Now if you are 'reseller' then the primary motivation for collecting things is more on the financial side. You buy a thing not for the personal enjoyment of using the object but because you perceive that with time it will be something valuable. I think this person is more about enjoying the acquisition process, hunting down a rare item, getting a deal, being proud of the collection and then making some money someday.

So what kind of person are you? I'd say most folks fall one way or the the other the majority of the time. Of course nothing is concrete and unchanging, but in your heart you probably lean towards one of those. Find out which, and there ya go.

[junjie04]

10 votes against 0:D

[Collector]

Some additional information: http://www.dawson-on-playingcards.info/Collect/collecting.htm

[Don Boyer]

It's pretty simple from my perspective: buy what you love, or at the least what you like a whole lot.  If you happen to have really deep pockets, then go for it and get a whole mess of great decks.  If you're like the other 99% then get a few here and a few there.  You don't even have to get the super-rare or the ultra-rare; there's so many different (and excellent) garden variety basic brand decks out there that cost less than $5 a pack that you could spend a lifetime getting them all.

I enjoy my cards.  I open at least one pack of everything I get - and whenever possible, I get at least two packs.  It's less for the resale thing, though I have done a bit of trading in the past, but more for the "I've had a fascination with playing cards since I was a kid and now I'm learning to be a magician" thing.  Have you ever seen a more versatile yet inexpensive form or entertainment in your life?  Countless games, and a cheap but decent deck is only a couple of dollars!  My extra decks?  I consider them backups for when the open pack wears out or gets a torn card or something like that.  I'll open anything - I have an open pack of Gold Arcane, Red Artifice, Black Ghost 1st, even Broken Spell (THAT'S a hard deck to find, I tell you).  I'm working on getting a White New Fan Back - which I'll open the moment it arrives.  Buying something simply to watch it attract dust seems empty and hollow to me.

My humble opinion: don't by a deck simply because it's rare.  Playing cards are all "rare" - as a collectible, they're categorized as ephemera; something that was never meant to last, "ephemeral" in nature.  Show me a garden-variety Bicycle Rider Back pack from a hundred years ago and I'll show you something that's extremely rare, even though they were made in the oodles of thousands.  Get a deck because it's really cool-looking or reminds you of something you like or shuffles like silk covered in butter, not simply because there's only X number of them in the entire world.  If you collect simply for the sake of "gotta get 'em all," you'll end up broke and miserable sooner or later, or you'll get frustrated and quit the hobby.

[MrLukeCarroll]

Even though I'd currently like it to be the first (With all the really nice decks coming out currently) I think for most people it is deffinetly the second and I easily fit in that category

[whatismagic2011]

For people who lie in the first option I think that they are trying to gain bragging rights about how much cards they have and how rare their cards are( I don't mean to offend anyone).  For me I lie in between option 1 and 2 but more in the option 2 category. I buy the cards that I like and cards that might be rare in the future. I have friend who is just barely 4 months in to card collection and he has all the very rare decks ranging from red artifice to Jerry nuggets.

[John B.]

ok so do you guys define collecting as un opened decks? or do opens count? i count my open ones.

[loldudex2]

ok so do you guys define collecting as un opened decks? or do opens count? i count my open ones.

I count all my decks, whether they are sealed or open.

[phantom1412]

If you are happy with you collection, means you have a good collection.
Decks value, or the number of decks are not always the priority.

[whatismagic2011]

I count all my decks both sealed and opened.

[austin]

I would have to say the majority of time, because your collection keeps growing after a long period of time. You can buy 50 rare decks at one time, but your collection is still in process.

[Billywiz]

I voted option 1, well that's how I used to collect, but after joining this site, I'm leaning towards option 2.

Billy.

[Don Boyer]

ok so do you guys define collecting as un opened decks? or do opens count? i count my open ones.

Open boxes count for my personal collection, but not so much for trading.  I've never seen much call for a used deck unless it was an antique.

Only times I ever bought a massive amount of decks was twice - once when I snagged a gross and a half of Gemaco casino decks for less than 50c a pack and once when I traded six red Artifices for a whole lot of store credit.  By and large, I can't afford to buy in bulk.  Only time I ever bought a brick of anything was the red Artifices, and only because I knew I'd be selling some of them.  I have a huge order in for Americanas, but that's because I have a silent partner providing backing - he funds the purchase, I sell them on eBay, we split the profit.