Long Overdue Return Trip to the Card Show...Was it Worth It?

Last weekend, with my wife's blessing, I was able to attend my first card show in a number of years. Where I live there seems to only be one real promoter and his show only rotates through my area maybe once a quarter. It usually falls on a weekend that I'm not available, but finally the cards (no pun intended) fell into place and allowed me to go.

The show was held near uptown Charlotte, NC in a venue I hadn't had the chance to visit before. It was rather easy to get to and parking was free. The hall it was held in was comparable to where the show was previously held. No frills room, exposed rafters in the ceiling a cold, unforgiving, hard concrete floor. Admission was just $5 and free for kids under 12. They also had plenty of junk wax packs (even those old Pro Set Little Mermaid!) for the kids.

Upon entering the room the left side was pretty much the trading card dealers with the right side of the room for toy dealers. However the right side of the room was very sparse and the promoter told me he has a hard time getting the toy dealers to come to the show. He said those particular dealers didn't like driving into proper Charlotte city limits.

I first made my way around the left side of the room, eager to take in all the card dealers had to offer. I was keeping my eyes open for of course dealers, but those all elusive dime boxes I see so many of my trading card buddies on Twitter talk about. One of the first things I noticed was a large majority of vintage card dealers. Lots and lots of older men sitting behind the tables and at the tables with their crude checklists in spiral bound notebooks.

The other thing that I quickly realized was that many of the dealers didn't really want to engage the people looking, instead standing/sitting behind their tables with a blank look on their face. If they were staring into space, they were talking with the dealer beside or behind them. At times I felt as if I was walking through a retirement community! There were very few father/son combos there or little kids. It was kind of depressing if I'm going to be honest. How, had I been more into vintage I'm sure I could've plugged some holes in sets...but I'm not there yet.

The first table I did any shopping at was a husband and wife from outside of Atlanta, GA that drove up for the show. He had two large white foam boards set up on the back of the table with $1 cards attached. Some were autos, some were relics. The rest of his table had a selection of modern autos/relics with two $.25 bins to the right. There was one card that immediately caught my eye that was sitting on the table.

2015 Topps World Series Champion Coin and Stamp #WCCS-TG (19/50)

I don't think I've ever seen this card or an example of it before. I only had $20 in my pocket for the entire show and the dealer wanted $8 for it. I eventually was able to get that down a buck or so after I found a few quarter cards from his bins. The only thing about this Tom Glavine card is the upside down penny is driving my OCD nuts! Unfortunately the coin is behind a clear film so you can really rotate it around to where it's upright. Oh well, it was a nice way to kick off the show for me.

It was no surprise I was able to find several Atlanta Braves cards from the dealer from GA and these 4 came from the quarter bin. I love the black & white Spahn from last year's Stadium Club set. I think I needed it for my set, but even if I didn't it'll go into my larger Braves collection. The Tom Glavine Bowman Chrome card is from 2016's MLB Draft History insert set. Hard to pass up a shiny Braves card! A lot of Braves fans have been quick to criticize Dansby Swanson and his performance at the plate, but he's one of my favorite modern Braves players. I love the look of these '83 Retrospective cards, but of all the ones I've pulled from packs none of them have been of Braves players. The Bowman's Best is from 2016 and it's not a set that I spent much time with, but again it's hard to pass up a shiny Braves card!

2016 Stadium Club is a great set with great photography and this Freddie Freeman card is a great example of the photography found in the set. As a Braves fan this card is alone awesome, but I also love the card for the look on the fans' faces in the stands as Freddie was trying to catch a foul ball. Francoeur is another favorite player of mine, one that I collect in and out of a Braves' uniform. This 2002 Just Minors card is one that I didn't have when I scanned my list on my phone. Seems pretty perfect too that I found a card of his as I've really been enjoying his color commentary on Fox Sports South during Braves games. The last card in this lot is of Alex Wood from 2013 Topps Chrome. I think the Purple Refractors were retail exclusives. Alex is from my hometown of Charlotte, NC so I don't mind having a second copy of this card as I can add it to my Hometown Heroes sub-collection. All of these cards too came from the $.25 bin.

I was really hoping to find cards from a few modern sets I've been working on, but alas I didn't run across any of them. I did however find two more Tarot Cards from this year's Gypsy Queen set I needed. $.25 each, I'll take 'em.

2012 Topps A Cut Above Jackie Robinson #ACA-22

The A Cut Above set from 2012 Topps is a set I'd love to complete, but I don't actively search for. I happened to find this Jackie Robinson card that I didn't have so I was happy to snatch it up. Topps doesn't offer too many die-cut cards anymore so this is another reason this set appeals to me.

2014 Panini Prizm R.A. Dickey Golden Leather #7

I am a fan of what most of Panini has done since they got a partial license for baseball cards. The product I recently featured in my Charity Group Break, combined with their recent Donruss and Optic sets have only helped solidify (and complicate) Panini when it comes to me making baseball card purchasing decisions. I'm sure there is a "Refractor" version of this Golden Leather card of R.A. Dickey and I'm sure it looks better than the regular version I found lingering in the $.25 bin, but I've been looking for more cards of him after discovering and and I share the same faith. He of course is now part of my Faith Brothers sub-collection.

I didn't start collecting cards until about the middle of 1990, so anything pre-1990 is "vintage" to me! All that said, I was happy to find a few older cards of players that I admire for as much for what they accomplished on the field, but who they are off the field. Strawberry of course is from the 1985 Donruss while the Tony Gwynn is from the 1986 Fleer set. Both of these were easy $.25 purchases.

2002 Upper Deck Honor Roll Chris Weinke Letterman #HRL-CW

Before I left the show, I did go back to the couple from GA because I enjoyed talking to both of them. They were really friendly and fun to talk to. While I was standing there I had noticed a Carolina Panthers auto that I didn't recall seeing earlier. It was of Heisman Trophy winner, Chris Weinke. Chris may not have had the NFL career many were expecting, but I enjoyed his time in Carolina. At one buck I couldn't leave him behind.

At the beginning of the post I mentioned that the toy dealers were on the right side of the room. There really wasn't much to look, however there was one guy that had two short boxes of comics that were $1 each. In the boxes were a lot of older Uncanny X-Men issues that didn't really interest me, however I was happy to see these direct editions of Iron Man from 1981, issues 149 and 154. Both were in great condition and I was more than happy to pay a buck for.

Before leaving I decided to make one more sweep around the room. Earlier I had found a table that was unmanned that had sealed boxes of that old Impel Marketing WCW wrestling cards for $3. I was hoping that this mysterious dealer would be at his table, but alas I never saw the guy there pretty much the whole time I was at the show!

I did remember seeing another guy with some older boxes of cards laid out so I circled back by him. This dealer was an older guy as well, however he and his wife were much friendly and inviting that some of the other dealers I encountered. He had one box left of this 91-92 Fleer basketball and his original asking price was much lower than what boxes had recently sold for on eBay. I was kind of interested, as I loved the NBA during this time frame, however as I previously mentioned I only had $20 and I didn't have much left in my pocket at this time. When the dealer asked if I was interested, I told him yeah, but I was on my way out and only had a few bucks left in my pocket. I told him exactly how much I had left and he said, "take it".

All in all I had a good time while I was there. I went on Sunday so the crowd was smaller than the previous day from what I was told. I had bruised my big toe on my left foot on Saturday with the lawnmower so after walking around for a little over an hour on the concrete floor, needless to say my foot was beginning to get sore. It was fun to experience a card show again, but it didn't live up to my expectations. Perhaps I had set the bar too high? For whatever reason the show wasn't what I was expecting, however I managed to have a good time. Will I go back to their next show? Probably, however I'll make sure I'm better prepared next time.

In closing, I'll show off the contents of the NBA Fleer box if anyone leaves me a comment that they are interested.

Card Show Pick-Ups

I haven't been to a card show in ages.  A few weeks ago I was set up as a toy dealer at a hybrid sports cards/toys/comics show in Charlotte, NC.  While I wanted to browse the huge area of card dealers and thumb through the "el cheapo" boxes, I just didn't have time.  My wife only helped me out one day (Saturday) so Sunday I was chained to my table.  Well not literally, but you get the idea.

I did find a quick moment to run over to a table a few aisles over from me that had a big yellow banner hung advertising his huge dime box assortment.  Surprisingly he had all of the cards either in order by set for older commons or in order by team or player.  I quickly ran through the Braves of course and a few other players I collect on and off again.  While time wasn't on my side I had to hurry through, but walked away with these:

I probably already have both the Sheffields in the top row, but I love Finest and the early Upper Deck SP cards were nice.  The Ripken appears to be from some big set (or subset) by Pinnacle.

Clayton Kershaw pissed me off during the Playoffs last season, but the more I find out about the player removed from the field the more I like him.  I can acknowledge his pitching excellence as well, I just wish he would have faltered a little bit last season against my Braves!  Gwynn is a HOF I respect greatly.  His patience at the plate was something to marvel at.  I particular love the Duracell odd ball card.

I have to walk away with at least a few Braves cards.  Found a Tristar minor league of Craig Kimbrell, a subset card of Chipper and a sparkly insert of Glavine.  Was even happier when I got home and checked my list to see that I had the regular version of the Star Power insert of Glavine, but not the thick sparkly version!

I had grabbed one other Chipper insert that I ended up having, but all in all I was happy w/ the dollar I spent.

Card show report

I got to attend my first card show in close to a year earlier today.  I made the short drive to Charlotte for a rather large combo trading card and toy show.  Most of you know that I collect both cards and toys so this is the perfect show for me.  Well, almost perfect.  Finding Transformers at these shows is usually slim pickings.  At least I found some good stuff on the trading card front.  I'll start off by sharing some of the game used and autos I found.

I decided to make this card fit into my batting pitchers collection.

OK, so it's not a gamed used or auto...but these look great in person and it was only a quarter!

I couldn't find many Tim Hudson cards in a Braves uniform, but thankfully I remember to look in the various Oakland A's sections.  Finding the Smoltz and Maddux cards were a bonus.





I'm not a Yankees fan in the slightest, but I still thought this was a cool card.  Authentic game-used stadium seat from the old Yankee Stadium.  I think it was worth the $2 I paid.



I didn't spend much time looking at football cards, but I did find this auto RC of Jon Beason.  He went down with a season ending injury early in the 2011 season and it really hurt the Panthers defense.  A lot of fans are eager to see how he'll return from his injury in 2012.



On the way out I saw the guy in the corner had a bunch of monster boxes full of commons.  Then I saw his sign - 40 for $1.00.  How could I pass this up?  I made out with several things for me and several things that'll be sent out to select readers in the near future!



The same guy also had a bin full of junk wax packs.  He sold them to me for a nickel each so I took the dive and pulled out several things before a few kids wormed their way in.  I believe my final count was as follows:

x18 1988 Fleer
x7 1991 WCW
x3 1990 Bowman jumbos
x4 1991 Studio
x3 1992 Stadium Club
x1 1988 Score
x1 1990 Upper Deck
x1 1990 Fleer rack pack
x1 Leaf Awesome All-Stars
x1 92-93 Stadium Club basketball

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these quite yet, but I'm sure I'll have some fun.

The last thing I'll show was actually my first pick up.  Again at these type of shows I usually don't find many toy related items that interest me, but I did manage to find a nice boxed Transfrmers Palisades statue of Wheeljack for more than a reasonable price.  It was so cheap I'll probably be selling it.

All in all it was a fun time and I'm glad I was able to attend.  It'll probably be another year before I have a chance to attend another show, but that's OK.  I'm just glad I was able to find several things without having to break the bank!

Card Show Haul

It's been so long since I've been to a card show I was a little overwhelmed today.  There were dealers after dealers with expensive boxes and singles.  While it was fun to look at the selection a dream about being able to afford something I started to think that the trip was all for naught.  Then I stumbled across a dealer in the back of the room w/ several monster boxes of assorted sports for a dime each.  I decided to jump on in since the price was right up my alley.  I found lots of Braves and a few cards of Tim Salmon and Gary Sheffield for my PCs.  Here are a few of the cards I picked up:

Also in these cheap boxes I found a set of 9 cards that caught my eye.  At first I was just going to pick up the Hank Aaron card.  Then I realized the small GM logo on the corner and the consecutive numbering on the following cards.  Copyright date is 1994.  If anyone can shed some light on these cards below please let me know.

One of the first purchases I made during the day actually was a box of cards.  I came across a table that literally had things thrown on the table and scattered everywhere.  There was a piece of notebook paper that had "Everything on this table $2.00" written on it.  On the table was a sealed box of 1997 Score Atlanta Braves.  I've seen these before online, but never in person.  I asked myself why not for only 2 bucks!  The set is only 15 cards so I know I'll have multiples of the team set.  Any Atlanta Braves fans out there (Cardboard Junkie, Waxaholic, Tomahawk Chopping, Glavine/Smoltz/Maddux) if you don't already have these and want a set let me know.

Also on this $2 table was a long cardboard box from Upper Deck.  I had no clue what it was other than something given out (or for sale perhaps?) at one of the All-Star FanFests.  It too was sealed but I thought why not give it a shot.  At the end of the day the suspense was killing me so off came the cellophane wrapper in the car.  I removed the lid and found 4 nice panel type cards displayed in a green felt like insert.  I'm not sure if I'll be keeping these, but I would regardless appreciate any info on these cards if anyone out there has seen these before.

 

I did notice that a lot of the sellers had boxes full of random loose packs for various amounts.  I picked up a handful of different packs for my upcoming group break (look for an announcement in early March), but something caught my eye in one of the big bins of wax.  It was a sealed box of 1985 Fleer Limited Edition.  The checklist on the back states the set is comprised of 44 cards.  I saw it had Gwynn, Murphy and Ripken so why not spend the 50 cents?  If anyone wants any of the other cards let me know.  The checklist is really quite good.

In the same large bin was another deck of cards sized box.  I dug it out from the sea of 1989 & 1990 Donruss wax and found that it was a sealed box of 2003 MLB Showdown card game.  I have a few of these cards in my PCs.  I really don't know what is inside the box other than 60 cards.  I'll probably include this in the next group break.

I didn't look at much football since the majority of it was singles and boxes that were out of my price range, but I did manage to find a few rookies I needed for my 2010 Topps Prime set along w/ a Refractor of David Gettis from 2010 Bowman Sterling #d 38/50.  The same seller also had a small box of game used & autos for $2 and found a dual jersey of Carson Palmer & Chad Johnson from 2010 Panini Absolute #d 033/100.

I also found some various inserts and such that I thought some of you (the reader) may be interested in trading for.  Since I got these for cheap I'm not looking for a lot in return so if you see something that you would want let me know and we'll work out a deal.

2004 UD Vintage Jorge Posada 3-D Sluggers, 2004 Topps Joe Carter World Series Highlights, 2003 UD Roy Halladay Sports Nut, 2003 Playoff Prestige Roger Clemens Inside the Numbers #d 0238/2002, 2003 UD Victory Hideo Nomo, 2004 US Pro Sigs Mike Schmidt Hall of Famers, 2005 UD All-Star Classics Jorge Posada Gold #d307/499, 2005 Donruss Leather & Lumber Hideo Nomo, 2005 Donruss Zenith Sosa/Tejada/Palmeiro Mozaics

 
  2004 Fleer Authentix Ticket Studs

This was another card when I came across it I picked up with the hopes that someone else out there would want.  I don't see many Hideo Nomo game used cards and even though he's pictured in a Dodgers uniform I believe the card is from his stint w/ Tampa Bay.  Any takers?

2005 Flair Diamond Cuts

All in all it was a lot of fun.  I definitely can make my dollar stretch a lot more at a card show then I can at a comic book show (that I tend to frequent a little more often).  I believe with the price of admission I spent a total of $15 and I came home with over 100 cards, a sealed box, 2 mini boxes and a neat UD FanFest item.