I’ll trade you one Mickey Mantle for two Johnny Benches… Item Number: 100033 $0.00

DescriptionAs a kid, I was always trading one baseball card for another, and learned in the process that when done right, both parties might actually walk away happy. When I did it wrong (often), I felt awful. Now that I am older, and supposedly wiser, I find myself still doing trades. These trades can sometimes become massively convoluted deals involving multiple players. They drive Teresa nuts. “How can you keep track of all these deals!!??” she has asked on far too many occasions… “No clue. Just do,” I often reply…

I bring up this topic today because a large and important client of ours has just proposed a rather complicated trade. I love a challenge, and I actually enjoy putting deals together that involve several parties. If I can swing a deal that involves 3 or 4 individuals, and they all walk away happy, and in the process it’s good for Artemis, then that’s what I call a fantastically successful deal.

You might be asking yourself – “Self, what does all this mean for me?” Well, let me explain… I’m guessing in your collection right now there are probably 50% of things you will never willingly eliminate, there are probably another 30% you really like but would consider changing/ improving, and a final 20% that you would gladly dump if it helped you find more items to add to your “keeper” pile.

We have discussed over the past year that you can always look at the many avenues for selling your collection or individual items from your collection, but we have never discussed the possibility of trading-up. In life, we are often looking at trading up. We do it with cars, stocks, homes, spouses (been there/done that, now have the best…), furniture, etc. The process may not be exactly the same (or it may…), but if you are sitting on items that you would like a better example of, or that no longer fits your collection interest, do something about it. Trade it for something you like better!

If I were in your shoes, here is how I might go about trading-up. Take stock of your existing collection. What do you own that falls into that category of “I like it, but I might like a better example or a different piece more…”? If you find things like this, think about what you would like to replace them with. Would you be willing to trade 2 of your items for one better/different piece? Might you be willing to trade 3 pieces for something really special? Get a mental idea of what you’re ideal trade might involve, and then see what happens. Naturally, your basic auction house can’t really help you much, but your friendly neighborhood dealer certainly might (and we assume Colorado is in everyone’s neighborhood if you use a computer).

Drop us a line. Send us some pix. Let us see if we can play matchmaker. But perhaps wait a week or so until our Oct. 2nd Live Auction is done, or Teresa will completely come unhinged…

Happy collecting – and trading!
Bob Dodge