I have been lightly considering letting go of my Bwana Spoons stuff lately. I still like his work and all but most of the time when he has a sale I end up passing. I know the prices are fine but I often can't justify spending $120.00 on a pocket size hand paint. My worry is that I will let my stuff go and regret it latter. So my question is, is it normal to fall out of love with parts of your collection only to have your interest reinvigorated later on? There are things I regret letting go, both to trade and sale, but they were all pieces I liked and just needed to let go for one reason or another. Selling off a whole shelf only to regret it seems like it would be much worse. ever done something like this? How did it turn out? Any advice?

in this case I try to just sell off the lesser loved pieces in any one group
the remaining few seem to keep the remorse away

You have to face forward or face regret. Anything that hasn't gone on the shelf or that you consider selling you probably aren't that in love with in the first place. I've had many fire sales (not for vinyl) and I haven't regretted one of them yet. The vinyl that I have gotten rid of I've traded so I always get something I wanted more in the end.

i don't see me letting my bwana collection go anytime soon, but i do know what you mean about the prices. i started SERIOUSLY limiting
myself to certain sculpts, and have passed on quite a few that i would have loved to pick up. i went through the "shelf clearing" stage with
my 3A collection, and those weren't cheap either. i just couldn't 1) justify buying his toys when i feel he's a complete prat (or at least that's
the way he came off to me, so i said fuck it), and 2) keep up with the insane release schedule that came with horribly outrageous wait times
between ordering a figure and finally getting it (i don't care what anyone says, 10 months is TOO DAMN LONG).

so i sold off the whole lot.

and yeah, i sometimes look at the new releases and reminisce a bit, but i don't regret getting rid of them. and there are always new toys to
pick up, and that makes it all better. =p

I sort of think selling your toys, is akin to "Mom" throwing them away. Only now your in charge, and there's nobody to blame, but yourself. I have a few things here and there, that I think about letting go, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather give someone a million reasons to buy it from somebody else. I had some stuff listed on e-bay once, and in the description area, I was directing people to go buy the artist proof, before buying my toy. I think a lot of it, is just me leaning towards organized hoarding.

I think Goji girl is right though, you should keep the stuff that stopped your heart when you first saw it, and sell the stuff that you bought because, it was a good deal, or it was a good filler in your Bwana collection. You don't seem like the kind of collector that buys things on a whim, so think long and hard, and treat selling the same way.

I haven't sold many toys, but I cant think of a single one that I want back. I can hardly even remember what toys I HAVE sold.
And while I feel like I would regret selling what I still have, I have a feeling that if I did I'd probably get over it after a while. I've been tempted lately, but haven't been able to pull the plug. Luckily my collection is pretty small - I think if it were huge I'd be more tempted to sell 'em.

Make yourself a list of the toys you really can't let go of...whether it is for sentimental reasons or you just plain love it. If everything is on that list, make a cut-off point for the "will never sell" toys.

I've rebought a few things I regretted getting rid of. But normally I don't miss them when they're gone, I've got plenty of other toys to keep me occupied.

Thanks for all the input everyone. Exactly the type of brain food I needed to mull this over more. I really do like Bwana's work and characters. At some point though I know I have to limit my shelf space for my wife's sake and there is only so much money I can have tied up in these wonderful toys. I guess that's the fuel that helps you end up with a focused collection though. When you only have room and money for one, you will figure out what you truly like best.

I have to agree with Joeman here. Of the stuff I've sold, there isn't a whole lot I really miss. My collection is always changing, I only have five pieces from when I first got into collecting. My collection has never been more then 100 pieces or so. Tastes change, shelf space is a premium, sometimes tough choices need to be made about letting stuff go for one reason or another. There will always be more toys to get excited about in the future. The only things I really miss are some handpainted stuff I sold when times were tough and it was rent or a toy.

When I first started collecting I bought everything that I could get my hands on.

Over the past year I have slimmed down and really focused.

There are a few figures that I miss, but overall I'm very happy with what I still have and there's always something new around the corner.

Always change and never change. I limit myself to space, once I can't fit everything, something needs to go. Scott/stealthtank once compared the "collection" to a bonzai tree, sometimes trimming to get it just right. Since then I've really re-thought it. In the end they're toys, if I sell it and regret that I wait patiently and try to get it again. If I sell it and never think of it again, whatever, I look forward to new things.

I do this, but also do a bottom 5-10 toys that I'm ready to sell or trade if another toy comes up that I really want, can't afford, or missed. Those are usually up as my trade bait, and I won't sell them unless I absolutely have to.

Kevlo - You always seem to say it best! How is that?

Some collections come and go and some stay forever, some get sold for certain reasons (todd mcfarlane) and some will stay in the chest forever (micro machines). It is all preference, who cares what people think? I have a nut cracker collection its so random I still don't know how it started found out years later a friend with a mass as well. Still don't know what to do w/ that collection...

What are longtimers?

I don't care what people think about me selling my Bwana stuff. I was curious if people had had a similar instance and how it turned out for them. My Bwana stuff holds one of my shelves together so it's not worth letting any of it go unless I am going to commit to letting go of a good chunk. I am also a bit suspicious that it may be that shelf has been static for a while now that's making me consider changing directions. While I don't know if that's a good reason to sell things you like, it might be wise to commit that space to something I am willing to invest in going forward. Anyways, I appreciate the feedback and will figure it out and be fine with whatever I end up doing. As far as long time collectors I figured that the people that have the best vantage on the long term side effects of sell off would be people who had been toy collecting for a while. Not like I thought people need to have been collecting for a certain length of time to have good advice or anything.

I've regretted letting stuff go and even re-bought a few things.
So far my jumbo Garada, Shogun Godzilla, and a G1 Omega Supreme are three things I've sold and then gone back and got again years later. I sure wish I never sold my jumbo collection.
Now I don't buy anything unless I look at it and go "Holy shit, I love that."
Everything on my shelves I actually pick up once a week and will look at and marvel at the design, the material etc.
I don't get those guys who just collect everything and have thousands and thousands of junk toys just so they can have a million toys.

Don't sell anything unless you need space. It takes a little time to really focus when you first get into it, but you find your groove. Toys you may have bought when you first started collecting can sometimes end up expendable because you realize you just weren't that into them eventually. When I look at anyone of my toys I try to remember the reason I wanted it so much. Fortunately for me I can and parting with even one would lead to hardship. I usually only make exceptions when I have more than one version of a sculpt and desperately need space. I just sold a Sofvi Life Hedorah for space but it saddened me a great deal I had to.

You also have to look at your collection as a whole. Do all the parts lead to a happy sum? Is there an odd man out when you look at them all?

I like the Bonsai tree analogy. Its a really nice way of thinking about it. Especially when you realize you can't have everything.

Phil

The bonsai analogy is excellent because collections evolve. On some level I think I've regretted any toy I've ever sold, but on the other hand, usually proud of where they end up. Remember, when you do part with something, it's a great opportunity for someone who might have missed that toy the first time around, to fill in their collection.

For me, I sell when I start to realize that when I look at my collection, I don't really pay attention to certain toys, so I probably don't need them. And if I ever even think of selling certain ones, then I usually end up selling them within a month. Now I'm quicker to sell when that thought pops in my head. Because if you're even contemplating selling something for reasons other than being broke, then you probably don't care about it that much anyway. Some of the sculpts that I've sold off I just appreciate them in photos now and that's good enough.

As far as you being worried that youre not compelled to buy bwanas stuff as often, I wouldnt worry about it. You can appreciate all the awesome that you have from him now and if something strikes your fancy then grab it. I've kindof fizzled on him since I really only heavily collect his randalls and stevens and I'm complete on those besides a couple unpainteds. I think he's just shifting around right now and I bet soon enough you'll have plenty to want from him. It seems he's been on a HP kick lately and those really have to say "I gotta have that!" to want them, for me anyway. For now, I've just been able to sit back and enjoy his work through photos waiting for the next, "I gotta have it!"

1) I for one haven't been in the situation where I -needed- to sell toys for bills or something (in the past few years anyway), and I have enough storage space to put out-of-favor toys in a bin somewhere. I still try and sell them, but at what I paid for them. Makes it harder (on sb anyway), but then it also allows me to change my mind and not lose too much money in the process. I've also traded quite a few of them after they'd spent months and months in my thread.

2) Selling toys make me feel so much more mentally healthy, especially when it means breaking up a complete or near complete set, it's totally worth it.

The difference between a collector and a hipster is a collector keeps what he buys.

A while ago, I was trying to keep everything to one detolf. When it overflowed, I would sell stuff off. But it got to a point where there was really nothing left I wanted to sell. Then it expanded to overflow on the dresser, and I said fuck it, it's time for a second detolf. I wasn't planning on starting a second, but I just have too much stuff I couldn't see trimming it down. I just think there are a lot of good toys being released right now, and a lot of good older toys are just so cheap second hand now. I could predict things were going to kick up. So I'm trying to keep it to 2 detolfs now, but I have a feeling soon enough, I'll be in the same situation and decide it's time for a third.

Being a hipster in the middle of Alaska is not worth the effort and I am not a huge Pabst fan. I really have never enjoyed selling a toy except for the few times I knew I was hooking someone up with something they really wanted. That definitely takes the sting out.

Great quote!