Any good finds at the Fort?

1420sports

I was at Ft. Washington yesterday and had a blast. My first show in a year. I picked up a few cards, saw many I would love to have, including a 33 Goudey Lajoie PSA 7 for 33K -- the first one I have ever seen in person. A PSA 1 is more in my price range!

Any success stories out there?

I also ran into a Grade and Trade rep. I was not sure if he was the owner/prez/CEO/etc. Before I make any comments, does anyone know anything about the company or the owner(s)?

PSA will be doing onsites during the March 2003 show.

CDC4

I was at the show on Friday and the show was looking good. Dealers were telling me that they couldn't believe the action that was going on in the first couple of hours of the show....It's good to see a healthy hobby!

FB

CDC4,

I too was at the Fort on Friday night and thought that it was lighter than the May show. Then again, I had my head buried in 60's and 70' common books for 4 hours including 2 of those at Set Builders. Plus, I didn't ask any dealers how they were doing. Its funny how two people in the same place can get completely different impressions!

Although I'll agree with ya! What a blast!!!

It was also nice to finally meet the unofficial king of the 69 crowd - Bob Cacamese
as well as Jeff (luxurywines)!

mrc32

Anybody else have some good stories. I was there last year about this time, and had a blast though I didn't buy anything. My then-finance was looking at wedding dresses with her aunt, just north of there. We drove up for the weekend from DC. Now we are married and living in "the middle" of the country and can't find any good shows(as if I had time anyway).

Lets here some stories from others!

riccaboni

Instead of wearing my favorite Carolina Hurricanes customized jersey, I instead opted for my "Magnum P.I." style type polo shirt, mutiple horizontial stripes. Unfortunately did not run into anybody what so ever, however I saw someone there today with a "Drive In/Out" CaliforniaHamburger shirt, I thought someone on the board mentioned that one day, I didn't speak up though. He was discussing purchasing 3 1971 complete sets. 2 hours of common books, much like Frank, yeilded 17 for my 1968 set, and I even picked up 9 for my 1964 set that has never officially gotten off the ground. The folks at PSA gave me a few of those black boxes for free, a brand new November 2002 SMR, and 3 packs of Card Saver Is. Met a guy named Matt from PSA who was extremely helpful in the continuing search for the box of missing cards. He was very nice, very helpful. Submitted those 26 cards for the set registry special, and even gave into two T-206s, and submitted those aswell. This time I kept the Gold Copy of the order form! Anyways, sad that I didn't meet anybody from the board, but there always is December...

Ian

riccaboni

Also, sorry for the double post, but others at the show may be able to confirm this. From what I saw, a ton of 50's stuff, medium range of 60's and almost no 70's, yet Shoeless Joe's had a tremendous amount of 80's. Not only that, but there was quite a bit of pre-war, and GAI graded items (cards, and packs).

Ian

ejguru

Frank and Ian: I spent 3 hours Saturday morning at Set-builders table with 2 other registry guys. While they poured through his other books, I had a death-grip on the 68's and didn't let go. I ended up with about 100 cards for my '68 set and went straight to PSA to submit. Also had great time meeting up with Alan and even making a trade with Steve (Can't wait to grade the Romano!). Unfortunately, Neal my brother missed me--NEXT TIME! Got the impression from the half-dozen-dozen dealers I chatted with that it was a solid show in terms of sales. Will certainly be back in March, December if the weather cooperates and I have some spare change

E

LloydsBaseballCards

Unlike most of you guys, I only buy PSA 8's (no raw stuff, just don't have the luck) and felt that there was not too much real interesting 50's - 60's stuff at the Fort in PSA 8. Most seems to be in collections and you see the same thing over and over, I do feel that the Skerbe Brothers always seem to have a lot of nice fresh cards, and are willing to work on prices a bit.

Scoop

I was also there Friday nite, and agree with Lloyds. The few dealers that had 50's in PSA 8 or better only had stars and they were asking way too much even with bartering....at least 150% SMR for the 8's and the 9's were closer to 200% or more.

Only Peter Lalos and 707 sportscards had some commons available.

Many raw sets available, but also way overpriced. I saw an ex/exmt 1955 topps set priced at $4500.

I ended up with no acquisitions, but had a large submission to PSA which they said would be guaranteed in 10 days for $10/card.

Slabbed

Also attented the show friday night and saturday, Picked up two psa 8 1955 topps cards Sandy Amoros and Willie Mays which were very high end for the grade, Also submitted cards for grading at PSA. Very Exellent show which dealers had new inventory they picked up at the National. Cannot wait for the show in December.

BASESAREEMPTY

Went to the show today and met Greg Fisher of Cameo Cards for the first time in person today. It is nice to put a face to all the money I have been sending to Upstate New York. He is an excellent seller and 100% professional . I highly recommend him to anyone putting together 60's and 70's sets, super guy to deal with. Otherwise I was able to pick up about 80 raw cards for my sets to submit to PSA. I found also that most dealers were way over book on PSA material. I would have really liked to have seen PSA doing on site grading. SGC and GAI were and were doing ok. I think PSA misses out by just accepting submissions. All said a great show!

BOB


P.S. - IAN(RICCOBONI) - Did you see the NWA world title belt at the show. I believe it used to be the one that HARLEY RACE wore while he was the champ! Prett neat item to see.

riccaboni

Bob,

I actually must have missed it, although I did see the dealer with all of the old Boxing/wrestling Championship belts. Maybe he sold it by the time I made it around. Was it the quirky that said "National Wrestling Alliance", with all the different flags around the straps, the one they used before the large all gold one with the name plate job?... One of the few belts I haven't seen in person. I've been to sooo many live events, yet that belt was a little before my time...

EJ... argg... that's why there were all those gaps in the 1968 setbuilders book... I knew I should have made arrangements to go Friday...

I also would have liked to seen on site grading, but someone mentioned it will be returning in March 2003, two shows from now. Even though I probably wouldn't ever submit something, it's always cool to see what other people recieved.

Ian

BASESAREEMPTY

Yeah that was the one! I was there this morning when they opened till about 1:30. You must have just missed it. I thought of you when I saw it, not in any weird kind of way though

BOB

LuxuryWines

I too went Friday night... But I will agree with Frank I thought the traffic was kind of light... Steady but not busy.... I did pick upsome good finds some really nice raw 1914 Polo Grounds GAme Cards and a bunch of 69 Topps Decals for that set. I was looking for 34 Goudey but not much PSA in Mid grade and most of the raw was over priced (people wanting Ex-Nt pricing for VG cards.) I also thought the vintage 8 & 9 cards were over priced and told 1 delaer I had several commons he was looking for 2X book for that I would sell him mine for book. Funny he wasn't interested. I would recommend Friday night as you get first crack and can spend some time with the dealers and you get first shot at the cards ....

acowa

I found Eric (aka ejguru@aol.com) at the Set Builders table...it was pretty funny in that he had recognized me from the pic that Dan Markel (Dude) had attached in his famous National post.

I picked up about 5 1967 Topps baseball that I needed for my set. I also decided to start a 1961 Topps hockey set and picked up about 10 beautiful raw cards.

It was a fun show overall and I was glad that I made the trip. I spent more money with PSA than I did on cards as I dropped off my set registry sepcial and took adavantage of their 10 day/$10 show special.


Regards,


Alan

SKINSFAN

show was solid overall but way to much gi stuff was there ,i was there sunday last day so i am sure many dealers had gi grade a bunch i saw the skerbe brothers taking over a ton of stuff to gi of corse many dealers were bashing psa for not attending saying how it shows they dont care!!.not enough football the for me as that is my mail nitch did grab some nice commons from peter (champs and bums )and grabed a few nice t205,s from 707 prices were high for the most part. i hope to see more high end football at the next one not 1 all american to be found othe then 2 psa 8oc .i must also say evey dealer i asked for all americans said you should have seen the collection a guy had here yester they were all talking about rob and the #1 55 set. well on a closing note i hope psa takes this piece of advice you need to attend and grade in person at more east coast shows please

murcerfan

It costs PSA way more to set up (30-50 grand I am told, as they don't have slabbing machines that fit in carry on baggage, yet) A few hundred show grades that they would get from the ever shrinking Fort crowd would only be a drop in the bucket.

doc

Riccaboni...that was me in the In-N-Out T-shirt, discussing the 71 sets. Next say hey!

Setbuliders has been my favorite place to buy cards. Joe is a very nice guy, with good cards at good prices. For those who buy raw, its a solid place to be. I think his next shows will be in Boston and Chicacgo.

Interesting piece of news. Several of you probably have dealt with Danny Fisher at PSA...he's now at Global. Danny is a good guy and a loss for PSA.

Steve P.

riccaboni

Yeah, I thought I recognized the In-N-Out reference from the board, next time I'll say hey!

Setbuilders had an incredible selection, I was yelling at my mom to break out the plastic and to buy all of the books, I could have had quite a jumpstart on a few of the sets on the registry (and my mom would have had an incredible debt... ).

May have just walked right by the belt, I did think to myself, "I wonder if they have any wrestling belts...". I could have sworn I saw a 1984 WWF junior heavyweight title belt, but yet another table of over priced slabbed cards caught my eye.

Met the guys from Shoeless Joes, had some great deals on modern stuff, $5 a pop, and had quite a few vintage off grade cards for reasonable prices.

Other than that, I too probably spent more in submissions then on the show floor itself,

Ian

1420sports

Shoeless Joe's had some nice buys I agree.

Yo E - next time!

I wish PSA was there. GAI seems to making a stronger prescence, and I wonder what will eventually happen as more dealers are looking at them .... what do you think a "crossover" - new post comin now

69topps8

Does 'Set Builders' have a website?

FB

Not that I've found.

dude

Guys,

It really pains me to read what I missed out on this past weekend. I've always enjoyed the Ft. Washington show and it sounded like this one was another gem! Going to shows and meeting the dealers and collectors is just as fun as finding the cards. I'm not sure if I can make the December show, so maybe I'll go in the Spring...... I'll definitely be at the National.

Joe Tauriello is one of the best dealers, if not The Best in the hobby. There aren't many like him anymore! Here's his eBay About Me Page:

Set-Builder's About Me Page

ejguru

Dan: You are so right. He and his assistant are as first class as I've met. Prices were fair and quality was high. The 4 hours (and $300+) I spent there were pure NIRVANA! I know the other registry guys that spent similar amounts of time there felt the same way. Upside is that nobody devoured his '67 book--at least not while I was there. Once I paid the grading fees on the 100 raw cards, I had no more GREEN to go back and feast on the GREENBACKS Anyway, I am actually thinking I have a chance to avoid the Grader of Death on that invoice. Stay tuned.

EJ

AlanAllen

Riccaboni,
Did you get a sense of how well the GAI packs were being received? I'm quite interested in this segment, and the GAI packs have been selling well on eBay, alhtough only by Mark Murphy really. Thanks for any impressions you can give,
Joe

dude

EJ,

Joe T. is a terrific guy. There aren't many dealers like him anymore. He respects his customers and trusts them by letting them write down the price of the cards they've picked out. A lot of the raw card dealers are jerks and overgrade and overprice their cards. I've even had several pull out the SMR and charge me graded card prices on raw cards which usually means I hand the cards back to the dealer and tell him to have a nicer day than me. Joe is very fair and has a great personality. I've never had any "surprises" with any of the cards I bought from either.

FB

EJ,

I actually went through Set Builders 67 book on Friday night and snagged about 50 beauties. I also was able to do the same with the 64 book as well. Grabbed a few 66's and a few 69's too. The only downside was that I ran out of time!!!!

I sent my Ft. Washington finds out on Monday (last day of the Registry Special). Glad I waited too... I pulled out a couple of 64s with surface scratches that I hadn't noticed and a gorgeous 67 Rich Rollins that was undersized (bought from another dealer). So, we'll see how my 130 cards do in a few weeks.

ejguru

Frank YOU DAWG.... Good luck on the submission. May the Grader of Death be on vacation!!

EJ