Over and over I see people who have spent many years assembling their collection, and when the time has come for them to sell it, they start out by looking for someone to buy everything they have. Now I don't mean a dealer who will pay them a fraction of the retail value, so that they can re-sell the items one by one and double their money (or more).

I mean that they think they will find a COLLECTOR who has always dreamed of not having to spend years assembling a collection, and wants to get it "complete". I have never seen this happen, no matter whether the collection is very specific (all on one star or genre) or wide-ranging! Why are there not collectors who want to buy in this way?

Suppose someone went into a toy store and asked for a jigsaw puzzle. Suppose the owner said, "I have a wonderful 1,000 piece puzzle that those of my customers who have bought it raved about". But he added, "It has already been assembled, and glued to a board"! I would bet NO jigsaw puzzle people would consider buying it, because the joy of getting a jigsaw puzzle is in putting it together.

The same is true of movie paper collecting! The "fun" of the hobby is the "thrill of the chase", going after items you enjoy and then tracking them down. Over time you shape the collection, selling some early "mistakes", and adding in new items you initially did not know you wanted.

What about museums and archives? In very rare cases they WILL acquire entire collections, but this is usually because they are donated to them, and in almost every case they sit in some warehouse or basement, and never see the light of day.

Perhaps the single best-known collection of movie paper is the legendary horror/sc-fi collection of Ron and Margaret Borst. Many years ago I visited their house and viewed their truly inconceivable collection. I asked them if they would love to see it all on display in a museum some day. Ron said he would much rather see an auction of everything after they were gone, so that every collector would have an equal chance to acquire those items he had that they might want. I don't know that the Borsts still feel this way, but it sure makes a lot of sense to me!