Help me w/ my fix...give me details about Toronto Show this weekend

jerster

Anyone attending? I need someone to give me the lowdown on the show. Since I couldn't attend...I'm having some withdrawl pains. help a brother out...

jerster

Cmon - I know someone went....

eyebone

jerster:

You sound absolutely desperate, so I will do my best to put you out of your misery.

I was there, Friday and today. I am not entirely sure of the specifics you are after, but I can tell you....

1. Had the chance to meet respected fellow board member "knuckles", who was there selling/taking orders for his custom made sig cut cards. Spoke with him for a few minutes early on Friday and again early today. He told me that he had taken quite a few orders, and had made a potentially good contact with one of the card manufacturers. I am certain he will provide more details shortly. I am having him make a Larry Robinson for me--cannot wait to get it.

2. Only one company was grading on-site (KSA). In years gone by there have been others, but they all seem to have fallen by the wayside unfortunately.

3. Same old dealers, most of whom had the same old stuff. Though for the most part it is better than my stuff, so I must mind my words.....

4. Fellow board member Greg of Cameo Cards was there as always. As I mentioned last week he is one of the few non-hockey dealers at the Expo, and he has some very nice football and baseball cards (both raw and graded). I wandered by his booth a couple of times with the intention of introducing myself but he was busy with clients.

5. Much of the talk on Friday was the release of UD Series 1 and the Sidney Crosby rookie, but I did not see many in dealers showcases. Crosby ITG cards are dropping like the proverbial stone; I couldn't unload a couple of shortprints for the life of me on Sunday.

6. Finding an unchecked OPC checklist from the late '60s or early '70s is like trying to find a Tim Hortons in Kentucky.

7. The autograph guests are poor for Canada's biggest show. With all due respect, Jean Beliveau, Charlie Hodge, Bryan Trottier, Johnny Bower, Pierre Pilote & Stan Jonathan are either repeat signers or they are not big names in the hobby. They had Joe Montana arranged for the last show but he stiffed them at the last minute.

8. Fewer dealers selling new wax than in the past, I think. Not as many new hockey products anymore though, are there?

9. Attendance seemed about the average. I spoke with two or three dealers I know and they all said it was a typical show sales-wise, not great but not bad either.

I am sure others can/will add to my analysis, but I hope I have given you some temporary relief, jerster.

Eyebone

jerster

Feel better already

Thanks.

jerster

Did you buy any sausage?

Last year some sausage dude was there with a table. My favorite was the person selling leather belts and another selling childrens books.

This isn't a yard sale people.

Still - would have loved to be there. Even with the sausage.

eyebone

LOL. Nope, no sausage for me; that stuff stinks. Were you there the year they had the bikini-clad girls promoting .............. What the heck were they promoting? Cannot remember, but suffice to say their booth was hopping for the duration of the show.

I picked up a few decent cards and will post some scans shortly.

Asked for Bob (aka psaonlyhockey) at Jason & Gerry's booth, but he wasn't there. Maybe he did not make it to Toronto after all.

Eyebone

robstar

Hey.

I went to the show early on Sunday morning. I actually arrived about 10 minutes before the scheduled opening of 10 am and was surprised to find a lineup outside. It was about 100 or so middle aged men, and maybe 2 or 3 younger kids who tagged along with DAD. I went hoping to find the remaining 4 commons I need to finish my 1962 Parkhurst set. I could not find 1 example of either in PSA 8 or 9.

I fortunately met Garret ( KNUCKLES ) and was very impressed with his display. He had some incredible items. He is also a real down to earth guy who is remarkably rather humble in regards to his presence in the hobby of late.

There was one dealer there that had some nice GAI wax. A highlight was the 70/71 OPC pack GAI 8, I think he was asking $1200. He also had a 1962 Topps cello with Ratelle on top, If memory serves I believe it was $2200. I almost purchased a 1973 OPC 1st series in GAI 7.5 but backed out as there was a small gum tear in the top. He also had other early 70's Topps and OPC GAI wax.

I believe I saw a 79/80 OPC box for 12K at Jason Martins booth. He had a decent supply of wax for sale.

I left by noon as I went on to the real highlight of my day which was taking my 8 year old daughter to the Toronto Raptors and Seattle Supersonics game at the ACC. We we're 4 rows from the floor behind the net. It was the 1st time we have gone to a game together. She really got a kick out of distracting the Seattle players during their free-throws.


Oh yeah, if anyone can help the 4 commons I need are #3 Baun, #6 Stewart, #8 Brewer and #19 Bassen.
Preferrably PSA 8's, wiil consider 9's for the right price.


Have a great day..

Rob...

RedHeart54

What was the supply like for early to mid 1950s Parkhurst, especially PSA 8 quality?

eyebone

I have started paying more attention to high quality vinatge since I began on this board, so I can say that there was not alot to be had. As Robstar stated, he could not find the commons he needed, and I spoke with a friend of mine who could not find the one common he needed from '60-61 Parkhurst (if anybody has a PSA 8 Jim Morrison #61 PLMK). Lots of lower grade raw cards though, many of which could be picked up for a good price on Sunday.

I can certainly second Robstar's assessment of our friend Knuckles; he is a very personable, polite and decent man--the type one would like to have as a neighbour I would say.

Eyebone

aro13

Len had a great selection of raw cards. Anybody who had the time and patience could have got some great cards at his booth and had them graded for nice profits. Gerry had a good selection as well, of both raw and graded. DMD Classics were there and I was very impressed with their selection. They were also very friendly.
There was quite a big selection of raw cards although it is the usual.
Pre-War in VG and lower is plentiful.
1950's in ex-exmt is very plentiful
1960's in exmt-nrmt is very plentiful
1970's in nrmt-nrmtmt is very plentiful

You have to look pretty carefully if you want to find cards that are PSA near mint quality or better from the 50's at the show.

eyebone

Respectfully aro, I must disagree about Len; I thought his prices were typically high. He was asking full book for EX-MT.

Eyebone

aro13

eyebone - I have had great success buying raw from Len and sending them to PSA. When I started my 63-64 set in PSA 8, I bought ten cards from Len for high beckett. All were graded at least NMMT by him. I got two 9's, six 8's and two 7's. One of the nines alone was worth the price of the whole lot. Also, you will see other dealers buying raw from Len and than submitting them to PSA. No doubt there are plenty of EXMT cards at his table with NRMT prices but if somebody is trying to fill a set from 1910 until 1976 I cannot imagine there is anybody with a better selection.

eyebone

Well given this information I stand corrected aro. Len has lots of very nice cards to be sure, and I guess he prices everything at or near high book. The two cards I looked at were mid-grade, but obviously there are higher grade cards to be had as well.

Eyebone

Onlypsahockey

What's up guys.

Eyebone thanks for asking for me but you are right I didn't make the trip. Travel arrangements were changed three times during the week then the cast of characters making the trip changed too. I needed to take 3 days off to make the trip and a hole in the roof that I had been dreading to fix all added up to my no show at THE show.

Sorry I missed you guys. Hopefully things will fall in place for the spring show.

Bob

P.S. I fixed the roof Saturday and only fell once! LOL

Knuckles

Thanks for the kind words guys. It was good meeting the handful of you at the expo. Putting a face to the names was pretty cool and I really appreciated all the kind words in regards to the cards I've created. You're all a great bunch and consider myself fortunate to have met you all face to face. If I didn't sell a single card or take even a single order it would have been worth the trip anyway.

The president of the card manufacturer In the Game ('ITG') President Dr. Brian Price stopped by to introduce himself. He compliment my work, took a few business cards of mine and told me he would be in touch with me regarding making cards for them in the future. I don't have my hopes up but who knows.

I didn't have much time to look around but did go by Lens table. The stuff that caught my eye that I would have liked to have picked up was over priced in my opinion.. The C55's.. his Sawchuk RC.. I believe he had $1,100 on the Sawchuk and there's no doubt in my mind that it would only receive a 4 at best. *shrug*

I've never been to a large show like this before but I have to say I was disappointed in how it was run. What's up with the guy selling sausage? There was another booth with shoes.. and another with tools.. If I wanted to go to a flea market I would have gone to a flea market.

Highlights for me were:

- meeting CU members

- meeting beckett board members

- watching the reaction people had to my cards whom have read my Beckett feature.. (A large grin followed by pointing at me saying 'You're the guy!')

- Chatting with Don from vintagemask.com he's a great down to earth guy. I really admire his talent and appreciated the time he spent with me discussing his troubles with the NHL which I'll most likely be going through shortly.

- Brian Price..

- The MeiGray Group

- Sharing the booth with David/Michel of dmdclassics.com


Garret

Boopotts

<< <i>What was the supply like for early to mid 1950s Parkhurst, especially PSA 8 quality? >>



One guy had a ton of '55 Parkie commons in PSA 8 condition, but I passed as he wanted $7 a card for them. This for cards of guys that virtually nobody's heard of!

Seriously--- there is no supply of '50's hockey in nmt-mt condition.