A report on the National.
RonBurgundy
Posts: 5,491 ✭✭✭
Just got back from the National and the Pro Football HOF festivities. Here's a report based on what I saw and heard from being there Weds.-Friday:
1) Piece of advice #1: If you're going there to sell, take a reasonable amount of stuff. I took a ton of stuff to sell, and had enough discipline not to buy anything until the stuff was sold. Problem was, the 2 dealers I was working with were so overwhelmed that the deals that started on Wednesday night were not completed until Friday morning. That left me with all of 2 hours to look around for stuff to buy.
2) Buying was fairly strong for even mid grade vintage, at least with the guys I was dealing with. I heard the same from others as well. I think I could've have gotten another $500-$1000 for the stuff I had if I had shopped it around.
3) SGC was absolutely murdering cards with their onsite grading. Heard this multiple times from dealers, and decided to submit one card to them to see for myself. True enough, it came back 2 grades lower than expected. I showed the card to Scott Bradshaw and he laughed and said I should have asked for a refund.
4) I heard PSA was being hard on cards too, but I never submitted anything so I can't say. If the lines at their booth was any indication, you can forget about getting your June specials back anytime soon.
5) I saw some comments over the weekend about the lack of raw, high end vintage. Not true. It was there and priced accordingly. I always find these comments interesting, as if there was a plethora of NM-MT vintage sitting in dealer boxes 10-15 years ago. Interestingly, I continue to hear comments about collectors moving away from completely graded sets, and one dealer theorized this trend as one of the reasons for the 60's market being so soft.
6) Lots of pretty cool autographed stuff there as well as other memorabilia items; just wish I'd had more time to look around more at it.
7) Piece of advice #2: If you go to the National, clear your schedule so that's all you have going on........in other words, don't schedule a bunch of family commitments that prevent you from going back on the weekend if you need to. I could not go on Saturday or Sunday, and I was not happy.......I basically went for 3 days and had 2 hours to look around with cash in hand to spend. Luckily, I found a small local show on Sunday at a mall and walked out of there with 65 NM-MT 1969 Topps, including a B. Robby, Fingers rookie, and others for $150. Some guy who dealt in modern stuff had 'em and said he'd just gotten them in trade with a guy who had opened the packs in '69.
Stay classy,
Ron
1) Piece of advice #1: If you're going there to sell, take a reasonable amount of stuff. I took a ton of stuff to sell, and had enough discipline not to buy anything until the stuff was sold. Problem was, the 2 dealers I was working with were so overwhelmed that the deals that started on Wednesday night were not completed until Friday morning. That left me with all of 2 hours to look around for stuff to buy.
2) Buying was fairly strong for even mid grade vintage, at least with the guys I was dealing with. I heard the same from others as well. I think I could've have gotten another $500-$1000 for the stuff I had if I had shopped it around.
3) SGC was absolutely murdering cards with their onsite grading. Heard this multiple times from dealers, and decided to submit one card to them to see for myself. True enough, it came back 2 grades lower than expected. I showed the card to Scott Bradshaw and he laughed and said I should have asked for a refund.
4) I heard PSA was being hard on cards too, but I never submitted anything so I can't say. If the lines at their booth was any indication, you can forget about getting your June specials back anytime soon.
5) I saw some comments over the weekend about the lack of raw, high end vintage. Not true. It was there and priced accordingly. I always find these comments interesting, as if there was a plethora of NM-MT vintage sitting in dealer boxes 10-15 years ago. Interestingly, I continue to hear comments about collectors moving away from completely graded sets, and one dealer theorized this trend as one of the reasons for the 60's market being so soft.
6) Lots of pretty cool autographed stuff there as well as other memorabilia items; just wish I'd had more time to look around more at it.
7) Piece of advice #2: If you go to the National, clear your schedule so that's all you have going on........in other words, don't schedule a bunch of family commitments that prevent you from going back on the weekend if you need to. I could not go on Saturday or Sunday, and I was not happy.......I basically went for 3 days and had 2 hours to look around with cash in hand to spend. Luckily, I found a small local show on Sunday at a mall and walked out of there with 65 NM-MT 1969 Topps, including a B. Robby, Fingers rookie, and others for $150. Some guy who dealt in modern stuff had 'em and said he'd just gotten them in trade with a guy who had opened the packs in '69.
Stay classy,
Ron
Ron Burgundy
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
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Comments
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
I think it was the most neogotiable price National I ever went to. Cash was king here and if you had it, the deals were great. I think that the attitude of the dealers as a whole was great too. Maybe we did not need that swarm of dealers who did not attend because of table issues...I think that most of us are informed collectors, investors or accumulators and front table location does not mean much. I always start at the back at most shows anyway. I am going to spend where I am treated well and Feel I received a reasonable deal. I picked up many deals of vintage....take the time to look.....Spazzy