Closer to sixty than fifty, and a lot of this sounds very familiar.
Twice I have gotten my "collection" to the point where I felt like unless there was something that 'fell in my lap' that I couldn't pass up price-wise, that there was little or nothing out there that I didn't own or already had owned and decided wasn't for me.
Then I went through much the same situation as Buff with a few differing details. Fast forward 10 years . . . my interests and tastes have changed as things will and I'm once again about at that point. Sold off most all the competition hardware and put the bulk of it in pre-lock Smith & Wesson revolvers thanks to the enablers here on this board and a lifelong friend of over 40 years.
Now I'm more or less back to that point and know of only one item I am currently seeking that I feel would cap off the collection. Now, what I collect and why will be different from anyone else here, and while I admire what many of you desire and appreciate your collections, mine is rather pedestrian compared to many of the true collectors here on the board and likely rather opulent to some who can carry their whole collection in a gym bag.
But I'm beginning to see the viewpoint a lot better of many that realize that their love of the subject and their passion for it isn't shared by anyone in their family. Well, that's the family's loss. Given the state of the economy and my approaching retirement age, unless some contemptible government pogue muddies up my ability to legally sell them off by the stroke of Big Brother's pen, someone (maybe some here) will help fund my "golden" years. I just hope whoever winds up with them appreciates and enjoys them as much as I have.
We don't "own" anything - we just get to use it a while. If the Lord tarries, in a few years everything I presently have with any worldly value will belong to someone else. The natural order of things.