GT Sports Marketing Show - San Jose Report... with photos & box breaks.
elsnorto
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Vito was looking for someone to get Y.A. Tittle added to his HOF RC Auto collection and I thought it was a good excuse for me to check out a show for the first time in many years.
It was a pretty major event if meeting players and getting their signatures is your passion. The GTSM show boasts 49 NFL HOFers that were to be in attendance over the weekend. The full list can be found on the GT Sports Marketing website by clicking on the Tickets On Sale For San Jose 2010 tab at the top.
There were about 50 tables set up and around a third offered nothing in the way of cards, hawking autographed items or items to get autographed at the show instead.
About another third had some cards, but pretty sparse in terms of selection with either raw, low grade vintage or modern stuff.
The other third had a pretty decent inventory of cards, but mostly raw and the majority being baseball... which I found a bit odd given the autograph line up was geared to vintage football fans. What little graded material that was there seemed pretty evenly split between PSA and GAI... none of the graders were at the show, although both PSA/DNA and JSA/DNA were.
Not sure what arrangement, if any, PSA/DNA had with GTSM, but the announcer was reminding attendees that they could get their autos authenticated at the PSA/DNA booth right next to where the HOFers were signing... JSA/DNA, by contrast, were on the other end of the show hall and got no mention.
I went with my want list in hand and looking to spend... but only managed to pick up a couple PSA 1960 Fleer commons for my set... for a grand total of $20USD.
Determined to not leave (almost) empty handed, I picked up a few new football boxes from the one dealer with a decent selection.
I did spend a lot of time talking with a San Francisco shop owner set up at the show who shared my passion for vintage football oddball items and will definitely check out his shop some other weekend. Anyone ever been to Amazing Adventures on Vicente?
Still, I was through the tables in about an hour and bummed out with another hour to wait until Tittle was scheduled to sign. I grabbed a soda and a seat at the tables around where they were doing the signings. This turned out to be the best part of the show for me as I started talking football and football cards with a couple of collectors while waiting.
All and all, not a bad way to spend Friday night... but it did make me miss the big card shows of years gone by. I think I need to get out to the National this year!
Some photos...
A couple shots of the hall and PSA/DNA booth:
Mission Accomplished:
Box breaks starting with 2009 Topps National Chicle (~$70USD) with stated hits of 2 autos and 1 relic. I got those and then some with two extra autos, albeit both are signed by the artist and not the athlete. The Eli Manning cabinet box topper is limited to x/50 and the Isaac Bruce to only x/10. I did pretty well on this box, I really wish some of the art was no so awful... I want to love this product just because it carries the Chicle name:
A couple boxes of 2008 Bowman (at $25USD per I bought the last two they had). Nothing major, but a cheap and fun rip... plus me likey the Felix Jones jersey card:
A box of 2008 Upper Deck SP Rookie Edition (~$40USD) that I was pretty happy to pull the Forte ink from. I wish I had bought a few more of these boxes in hindsight:
Lastly a box of 2009 Topps Mayo (~$70USD), the worst box of the night as I am decidedly not a fan:
Thanks for looking.
Snorto~
It was a pretty major event if meeting players and getting their signatures is your passion. The GTSM show boasts 49 NFL HOFers that were to be in attendance over the weekend. The full list can be found on the GT Sports Marketing website by clicking on the Tickets On Sale For San Jose 2010 tab at the top.
There were about 50 tables set up and around a third offered nothing in the way of cards, hawking autographed items or items to get autographed at the show instead.
About another third had some cards, but pretty sparse in terms of selection with either raw, low grade vintage or modern stuff.
The other third had a pretty decent inventory of cards, but mostly raw and the majority being baseball... which I found a bit odd given the autograph line up was geared to vintage football fans. What little graded material that was there seemed pretty evenly split between PSA and GAI... none of the graders were at the show, although both PSA/DNA and JSA/DNA were.
Not sure what arrangement, if any, PSA/DNA had with GTSM, but the announcer was reminding attendees that they could get their autos authenticated at the PSA/DNA booth right next to where the HOFers were signing... JSA/DNA, by contrast, were on the other end of the show hall and got no mention.
I went with my want list in hand and looking to spend... but only managed to pick up a couple PSA 1960 Fleer commons for my set... for a grand total of $20USD.
Determined to not leave (almost) empty handed, I picked up a few new football boxes from the one dealer with a decent selection.
I did spend a lot of time talking with a San Francisco shop owner set up at the show who shared my passion for vintage football oddball items and will definitely check out his shop some other weekend. Anyone ever been to Amazing Adventures on Vicente?
Still, I was through the tables in about an hour and bummed out with another hour to wait until Tittle was scheduled to sign. I grabbed a soda and a seat at the tables around where they were doing the signings. This turned out to be the best part of the show for me as I started talking football and football cards with a couple of collectors while waiting.
All and all, not a bad way to spend Friday night... but it did make me miss the big card shows of years gone by. I think I need to get out to the National this year!
Some photos...
A couple shots of the hall and PSA/DNA booth:
Mission Accomplished:
Box breaks starting with 2009 Topps National Chicle (~$70USD) with stated hits of 2 autos and 1 relic. I got those and then some with two extra autos, albeit both are signed by the artist and not the athlete. The Eli Manning cabinet box topper is limited to x/50 and the Isaac Bruce to only x/10. I did pretty well on this box, I really wish some of the art was no so awful... I want to love this product just because it carries the Chicle name:
A couple boxes of 2008 Bowman (at $25USD per I bought the last two they had). Nothing major, but a cheap and fun rip... plus me likey the Felix Jones jersey card:
A box of 2008 Upper Deck SP Rookie Edition (~$40USD) that I was pretty happy to pull the Forte ink from. I wish I had bought a few more of these boxes in hindsight:
Lastly a box of 2009 Topps Mayo (~$70USD), the worst box of the night as I am decidedly not a fan:
Thanks for looking.
Snorto~
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Comments
Not sure how I feel about those Artist Proof cards. Do you like artist autos? I can't decide.
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<< <i>Can't thank Scott enough for helping me out! Is it just me or is that space kind of weird for a show?
Not sure how I feel about those Artist Proof cards. Do you like artist autos? I can't decide. >>
The show was set up in a huge tent outside the convention center. Definitely an odd set-up for a show. I thought I was entering Cirque Du Soleil. LOL