My Day at the National
Aric
Posts: 757 ✭✭
What an exhausting day. I don’t know how guys do this for three or four days straight. Here’s a recap of my adventure.
I started off the day dropping off about two thousand cards at the checkoutmycards booth. Its my first time time dropping cards with them but I've bought and flipped quite a few things on their site over the past year. They were running a great special of $55 for a 550 count box full of cards AND $20 off for first time sellers. I met Tim, the owner of the site. Great guy. If you aren't familiar with their business model, they scan and store your cards for you, basically taking care of everything from start to finish. The cost is usually 20 cents per card to list. If you spend your profit on the site buying other cards, they don't take any additional cut. If you cash out, they take 20%. The site is perfect to get rid of numbered and insert cards that aren't worth listing on eBay.
The next thing I wanted to focus on was looking for a few singles to finish off my 1972 and 1974 Topps FB sets. I'm working on two of each set in EX condition and three of the four have been put together slowly through buying lots on eBay(one of the 72 partial sets is left over from my childhood collection). So basically I need mostly stars. I can find these easy enough on eBay but I thought it might be fun to pick them up at the show and I wanted to make sure my stars were in strong EX condition. I was ready and willing to pay %25-30 over eBay just to pick them up in person and was hoping to maybe strike a quantity deal. I found only one dealer with reasonable prices. He had some nice EX condition commons for 25 cents and minor stars mixed in for pretty reasonable pricing. I picked up these for $25.
The funny thing is, this same dealer had more 72's in his case. The Riggins you see in the picture had a price on the back of $4, very reasonable compared to online. He had two more in his case, lesser condition, with $8 on each. Those latter prices were pretty comparable to what most other dealers had on their vintage it seemed. Just way off a reasonable current price in my opinion, most averaging about double what I could buy them for on eBay. Most were selling commons for .50 or .65 each and asking low book for their EX stars. I guess I will just have to finish these sets by buying singles on eBay. Oh well.
The next thing on my to do list was to see if I could find out anything about the Unitas card I recently picked up. For those that missed it I started a thread about it here.
I showed it to a few booths without much help. I then met Scott at the JustCollect booth and he pointed me towards a guy named Andy, saying he was one of top vintage football guys in the room. I didn’t catch Andy’s last name but he was a real nice guy. He was very interested in the Unitas and offered to walk me over to a couple other guys who were the other top vintage football gurus to see if we could find out anything about it. I didn’t catch the first guys name but the second guy was A.J. Firestone, who apparently is generally accepted as THE football guy. Well A.J. had never seen the card either. The general consensus is that its a regional issue from 1959 or 1960. Andy made a very reasonable offer on the card in the triple digits but I decided in the end to consign the card with Huggins and Scott. They were very excited about the prospect of an uncatalogued Unitas card and they apparently have some die-hard Baltimore Colts buyers since they are from that area.
Since you have read this far, I would now like to reveal where this card came from. I found this card on eBay only a few weeks ago. I paid $10 plus $3 shipping. The card arrived in an envelope with no protection. Its now going to be featured in the September Huggins and Scott with a minimum bid of $150. I couldn’t be more excited.
I spent the next few hours digging through bargain boxes. I’m a Marvin Harrison supercollector and the only place I’m going to find cards I need is plunging elbows deep into the dollar bins. In my opinion, this is the best place to find bargains at a show like this. You just have to know what to look for, have tons of patience and a strong back and neck. Here’s my haul from the bargain boxes:
I found 12 Harrison’s I needed in addition to a 74 for my set. Also some 78 stars for a set I will be starting soon. The rest will probably eventually go to checkoutmycards.
I love looking through bargain boxes but I can only do it for so long before my neck begs for mercy. With time wearing down, it was time to set my focus on some unopened material. I wanted to pick up some stuff to rip and also some stuff for my new unopened collection. I’ve really come to enjoy the way unopened stuff looks when displayed. I feel like the packaging often captures the era better than the cards themselves. This is especially true for non-sports stuff. Check out this display at a booth today. One of the few times I actually pulled out my camera.
My first stop for unopened was of course our boys at BBCE. I met Reed(dmurphy3mvp), who I had exchanged a few emails with in the past. He was just as nice in person as online. Their booth was overwhelming but I kept coming back to the football grocery packs they had on display. I ended up picking up these:
1981 Topps Football Grocery Pack
1986 Topps Football Grocery Pack
These packs appeal to me for a few reasons. First off I think they display great, especially the 86. Mathematically they are a better deal than the single packs, but they do have twice as many gum cards( the gum is in the middle of each smaller wrapped pack, meaning two cards touch the gum in each). I also picked up (2) 82 and (2) 83 Topps FB packs from BBCE. I think these will all stay sealed ... for now.
I had hoped to find some cheaper oddball football packs today. Things like Fleer from the 70’s and 80’s or maybe some Panini stickers. No such luck. I did find these at a random booth.
1972 Sunoco stamp packs. I think these are all of the different variations. I picked up all four for $10.
I also picked up some modern stuff to rip. 2011 Topps, 2011 Score, and a 2008 Donruss classics boxes. All football. Here’s a pic of all the football unopened I picked up:
Finally, inspired by the non-sport display I showed earlier I decided I would finish off the day by grabbing some dirt-cheap junk non-sport. I got all of this for a $20.
The Disney are for my nieces, I swear.
All in all , it was a good day. Not a lot of great deals to be had but a lot of great eye candy for sure.
I started off the day dropping off about two thousand cards at the checkoutmycards booth. Its my first time time dropping cards with them but I've bought and flipped quite a few things on their site over the past year. They were running a great special of $55 for a 550 count box full of cards AND $20 off for first time sellers. I met Tim, the owner of the site. Great guy. If you aren't familiar with their business model, they scan and store your cards for you, basically taking care of everything from start to finish. The cost is usually 20 cents per card to list. If you spend your profit on the site buying other cards, they don't take any additional cut. If you cash out, they take 20%. The site is perfect to get rid of numbered and insert cards that aren't worth listing on eBay.
The next thing I wanted to focus on was looking for a few singles to finish off my 1972 and 1974 Topps FB sets. I'm working on two of each set in EX condition and three of the four have been put together slowly through buying lots on eBay(one of the 72 partial sets is left over from my childhood collection). So basically I need mostly stars. I can find these easy enough on eBay but I thought it might be fun to pick them up at the show and I wanted to make sure my stars were in strong EX condition. I was ready and willing to pay %25-30 over eBay just to pick them up in person and was hoping to maybe strike a quantity deal. I found only one dealer with reasonable prices. He had some nice EX condition commons for 25 cents and minor stars mixed in for pretty reasonable pricing. I picked up these for $25.
The funny thing is, this same dealer had more 72's in his case. The Riggins you see in the picture had a price on the back of $4, very reasonable compared to online. He had two more in his case, lesser condition, with $8 on each. Those latter prices were pretty comparable to what most other dealers had on their vintage it seemed. Just way off a reasonable current price in my opinion, most averaging about double what I could buy them for on eBay. Most were selling commons for .50 or .65 each and asking low book for their EX stars. I guess I will just have to finish these sets by buying singles on eBay. Oh well.
The next thing on my to do list was to see if I could find out anything about the Unitas card I recently picked up. For those that missed it I started a thread about it here.
I showed it to a few booths without much help. I then met Scott at the JustCollect booth and he pointed me towards a guy named Andy, saying he was one of top vintage football guys in the room. I didn’t catch Andy’s last name but he was a real nice guy. He was very interested in the Unitas and offered to walk me over to a couple other guys who were the other top vintage football gurus to see if we could find out anything about it. I didn’t catch the first guys name but the second guy was A.J. Firestone, who apparently is generally accepted as THE football guy. Well A.J. had never seen the card either. The general consensus is that its a regional issue from 1959 or 1960. Andy made a very reasonable offer on the card in the triple digits but I decided in the end to consign the card with Huggins and Scott. They were very excited about the prospect of an uncatalogued Unitas card and they apparently have some die-hard Baltimore Colts buyers since they are from that area.
Since you have read this far, I would now like to reveal where this card came from. I found this card on eBay only a few weeks ago. I paid $10 plus $3 shipping. The card arrived in an envelope with no protection. Its now going to be featured in the September Huggins and Scott with a minimum bid of $150. I couldn’t be more excited.
I spent the next few hours digging through bargain boxes. I’m a Marvin Harrison supercollector and the only place I’m going to find cards I need is plunging elbows deep into the dollar bins. In my opinion, this is the best place to find bargains at a show like this. You just have to know what to look for, have tons of patience and a strong back and neck. Here’s my haul from the bargain boxes:
I found 12 Harrison’s I needed in addition to a 74 for my set. Also some 78 stars for a set I will be starting soon. The rest will probably eventually go to checkoutmycards.
I love looking through bargain boxes but I can only do it for so long before my neck begs for mercy. With time wearing down, it was time to set my focus on some unopened material. I wanted to pick up some stuff to rip and also some stuff for my new unopened collection. I’ve really come to enjoy the way unopened stuff looks when displayed. I feel like the packaging often captures the era better than the cards themselves. This is especially true for non-sports stuff. Check out this display at a booth today. One of the few times I actually pulled out my camera.
My first stop for unopened was of course our boys at BBCE. I met Reed(dmurphy3mvp), who I had exchanged a few emails with in the past. He was just as nice in person as online. Their booth was overwhelming but I kept coming back to the football grocery packs they had on display. I ended up picking up these:
1981 Topps Football Grocery Pack
1986 Topps Football Grocery Pack
These packs appeal to me for a few reasons. First off I think they display great, especially the 86. Mathematically they are a better deal than the single packs, but they do have twice as many gum cards( the gum is in the middle of each smaller wrapped pack, meaning two cards touch the gum in each). I also picked up (2) 82 and (2) 83 Topps FB packs from BBCE. I think these will all stay sealed ... for now.
I had hoped to find some cheaper oddball football packs today. Things like Fleer from the 70’s and 80’s or maybe some Panini stickers. No such luck. I did find these at a random booth.
1972 Sunoco stamp packs. I think these are all of the different variations. I picked up all four for $10.
I also picked up some modern stuff to rip. 2011 Topps, 2011 Score, and a 2008 Donruss classics boxes. All football. Here’s a pic of all the football unopened I picked up:
Finally, inspired by the non-sport display I showed earlier I decided I would finish off the day by grabbing some dirt-cheap junk non-sport. I got all of this for a $20.
The Disney are for my nieces, I swear.
All in all , it was a good day. Not a lot of great deals to be had but a lot of great eye candy for sure.
0
Comments
Good luck on the rips, might be interested in any rare Tony Gonzalez or Steve Youngs from the 08 Donruss Classics.
Clear Skies,
Mark
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Always buying Bobby Cox inserts. PM me.
<< <i>Is that Belinda Carlisle on top of that box? How have I not discovered this material yet? >>
<< <i>
I showed it to a few booths without much help. I then met Scott at the JustCollect booth and he pointed me towards a guy named Andy, saying he was one of top vintage football guys in the room. I didn’t catch Andy’s last name but he was a real nice guy. He was very interested in the Unitas and offered to walk me over to a couple other guys who were the other top vintage football gurus to see if we could find out anything about it. I didn’t catch the first guys name but the second guy was A.J. Firestone, who apparently is generally accepted as THE football guy. . >>
The Andy is Andy Becker, he is the B of MSB sports, the other being John Spano (on right in picture in the Steelers jersey). Great guys, some of the nicest and most knowlegeable guys in the hobby.
They were sharing a table with the incomprable Bob Swick (middle behind the display), owner of Gridiron Greats magazine. Bob forgets more about football than Ill ever know, great guy. This table was like Mecca for anyone collecting football, or if you just plain wanted to have a laugh.
http://www.gridirongreats.net
AJ Firestone has great football items for sale, and his daugther manning the booth with him was pretty hot too.....
<< <i>Looks more like Janet Jackson and George Michael.
<< <i>Is that Belinda Carlisle on top of that box? How have I not discovered this material yet? >>
>>
I believe it's Paula Abdul and G. Michael (singer, not Sports Machine host