My experience at the National

mariner

I attended the National Wednesday through Friday. I had a fantastic time and had a chance to meet quite a few of the registy members for the first time. I have known Norty (Joe Tauriello) for quite a few years so I spent a lot of time at his table. King Kellogg spent a lot of time there too and it was great to meet him and get to know him....what a great guy! Here is the registry members that I met for the first time:

King Kellogg, Putty, Davemri, Griffins, Gaspipe, Gemmint, Carkim, RobE, Rustywilly, Acowa, Basilone, Wayne 8348, Frank Smith, Mike Miller, Henri Nuber and John McLaren (#1 1959 Topps set). I hope that I did not leave anyone out. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. Unfortunately, I met a few of you for just a few minutes and we did not have any time to chat, but maybe next year. I did not get a chance to meet Buckwheat and I hope that he is doing well in his recovery. From what I have read, he sounds like a first class guy.

On the dealer side besides seeing Norty (Setbuilders) who is the best, I enjoyed seeing, buying from and visiting with the Skerbes and Rich at Triple SSS, Bob Krawetz (Ninth Inning), Paul Stark and Bill at Polo Grounds. I met Joe Delgrippo for the first time and he is a class act and just great to talk to. These guys are the cream of the dealer crop in my book.

I had the opportunity to meet and spend a little bit of time with Joe Orlando and I really enjoyed talking with him. I had a chance to ask him some questions and just generally talk about grading and the hobby.

The Set Registry luncheon was first class all the way. The food was great and getting to hear Marshall Fogel speak was terrific. I did not get a chance to meet Marshall but I understand that he is a quality individual. Maybe I will get a chance to meet him next year. The Q&A session with Joe was very informative and stayed upbeat and positive.

Purely by chance, I had the honor of sitting with and having lunch with BJ and Gayle and getting a chance to visit with them during the luncheon. They, along with Cosetta, provide world class service on the registry and they are just delightful people. That was the highlight of my day Friday.

As I told my wife when I returned home Saturday, I had a chance to reallocate some of our portfolio at the show. I acquired some 1960 and 1961 star cards in PSA 8 holders that I had been looking for. I also had some luck on finding a few nice raw vintage cards in 1959, 60 and 61 that should grade PSA 8. I found about 40 or so cards that should do well with grading. Let me tell you, finding nice raw and gradeable vintage is getting extremely difficult to do. The 'hunt' is fun but it is like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

I read another thread about how some dealers had outrageous prices on some of their cards and they were not doing much business....well, I can confirm that. Some dealers had great stuff on their tables but their prices were way out of line. I saw them doing a lot of 'standing around'. Some of the same cards they had on their tables can be had on ebay for one half of their asking price. Other dealers like the ones I mentioned above were doing a brisk business and had reasonable prices on their star cards and were having an excellent show for selling from what I could tell.

All in all, this trip to the National was just a fantastic experience and I can not wait for Chicago next year. I did not get a chance to join some of the other registry members for dinner or the ballgames this time, but next year I would really like to do that.

I hope everyone else had a similar enjoyable experience this year at the National and for those who could not come, you should plan to go next year....you will not regret it.

Putty

Don it was my pleasure to meet you at the National. As promised here is my contact info, shoot me an email at
gregoryvoit@comcast.net
Greg Voit (putty)

marz

sounds like a lot of fun. Wish I could have been there. maybe next year after I Register another 4000 cards and look like someone with a real collection!