San Fran Tristar show was unreal!
KallMaloneSay
Posts: 390 ✭
I went in expecting to do slightly better than Hollywood Park numbers in sales and I actually doubled my expected sales at the show. Got to see a lot of dealers and other collectors that I have known in the Bay Area since I was 10 years old (I lived in Santa Clara for the first 23 years of my life). It felt great to have Kevin Johnson of Stevens Creek Sportscards buy from my table for once (He-he). I actually came home with no money and I couldn't be more happy (paid my mom off a fair chunk of money and bought, bought, and bought some more). I picked up pretty much the entire baseball 2000 UD Legends Auto set, a nice $3000 collection of 2003 football AUTO's/Jerseys/RC's, tons of new wax for the shop, Musial Bat/AUTO #/25 from Timeless Classics, Clemens Patch/AUTO #/50 from Prime Cuts, and some other doohickeys along the way(Swann, Namath AU's; Bonds patches,...). I'll probably put a ton of nice stuff up on ebay this week to avoid going broke (cough, cough, SPAM).
Even Sunday was great! I had cheap labor help me out at the show, my mom worked for free the entire weekend and I was proud of the way she did, and I probably would've had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the show if she wasn't there to help. It was an absolute zoo as far as attendance, the Cow Palace really did seem to pack'em in like cattle, I maybe had a few ten minute sessions all day on Saturday or Sunday to sit down and rest. 99% of the other dealers told me they did extremely well too, so I'm probably not alone in my sentiments.
My BGS Raw Card Review experience was slightly above ho-hum, I got 9.5's on Upton and Khalil Greene Prospect Premieres AUTO's (easy grades) but out of a Weeks SP Authentic, Weeks Game Face, and Pujols Fleer Platinum I expected one of the three to be a 9.5 but they all came back 9's. Guess I drew the wrong grader. One of my buddies who bought 8 boxes of 2002 DOnruss the Rookies at the Hollywood Park show pulled and Raw Card Reviewed the first BGS 9.5 Alexis Rios Elite RC! The card was sold to Keith Koenig, who listed it right away on ebay, then returned it to my buddy the next day and ended the auction, but then my buddy sold it to someone else immediately thereafter. Kind of makes me sick that I opened 25 boxes and didn't get 1 Rios, yet the first 9.5 came out of one of my boxes (Grrrr!). That's alright, I came out with a PSA 10 Guthrie AUTO, PSA 10 Castillo, a few LaRoche's, and at the price I picked them up I couldn't possibly lose.
FYI; Topps Chrome basketball shot up from $75 the first day of the show to $100 the last day of the show and still sold out at $100. Thank God I got my box the first day of the show. Tons of those 1/1 Diamond Kings around, but as previously written about my feelings towards them I just walked right by them without checking show prices (fire at me if you must Stalin). Great deals at the show, so for those of you who are the "shows suck, ebay or bust!" types, it might be worth checking into if a decent show comes to a town near you.
On a sad note I did have an Edwin Jackson Leaf Limited AUTO stolen from me, I think it was 12/99, but not totally sure. If anyone sees it pop up on ebay or elsewhere let me know. I've now had two cards stolen from me; this card and an Edwin Jackson DOnruss Signature AUTO at the store. It looks like Edwin Jackson is cursed, so maybe I should take him off my Top Prospect list and never buy another one of his cards again (I've learned to laugh it off and learn from the experience).
Anyways, great overall show from my standpoint, can anyone else back me up out there?
Jason
Even Sunday was great! I had cheap labor help me out at the show, my mom worked for free the entire weekend and I was proud of the way she did, and I probably would've had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the show if she wasn't there to help. It was an absolute zoo as far as attendance, the Cow Palace really did seem to pack'em in like cattle, I maybe had a few ten minute sessions all day on Saturday or Sunday to sit down and rest. 99% of the other dealers told me they did extremely well too, so I'm probably not alone in my sentiments.
My BGS Raw Card Review experience was slightly above ho-hum, I got 9.5's on Upton and Khalil Greene Prospect Premieres AUTO's (easy grades) but out of a Weeks SP Authentic, Weeks Game Face, and Pujols Fleer Platinum I expected one of the three to be a 9.5 but they all came back 9's. Guess I drew the wrong grader. One of my buddies who bought 8 boxes of 2002 DOnruss the Rookies at the Hollywood Park show pulled and Raw Card Reviewed the first BGS 9.5 Alexis Rios Elite RC! The card was sold to Keith Koenig, who listed it right away on ebay, then returned it to my buddy the next day and ended the auction, but then my buddy sold it to someone else immediately thereafter. Kind of makes me sick that I opened 25 boxes and didn't get 1 Rios, yet the first 9.5 came out of one of my boxes (Grrrr!). That's alright, I came out with a PSA 10 Guthrie AUTO, PSA 10 Castillo, a few LaRoche's, and at the price I picked them up I couldn't possibly lose.
FYI; Topps Chrome basketball shot up from $75 the first day of the show to $100 the last day of the show and still sold out at $100. Thank God I got my box the first day of the show. Tons of those 1/1 Diamond Kings around, but as previously written about my feelings towards them I just walked right by them without checking show prices (fire at me if you must Stalin). Great deals at the show, so for those of you who are the "shows suck, ebay or bust!" types, it might be worth checking into if a decent show comes to a town near you.
On a sad note I did have an Edwin Jackson Leaf Limited AUTO stolen from me, I think it was 12/99, but not totally sure. If anyone sees it pop up on ebay or elsewhere let me know. I've now had two cards stolen from me; this card and an Edwin Jackson DOnruss Signature AUTO at the store. It looks like Edwin Jackson is cursed, so maybe I should take him off my Top Prospect list and never buy another one of his cards again (I've learned to laugh it off and learn from the experience).
Anyways, great overall show from my standpoint, can anyone else back me up out there?
Jason
Baseball Card Heaven, the closest card shop to the Las Vegas Strip.
Our current ebay auctions, and of course BaseBallCardHeaven.com
Our current ebay auctions, and of course BaseBallCardHeaven.com
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Comments
- Great show overall, very lively, tons of buying/trading/selling going on. Anyone who thinks the show circuit is dying is misguided. It may have changed in focus over the years, but this show was packed all day.
- The PSA table was very busy (6-10 people at the table at all times), as was Jim Spence. I dropped off 50 or so cards for the $5 Set Registry special, and the folks at the booth were great as always. In the time I was there, at least 10 people stopped to ask about how to get cards graded, how to join, etc.
- The GAI table was literally empty every time I passed by except once. Mike Baker was there, and I *think* Rocchi was as well (I don't know either, but I can read nametags
- The Beckett table usually had a person or two there (they were right up front near the door), with mostly modern collectors (from what I could see) submitting for raw card review. Again, just reporting what I saw relative to the others ...
- I picked up 11 more T-68 cards from Robert Marcy, who was great to talk to as usual. My set gets closer to 100% every time I see him ...
- There seemed to be slightly less modern wax for sale compared with previous shows, which made for easier shopping/pricing. Diamond Kings seemed to be at every table selling wax, and basketball/anything LeBron was everywhere. Given my $250+ PSA order and my T-68 pickups, I only treated myself to one box - '03 SP GU football for $95, but plenty of bargains were definitely available if you looked around.
All in all, one of the better SF shows of the past few years - definitely night and day compared to the Labor Day show from a few years ago that was so dead. My T-68 set will be over 80% soon, and my '80 and '81 Phillies team sets should be complete once my PSA order is ready. My only complaint is their stupid sound/speaker setup - as soon as you walk in, near Goodwin's and Block's tables, a huge megaphone-like speaker hung on the wall. The moment any announcement was made (for autographs, etc.), you couldn't hear yourself think. It made conversing with dealers in that area a real pain. But all in all, two thumbs up!
Robert
HEAR THAT MIKE!?!
Collecting all bowman chrome rc's from 2002 and 2003