Purging my collection

[lono]

Over the last week or so I've done something that many people here may see as utter heresy. I've scythed my collection of hobby stuff down to a miniscule size versus the majestic mess that it once was. Paints, tools, brushes, sculpting gear and in particular my boxes upon boxes of minis and bits - nothing was spared a brutal assessment and in most cases, eBay auction type culling.

I thought it would be a lot more difficult than it actually was to detach from my piles of minis, but in my head I thought through the following sort of assessment criteria:

1) Is it really awesome?
------No > Just how terrible is it?
------------Utterly dreadful > Bin it
------------Just not my bag any more > eBay it
------Yes > Proceed to 2

2) Will you paint it in the next year?
------Yes > Keep it
------No > Is it so awesome or irreplaceable you would massively regret not having it?
------------No > eBay it
------------Yes > Proceed to 3

3) Are you sure you're not just holding onto it for the sake of it? Think of the space, think of the money it may make on eBay. Still want it?
------Yes > Keep it
------No > eBay it

And after a while it got to be pretty easy. A few weeks ago my room was full of boxes of models and there were disorganised piles of them in the cellar too. Now I have a single shelf above my painting desk with minis I'll probably get painted organised in trays, I have some bits and bobs to make scenery in the cellar, my desk has all my paints and tools and stuff on it and that's it - no more excess, no more hoarding. It feels awesome! To get an idea of how much I'm shifting, I have 171 items on eBay right now - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/figoth/m.html

So, I'm curious, how many people here could do something similar, or is the hoarding instinct too strong? And if you did, how much stuff would you end up shifting?

 

[gohkm]

5 years odd ago, I did exactly the same thing. I had built up a massive collection of Rackham and Ilyad figs, and it was starting to cramp up the small apartment I had. With the help of my wife, we went though the whole thing, and applied an absolutely ruthless criteria - if we thought it was going to sell well on e-Bay, it was gone.

I wound up cutting the Rackham collection to about a quarter of its current size, and the Ilyad collection went down to about a dozen blisters. And we made quite a tidy sum, too. For a non-standard investment vehicle, the collection we sold had a really good ROI.

It's almost time to do exactly the same thing, but most of what I have now are Privateer Press Warmahordes figs, so I'm not sure just exactly how successful this round will be.

 

[mud duck]

Curses! One of my weakness, Bits! grumble grumble

Now you have me biding on a couple of your sets and watching a couple/three others. :curse!::curse!: I love just to piece though bits, have one store in the area that has a little bits box that I could and have spent a hour or two just picking. And I think that I would have a difficult tome of it parsing down either minis and/or bitz mound.

 

[crystella333]

I can't do it. I keep going through what I've got and getting rid of what I don't play with/paint but I know that if I saw it for sale again I'd buy it as long as I've got the money.

 

[uglybug]

I laughed when I saw that you were selling skyrim for Xbox. There is no time to play a game like that when you have so many miniatures to paint.

 

[PegaZus]

Blasphemer! Heretic! Burn him at the stake, take the ashes, and burn the ashes! Take the ashes, pee on 'em, and burn 'em again! Then compress the final ashes down into insy-winsy little pellets and feed the poisonous essence to the vermin of the world: snakes, mice, rats, and painters-who-divorce-themselves-of-minis-to-paint! Oh, and !!!1!!1!!

Ahem, that said, I did get rid of two boxes of plastic bits. Wasn't even model bits. Just odds and ends I was planning to someday "use".

As for figures themselves, I had the problem at one time with what to do with them. Actually came across a gamer's convention that a solider in Iraq was holding, and I sent them to him to use. Gave them out as prizes for wins. Who knows where they are now.

I haven't checked, but there's a charity out there called Child's Play. I know they collect money to purchase toys and games for children's hospitals, so maybe they'd take figure donations for some of the older kids? Dunno. Had sort of planned to look into that, as a potential depository for my eventual discards.

 

[Bloodhowl]

I got rid of nothing, just bought a bigger house to store it all. :sinister:

 

[RayzrYR]

A few years ago I gave some to my now-wife to ebay, it helped pay for a trip overseas, and the wedding while there. Now I look at what I have, and I think "No, I want to keep that stuff"

 

[freakinacage]

No chance, I feel dizzy about even throwing away a lasgun (I VERY rarely paint gw anymore)

 

[Routaporsas]

I have only a stuff that I need...really. I mean really...well... Ok, I have actually some mostly GW related stuff that I could sell and some warmachine miniatures that are just sitting there. Though it would be honestly like 10 boxes. I have hoarded some rackham stuff and miniatures from smaller manufacturers. I have this gut feeling that most of those are going to be OOP likely sooner than later. I have missed many wonderfull models. So now if I see something nice and can afford it, I take it. It might take years untill I paint it, but when I get inspiration I already have it. Besides, I don't have a problem with the room. So if that happens, then it is time to get rid of something.

 

[lono]

Sorry Mud Duck, my intention wasn't to transfer my bits to the collections of others here!

Gokhm - Cash wise I seem to be doing pretty well from it so far. No ROI on non GW stuff, but as a lot of the GW models were bought when I worked there I'm doing pretty well there.

It's still feeling pretty good to get shot of them so far crystella - perhaps try and give it a go with a few things and take it from there, gradually reduce that dependency.

There has been no time for Skyrim for a while really. I played it a ton when it first came out and I will possibly get it again to finish up with things, but for now it's just gathering dust!

Giving away models sounds pretty good PegaZus. I sometimes do eBay charity auctions. I think I did a biggie with a Blood Bowl team a while back that went for about £140.

Sounds like bloodhowl and freak are in as deep as crystella. Small steps guys!

This is going to fund another Infamy model for me by the looks of things RayzrYR. Not as life changing as a wedding trip but it is still exciting to me.

I think I 'need' a lot less stuff these days Routaporsas because I don't do the gaming thing any more. That means a lot less need for models. Almost all the things I have held onto for personal projects are from smaller companies. The rest is for selling on once I've painted it. I really am loving having the extra space. It's bloody liberating.

 

[crystella333]

got my eyes on afew of you bretonnian things as I've got to get army from 2500pts to 4000pts by January.

I'll just clear my items when I really have no other options (no interest/time/area)

 

[supervike]

I've been on a very slow paced purge for some time. The amount I buy has really shrank, but after 30 years of collecting, I've amassed quite a bit.

I sold a bunch of stuff over the summer, and am still planning on selling more.

I have a few regrets at time, but overall it's giving me a sense of freedom.

 

[mud duck]

As if a great weight has been lifted off your shoulders? Huh, there Vike?

I mean, great collection contain quite a few metal pieces..... Ok. Bad joke. And the fact that I had to type a reason. I think that I need more coffee.

Iono, it's not a problem. I like bits, and some of the one's that I'm looking at I WILL use! Gosh darn it. Huzzah!

 

[marjedi]

I have been doing the same thing over the past 6 months. Really liberating to free up the clutter, and has brought my hobby vibe back again.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Nah can't do it.
I've left ALL my miniatures to my mate Paul in my Will.
Considering that there's several thousands of the little buggers it's a good way to terrorise him.


When he took me over to Fiasco recently Fran just said to him:-
"Go on take him out to increase your inheritance!"
Poor fella nearly choked on the spot.

 

[mud duck]

Over come by the offer or the thoughts of moving and storing all that lead?:sidefrown:

 

[Zilo]

I have nearly 300 blisters of Confrontation mini's and a heap of boxed sets. If I had to let go of any I'd likely have a panic attack. Unless it was one of my Mid-Nor collectors, I have 7 of those somehow.

 

[Wren]

I've done a wimpier version of this. I culled a lot of minis, and some tools, paint and such. The general hobby supplies and paint went into a box for the local paint club I'm trying to get going. The minis I thought friends would like were offered to the friends in question. The rest are sitting in a cardboard box, waiting for me to get my act together to Ebay them, or in some other way find them new homes. Then there's another several boxes that are the remains of a fellow collector that also need rehoming. (His board games and other gaming materials went to local gamers, but none of them were interested in the minis.) Little of what I have is worth much or particularly collectible, it would be putting together lots of not very special GW, Ral Partha, Grenedier and the like. It seems unlikely that I'd get more than a few dollars per batch, so that usually puts me off taking the time to photograph them and post them and so on. But then they go on just taking up room in the house.

 

[Dragonsreach]

WREN, sweetheart, darling, love of our lives, Ral Partha and Grenadier can command reasonable prices due to the OOP status.
However if you haven't the time I'm sure I could find them a good home.

After all I do want to make Paul suffer when I'm gone. (That'll teach him to drop me in it!)