Biggest regret or frustration as a collector

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by CessnaDriver

People will say sorry for your loss out of being polite I'm sure, but I can assure many here deeply understand how horrifying that must have been as a collector. I think you can't get over losing a collection so rapidly and unexpected just like a death in the family, it sounds like you just learn to live with it. Good luck on rebuilding. I think it's worth it, there are those times late at night when all is quiet, spending time enjoying it, and the collection becomes a friend like anyone. I guess that's crazy talk for non-collectors but it's part of how we enjoy our lives.

That is honestly a very accurate statement, at least from what I have expereinced thus far. It really is more about learning to live with it that actually getting over it. I will admit that replacing many of the pieces that were able to be replaced, like my Michael Turner and Robert Bateman print collections, did help, but its really the irreplaceable stuff or the really rare and hard to find stuff that hurts the most. I spent over 10+ years going to various estate sales and auction houses to aquire many of the pieces I had. So its not just the loss of the items, but also the time and effort that you put into a particular collection.

Thankfully, we weren't home when it happened so nobody in my family was hurt. That was the single most impotant thing. And I was properly insured so I at least got made whole financially. Things could have definitely been much worse. Think how devastaing something like that would be if you weren't properly insured. It would have made the whole situation just that much worse. I certainly hope people in here are wise enough to have a proper contents policy and that they keep it updated on a regular basis. Its relatively inexpensive and is more than worth the piece of mind it gives you. You do not want to be in a position like I was in uninsured. You think something like that will never happen to you, until it does.

[ryuhayabusa6787]

Always a deal going on and always someone needing money don't regret anything. Just got to be patient it will come to me. I can't make that statement for everyone as I'm not after something as crazy as doom, magneto or akuma.

[abarron]

Think biggest regret it not purchasing some of the statues I really wanted when I had the cash to do it.

Really sucks missing out on the Bowen Juggernaut statue

[MrJones]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

Thats an easy one for me. My biggest frustration was the house fire we had. I lost everything. 12+ years of print collecting (had thousands of prints) down the drain. All of my statues, all of my comics, all of my original comic art/commissions, all of my Kodak memorbilia, all of my antique camera's and lenses, etc. All gone just like that. It still haunts me to this day and I don't think I will ever truly get over it. And it wasn't just collectibles. I lost every negative/picture I had ever taken with a camera, which was basically over 15 years of photography. Not to mention all of the family pictures, all of your clothes. Basically everything you own is gone just like that. Trust me, that is about as frustrating and frustrating gets.

Thankfully, I rented multiple large safety deposit boxes and put my father's collections, which were passed on to me when he passed away, in those boxes. So those were saved from the fire. He mainly collected railroad/stock certificates & coins. Initially, I was only planning on keeping them in there until I was able to have them properly valued, so I could add them to my contents policy and have them properly insured. After the fire, I decided to just keep them in the safety deposit boxes.

I was so crushed by the loss that I swore I would never collect ever again and I actually went 2 years before I purchased anything, but I am a collector at heart and deep down I think I knew it was only a matter of time before I jumped back in. Over the last 5 years, I have replaced many of the items I lost, like my Michael Turner print collection and my Robert Bateman print collection, but there are many more than haven't been replaced or are impossible to replace. Its basically like starting at the very beginning again.

Man I'm just coming back to this thread. I agree with some other sentiments, that loss legitimately must have been traumatizing. I've mentioned elsewhere that I work in insurance, and my father was a fire fighter, so while I haven't experienced a total loss from a fire like that, I have heard they are truly devastating. Glad to hear that since then you are back on the up and up!