Card Show Happiness

 

This past weekend there were two shows going on, which is totally awesome.  On Saturday I was able to attend both shows, both a mere 20 minutes apart and both shows were very well attended.  The dealers I spoke with all said the same thing, Saturday was tremendous.  Generally I'd rather not deal with such crowds, as often times it is difficult to really dig into a dealer's inventory.  So I browse rather quickly, moving on and noting which tables I should return to.

Unfortunately I couldn't work into a few tables I saw that had good vintage inventory.  However there were a couple tables that had some needs for my 1986/87 Fleer basketball set build.

I landed this Abdul-Jabber sticker for less than $40.  It's not as off-centered as the scan looks, but the back does have a wax stain.  Nevertheless, I couldn't walk away for that price.

Then I added this Moses Malone card.  Fairly well centered and clean with great corners.

Here's a look at everything I picked up for this set.  The Harper is off centered, which highlights a big issue for this set, but I'm happy to have it for this build.  A couple of those commons cost $1/each.

Now I only need 13 more cards to complete that set.  The Drexler is my next (and last) "big one" to add.  I've been watching a couple on-line auctions and will hopefully land that soon.

Next up, I added these for my Topps 70th patch build.  I had won the Whitey Ford off ebay prior to this weekend, but it was damaged in transit and the seller promptly gave me a refund.  The Johnson and Ford were tough at first because the dealer initially wanted $5 each, but he relented and sold those to me for $5 total when he found out I was so close to completing the set.  Later, I was also able to add Greg Maddux and Stan Musial, along with a blue parallel Mariano Rivera for under $10.  

The dealer I bought the Maddux and Musial cards from had them marked at $8 and $10 respectively, but haggling with dealers can be fun sometimes and in this case bundling another card (Rivera) paid off for me.  I'm still averaging under $2.50 per card for this project even though I've seen dealers mark these cards up to $10 each (or more).

Speaking of deals, I came across these two Herbert rookie inserts and was able to land them for $20 total.  My 2020 Optics set build is nearly complete, but I couldn't refuse adding an Elite Series and its Donruss cousin.  These cards kind of underscore an issue I have with card companies and manufactured scarcity in the market.  Same photo, but different backgrounds.  I feel like its deja vu, seeing the same photo over and over and I think this is lazy for card companies to do.  I may never completely understand those who want to complete a rainbow set.

There are more shows coming up over the next few weeks and I'm hoping I'll be able to attend each one.  Going to these shows helps keep a pulse on the hobby and it seems to be as alive as I've ever seen it.  What I noted this past weekend is that more and more dealers are carrying only graded cards.  Not only that, but finding dime boxes is becoming more rare, as most have turned into dollar boxes.  Hopefully the grading craze will subside at some point.

Until next time, happy hunting.