Another Day, Another Card Show

 

Last weekend I spent a good portion of my Saturday with a friend and my nephew attending the Minnesota Card Show.  I had been looking forward to this show since I first heard about it a few months ago and it did not disappoint.  We made sure to get there early when the doors opened in the hopes of beating the crowd.  That strategy worked for about an hour, as the crowd built up quickly.  

One of the first and more fun things we got to do was meet Olympic gold medalist John Shuster.  He was doing a meet and greet as soon as the show started.  It's not everyday you get to meet a gold medalist, but also hold the actual medal.  In case you don't recognize the name, he skippered the first American team to ever win a gold medal in curling.  He seemed to enjoy his time there, meeting and taking photos with all the fans.

The show was located in a hotel near downtown Minneapolis, in the hotel's exhibition hall which kind of felt like we were down in a basement with no natural lighting.  Nevertheless, there were lots of dealers, a seemingly infinite number of cards and deals to be had!

My first deal of the day was this 1977 Kellogg's set in great shape.  I didn't notice any cracking or curling and was happy to take this home.  But this leaves a gap in my Kellogg's sets, so now I have to find the 1978 set to complete my run from 1977-1983.

Next up is this helmet card of Austin Riley.  This was one of the rare moments when I was able to squeeze my way into a dollar box at a table.  Actually, I think this set me back $3.  These have been relatively hard to find in the wild, but at this show I did see more manufactured patch cards than most other shows I've attended.

Next up are a couple of Kaprizov's.  I really like the UD Canvas cards.

I was able to add this shiny sticker auto of Luis Arraez.  I try to shun sticker auto's but I'll make an exception and add an Arraez auto for $10 to my PC any day.  I'm still bitter about the trade though.

Here's my 'big get' of the show.  A '69 Mantle that really gives my set build a boost.  Incredibly thrilled to finally own this card.  Now I need to find a Reggie.

Cards weren't the only focus of the show.  There were other companies demonstrating products to help us collectors organize and buy/sell/trade.  I sat through a couple of demos from the following companies:  Nextgem and Kronozio. 

Really fascinating stuff to see the technology that's being developed for the hobby.  Both of those companies make cataloging a collection seem way too easy.  I know these businesses have competition though and it would be cool to see one of these companies let a user upload their collection of cards to a place like TCDB after cataloging a collection using their product.

Despite the show being held in a location that had you feeling a bit claustrophobic, having sore feet from walking all day, and having my budget drained,  I would say this was another successful show for me.  At least they validated parking.