2018 National recap; wait..what... no needles or urine on city streets? (photo heavy)
Sdub
Posts: 736 ✭✭✭
Stayed downtown at “The 9” upon recommendation from fellow CU board member. Noticeably clean city IMO. Didn’t have to step over urine/s*** to get coffee. Pleasant change/smell from SF. Downtown was a wise choice as Uber stock went up 2% from our round trips to the IX center.
First stop is BBCE booth. Decided to strike early and clean them out of my want list:
The '76 box has been on my want list for a long time. I know I'm 10 years late in the unopened market, but it's been a fun journey. If only Mike and Tim would stop hoarding this stuff, I might have a chance.
One of the perks of staying downtown was walking to Progressive Field for an Indians/Angles game with some fellow CU members. Otoni hit his first two road home runs:
Amazing post game fireworks with a video montage of rock and roll hits that lasted until 11:00. (this could never happen in California; someone would sue):
With all the "buying", who is acutully selling at this convention? Turns out, not many:
Quick, someone call marsattacks!
The best way to experience a new city is a nice little jog and swim. Yes, Lake Erie is clean and I'm still alive:
Now I know where are the garbage went:
But this park was really pretty and enjoyed Frisbee with my son:
Last year, the lack of pricing on the cards bothered me. But after spending many hours at these conventions, I actually prefer it.
Almost no-one prices their cards at market anyway, so why put a sticker on it. I'm very comfortable in my valuations and appreciate dealers that know what items are worth. These two were a pleasure to do business with:
Made a fair deal for these '71's:
On the other hand, a big drag is dealers that are trolling for greenies. Saw a stack of 8 '76 PSA 9's. All commons. Generally go between $6-$9 each. No price, so I asked him what he wanted. He said what would I pay. OK, here we go. You're the seller, what is your asking price. He say's $200. I said bye.
Found these three FASC boxes of '81 racks in the waaaaay back:
Tim had another beautiful pair of card art:
I wasn't a fan of Facebook until I was informed what was going on with the vintage wax group. Made this purchase from one of their moderators:
Sports collectibles is a great business environment for kids to learn about business, IMO. It’s got haggling, inflated pricing, supply and demand, forgeries, fraud, counterfeits, cash flow, inventories. In other words, just like construction. At the beginning of this show, a dealer was apprehended for forged signatures. If your buying signatures that aren’t authenticated, you must have a lot of money to burn. I imagine that most successful dealers in this hobby could be successful in just about any business endeavor.
Speaking of kids, we ripped a ton of modern basketball again this year. Mostly Prizm and Optic. Was a blast
Why is this photos empty? On Friday night, several cards caught my eye in this case. Mostly, PSA 9's from early 70's. I made a note to come back in the AM and make a deal. Unfortunately, someone cleaned up ALL (every card) in all three cabinets that evening. Wow!
Lastly, I was shocked to see the Crisser at this beach. Apparently he shorted the market in '15 and had to put up some collateral:
Special thanks to BBCE who are always helpful, courteous and kind. Storing my modern crap and shipping it. They are the best!
We said goodbye to a wonderful city and a wonderful hobby:
Collecting Unopened from '72-'83; mostly BBCE certified boxes/cases/racks.
Prefer to buy in bulk.
Comments
Awesome photos, John! And quite an impressive haul, too! Thanks for sharing!
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Nice recap and a fun read and photo montage, and makes me feel as if I was there - Oh wait I was there
Great pickup on the unopened stuff especially the 1976 box. Favorite year as a kid since it was my first year of little league and my Reds won another World Series. Always wanted a box for nostalgic reasons but at $6k and no monster rookies to chase my Mantle budget said no way. Thanks for sharing.
KC
Great writeup - I especially appreciated the non-show stuff: the city of Cleveland, the parks, etc. Good stuff!
Good deal on those '71's. $10 seems to be a good price for any 71T commons PSA8. I try to stay around that range when shopping for 71T commons. In a few years maybe I will have them all!
Kris
My 1971 Topps adventure - Davis Men in Black
Thanks ever so much for sharing your National experience with us. Great photos and story. The part about taking the time for a jog and frisbee with your son was enchanting. Take care, pal. --- Indiana Jones (Brian Powell)
Great write-up and pictures! Good to see the Crisser working the beaches.
aconte
Great pictures and well written timeline to get a nice taste of what I missed out on, again.
Curious if you recall some/any of those PSA 9's that got swiped before you returned? Hall of Famers, Rookies or commons?
Nice report. Did you go to the R/R Hall of Fame?
Wow - thanx John - I enjoyed the downtown shots and stuff. I had a really good time this year.
3 yrs ago on the way to Chicago, Mary and I went to the R&R HOF and they had a "School of Rock" concert that was awesome. Some 13 yr old on the guitar made me look extremely "without talent."