The hobby environment in my little corner of the world has started to grow! Earlier this year, a new card shop opened up about 2 miles from my house. I've only had a chance to visit it once (Very nice space, but more high end than a little old collector like me would spend significant time/money in.) Anyway, through their Facebook posts I learned of a larger local group dedicated to the hobby, and earlier this summer, there was an announcement I never thought I'd see. A card show was coming to my area!
Of course I had to attend!
As the day approached, I felt the excitement build. I have not gone to an honest to goodness card show since high school. I didn't know what to expect, other than there was expected to be about 40 tables. How much of it was going to be high end graded stuff I'd never spend money on? How much would be Pokemon and other non-baseball collectables? Would there be dime or quarter boxes? I really had no idea.
Finally, the day came, a beautiful Saturday morning. I made the drive up to what the locals call "The Expo" and was greeted with a rather amusing sign:
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| Now that's a party! |
There was also a flea market going on, and time did not permit me to embrace my inner Fuji and see what wonders awaited. Perhaps next time. Besides, I was a man on a mission! The card show was in one of the smaller buildings, and by the time I got there things were already going full blast and very well attended. I walked in and stopped at the welcome table by the door. I entered the free raffle (didn't win) and spent a little time chatting with the event's organizer, thanking him for putting this all together. He said he's hoping to be able to do these show every few months - fingers crossed!
As I said there were about 40 tables all about, and my strategy was to do a simple walk-through lap first and get a lay of who had what and who was worthy of my time and money. There were some legitimate card shops present, some coming down from a few hours away, but also there were a good number of collectors who were just selling off parts of their collection. About half of what I saw were graded cards, and there were a handful of tables dedicated to collectable card gaming. All in all, there were maybe about 6-8 tables that fit my particular goals for the day.
I eventually made 4 purchases...
Purchase #1
One of the larger tables was of course in the back. The guy brought a
good mix of stuff, both low end and high-end. In the far right corner of
his table he had a box of cards 4/$1. I did a quick look through the
Red Sox cards and found a short print I had to snatch up before someone
else did! I picked out another 3 cards, and decided to come back and
really dig through what he had before I left.
That Williams is one of my favorite pickups for the day. Did you know he was such a prolific fly fisherman that he's in the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame as well? I'm also glad to grab a couple of the current team's young players, as well a new Pedro (even though I'm not fond of that yellowish background..)
Purchase #2
In my initial pass-through, I noticed another smaller table where there were cards on the cheap, but I had to wait until there was less of a crowd before I could check it out. I'm glad I did, because he was selling a card 8/$1! This guy was just selling from his collection, trying to get rid of some things he didn't need/want. He also had a box of cards that were free for any of the kids to take, which earned him Diamond Jesters street cred.
I actually got a couple cards free, as I had initially miscounted and handed him 17 cards instead of 16, and also one of the cards had another card tucked in behind it in the penny sleeve. The guy was very nice, laid back and the vendor I enjoyed conversing with the most.
Purchase #3
The smallest table there was another guy who was basically selling from
his collection. What made him stand out was that he had a spinner where
you can pay $1 and get whatever it landed on (pack of cards, card from
his $1 box, card from his $3 box, etc...) The cheapest thing he had was
$1 anyway, so why not take a chance and spin? I earned my money back by winning a card of my choice from his $1 box.
Truth be told, he didn't have much in that box that would fit my collection - mostly football and basketball. There was among the few baseball this Laughlin World Series card. Even though I already own it, it was pretty much the clear choice!
Purchase #4
After checking around all the other tables without any real temptation, I decided to end my day by going back to the first dealer. I spent a lot more time at his tables and the various boxes of cards he had available. One of those boxes was full of vintage stars, and I found a couple of rookie cards that were well within my price range:
Subconsciously, I think I was ashamed for myself to have a limited number of Dick Allen cards, (most of which used
the same sideways portrait at that!) Picking up a well loved copy of his rookie card made me feel better!
Speaking of well-loved, I found these two great cards in his box of $1 cards. I'm super excited to add a vintage All-Star card of the great Yaz. Tony C was a fun find too!
I of course had to go back to the quarter box! This time I searched through teams other than the Red Sox for some cards that piqued my interest. Not pictured are some cards I found with the intent of sending off to another blogger as a long overdue thank you. The Santa Clause seemed like something I should have on hand for a future holiday post, while 2005 Upper Deck Classics is a set I enjoy and will pick up an odd card now and again. The Ted Williams should be self explanatory by now.
It seemed wrong to go to a card show and not get a pack to rip, so I topped off my purchase with a trio of 1990 Upper Deck. Did I pull a Reggie Jackson auto? I'll save the contents of these for another post. After spending singles here and there all morning, this purchase set me back a very reasonable $20. Low budget collecting for the win!
All in all, this card show was a lot of fun! A few thoughts...
- Growing up, one of my favorite things about going to a card show was buying a box, then going home, ripping 30+ packs of cards and coming away with at least 90% of the set. You can't do that anymore. Boxes are too expensive for kids, and fewer people care about building sets - including the manufacturers who would rather cram 10,000 inserts and parallels down our collective throats.
- Going back to the lost art of set building, it just isn't worth it for vendors to haul boxes of minor players for people to finish their sets. That saddens me.
- From the "We are not the same" department: while I was joyfully picking though quarter boxes, there was a guy next to me trying to sell a card to the vendor for $800. The vendor politely declined, and the gent took his little gangster case of cards elsewhere. I get how the thrill of pulling a card worth hundreds of dollars excites a lot of people in this hobby, but I seen more than my fair share of Wally Joyner and Gregg Jefferies rookie cards. I've know how the speculation game often ends.
- Everyone there, vendors and collectors alike, were all very much polite and well behaved. It wasn't the largest building on the grounds, but it never felt crowded. I never had to wait more than a few minutes for my turn at any table. Made for a much more pleasurable experience.
- I'm convinced more than ever that professional grading has ensured that some of the classic cards I missed out in my childhood will probably be forever out of my price range. I saw both the Upper Deck Griffey rookie and Billy Ripken F-Face card there, and the price for graded copies seemed insane to me.
Although it won't be good for my wallet, I'm looking forward to seeing how the hobby as a whole continues to grow down here in central VA. Here's hoping some more card shows are in my future!
***Update!***
Looks like there will be another card show in my future!
