<< <i>BTW Mike, I know you got me a Rose Auto, right? Mark >>
Well it's good news and bad news. Good News: Yes, he did get you the Rose autograph. Bad News: Rose signed his steak. And at $100.00 for the steak he was not going to save it and give it to you. He wound up eating the steak AND the autograph.
STAY HEALTHY!
Doug
Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
<< <i>BTW Mike, I know you got me a Rose Auto, right? Mark >>
Well it's good news and bad news. Good News: Yes, he did get you the Rose autograph. Bad News: Rose signed his steak. And at $100.00 for the steak he was not going to save it and give it to you. He wound up eating the steak AND the autograph. >>
LOL!!!! Knowing Peter Edward Rose, I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't.
When my son was 14 he was able to get in the Super Show in Atlanta. He passed Reggie Jackson in the hallway and asked for his autograph. Reggie replied that "he wasn't on the clock". He had a chance to make a real fan and BLEW it!
When my son was 14 he was able to get in the Super Show in Atlanta. He passed Reggie Jackson in the hallway and asked for his autograph. Reggie replied that "he wasn't on the clock". He had a chance to make a real fan and BLEW it!
Guys got my vote for becoming the next Willie Mays. Douchebag
lol @ Reggie bashing. i saw him do that to a young Dodger fan at the '78 Series.....kid handed him a ball and a pen and then a coach called his name and told him to go shag flies, so he handed back the ball unsigned.
poor kid was devastated. i was standing right behind him and thought i had a chance. so, what a jerk-off huh? i bet the dozens of people he did sign for thought so, too.
Mike and Dave, I purchased 2 75 Topps packs from you on Friday. As promised I ripped them and found a nice Carlton that might grade a 9. Other than that not much but it was fun. It was nice to meet you guys.
Love the Ric Flairs...nice to see that his rookie is getting signed as well....surprisingly, I had seen a ton more autos of other guys in the set of the living guys.
BUYING Frank Gotch T229 Kopec Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
Great meeting you and thank you for stopping by. As I told you, I met Mr. Clemente when I was about 8 or 9 years old. As an avid Mets fan (in those days) I had no love for Pirates, but I must say how I was totally won over by this man who went out of his way to relate to me and teach me the important lesson that it is what is inside the package that matters, not the wrapping!
I cried for several days when I heard about his plane crash.
He was truly a star as a human being (as well as being one as a ball player).
Finally got back to Ohio around 3AM. First time I ever set up at a show before. Had a great time meeting people, making new friends, getting a few good deals, giving a few good deals, hanging out with a friend of more than 30 years who I haven't had the chance to do this with in years due to our jobs and family responsibilities, etc. And best of all, re-discovering what an awesome friend and partner I have in Mike Kelley.
We were far from the biggest fish in this pond, but were were amongst the busiest. It seemed like there were practically always people around our table either looking at stuff, talking, sharing stories, etc. In fact, I may have been able to get away from the table for a grand total of 30 minutes during the whole show (and then I got called back to dig out a box of low grade 1971s for a guy trying to finish off a 2nd set...great story follows below).
The day got off to a great start when Jeremy and his dad (Greg) came by and introduced themselves. We had a great time meeting them, sharing our interests, looking at a few things, pointing them in the direction of people we knew/had met who might have things they would be interested in, etc. I was really impressed by the idea that this father and son were at the show together and doing what they clearly have loved doiong together for the better part of three decades since Jeremy was a young boy. How cool is that? Make you reflect on what really matters. When they left I took a quick timeout to call my dad in NYC, just to say hi.
Then Shawn dropped by and said hello. Great guy with great ideas. He is working on a slabbed 1960 set in 5/6/7 range, and I had a stack of maybe 20 1960 6s that I had pulled from my set when I upgraded a while ago. But instead of pulling out a list like everyone else always does, Shawn sat down and pulled out his smart phone. He connected to Photo Bucket where I discovered that he had all of his cards SCANNED AND IN ORDER so that he could see them and compare things he wanted to upgrade, what he needed, etc. What I great idea! I will definitely be doing this if I can ever find the time. A 64GB i-Phone can probably hold 30,000 card images in high-res so Photo Bucket might not even be needed.
Soon after Shawn keft a older man came by asking about slabbed 1957 Topps BB in high grade (I had a small stack in the case that he wanted to see). In talking with him, we discovered that we are both working on this set in PSA 8 or better, and that we are both very close to done. He mentioned that he was having difficulty with the middle series cards, so I mentioned my friend Paul in Florida who helped me fill in my mid-series holes about 15 months ago. Paul and I had a great lunch in Dayton last fall. He was in visiting his daughter who had just had Paul's first grandchild, so I drove over and we went to lunch in a unique tapas restaurant that is one of the finest places of its kind in the world (El Meson, West Carrollton, OH). It was a great time, and knowing that Paul is loaded with a seemingly endless supply of 1957 PSA 8s and 9s I am sure that this guys from the show is certain to catch up to me and pass me quickly if he calls Paul.
Then one of the more enjoyable conversations of the day happened. A guy came over and saw some of the older racks in our display. He asked if we had every seen Christmas racks and if we knew anything about them. We spent the next 15 minutes together. I gave him the background info I had on Mark Murphy finding these things, pushing them and the subsequent dsicovery of what they really were. He then mentioned that he had a friend who was was offering him a 1952 rack with Mays showing and he didn't know how to value it. I think we finally agreed that it should be priced conservatively to protect the buyer against low grade cards or possible manipulation.
Then I discovered how there are some dealers who spend the entire show going from table to table trying to buy up nice cards at a slight discount so that they can walk to another table and immediately sell them to another dealer and made a quick $50! Given some of the cards we had available I was in no rush to just give them away to one of these guys. However, in our case Steve has brought about 10 Payton RCs all raw but in NM shape (a few might have been EM, but most were solid NMs). So this dealer comes over and sees that there are 3 of the Payton cards in the case and tells us he's got a quick sale possibility and he'd like to make $50 out of the deal. We haggled for just a few minutes, and then we let him know that we actually had 10 total cards with us (we actually had 12, but 2 were 8/9 range raw cards which we pulled to submit). Anyway we worked out a deal whereby he made his $50 and Steve got around $100/card. Very nice deal with almost no work at all.
The story of the day goes to my new friend Dan. Dan is probably in his late 50s and he's a public school teacher in the Chicago area. He was the guy looking to fill out the low grade 1971 set. Dan appreciated that I had come back to dig out the 1971 box. We were able to get his set finished off and somehow things just clicked. We talked for a bit, exchanged phone numbers and emails. Then he said he needed to go for a little bit, but he would be back. Sure enough, he came back about 45 minutes later and hands me a 1952 Look N See Babe Ruth in PSA 7. He asked me if I could use VCP to let him know what it was worth? As I was fumbling around on my i-Phone to check I asked him where he got it. He told me had traded the 1971 low-end set for it! And he was just bubbling about it. He had turned something that held very little value to him into something that he really cherished. And it needed to be a full set, so what he got from us was the final pieces of the puzzle that got him to where he wanted to be. I gave him a high-5 and congratulated him on the great deal he had pulled off. And I realized that it really was a great deal because of how important it was to Dan. Regardless of whether the 1971 set was worth less than the Ruth or significantly more, Dan got what he really wanted with minimal out of pocket costs. Well done Dan!
There were quite a few smaller sales on Sunday. The biggest move for me was a 268-card partial slabbed 1970 Topps set including quite a few stars. It was around 200 8s and the rest mostly 7s with less than 10 higher/lower. I met a dealer from WV who is working on the 1970 set in 7 or better. It was serendipitous. I am the 70ToppsFanatic because of this set. And here was a guy who gave me a fair price to take all my doubles and lesser cards since my upgrades. Between this and the 1963 group I sold friday I probably left the show with 500 less slabbed cards than when I started the show!
Toward the end of the day, there were a few more smaller sales. Then we packed up, loaded up (took about 90 minutes in total) and we were then driving off to get back to Ohio.
I will definitely do more shows after this experience. Mike and I are starting to discuss plans for National in 2013. Also, our Virtual Collection idea received a lot of positive feedback from the people we spoke about it with, so we're starting to move forward on it. We'll update the board as things progress.
I guess the most important thing to say is thank you to all of you who wished us well, all who stopped by, all who suggested that we post pix and updates, etc. It was great for us to have your support, and we appreciate your allowing us to post about what we were doing here in this forum. We're lookng forward to meeting more of you (and seeing those of you who we already know) at future shows.
<< <i>Mike is one of the nicest guys ive met in this hobby and im glad to call him a friend of mine. >>
I thought you were talking about me.
I second Eric's comment on the great writeup Dave and I'm glad you guys had a good time. Either way, we'll all be at the National again this year and have a blast.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting: Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
I had a great time at Dave and Mike's table. They had a nice spot just down the walkway from PSA on a corner. Looks like Dave worked 1 side, while Mike worked the other side. They had a nice little sitdown area where I sat and opened my two 1980 topps baseball wax packs I had just bought at a table around the corner and down a few. Here is the Ricky Henderson rookie card that I pulled. Mike and I looked at the wrapper and might suspect that the 2 packs may not have been genuine. The gum didn't go together in 1 pack (There were about 6 pieces to it), and the other pack the gum left no traces on the wrapper or on the gum card, but such is life, I thought they looked decent when I bought them. Anyway I am guessing that the Henderson will grade maybe a 4OC at best. Opinions??? I will get the card no matter what it looks like. Its my first one.
Here are pictures of the (2) 1980 topps baseball cello packs that Mike sold to me. He gave me a very generous price for the pair. They are from BBCE and 1 of the past group rips.
Thanks again for a nice time. Wish I had bought more at your table.
Sorry for not getting in updates, as I was working also with an artist named Bill Lopa, as I will be brokering his Artwork in the Southeast, so I was quite busy.
WOW what a trip!
I drove from South Carolina 900 miles, and did it in 13 hours. Once I reached the city of Chicago it took me an hour and a half to go 10 miles to my hotel,lol. I had gotten there around 6pm, nice rush hour in the city.
I hadn't sold since I was a kid with my dad and brother at flea markets, so didn't know what to expect. I won't bore you with what Dave already covered, but want to add a few things I noticed and was surprised about.
First it was busy, not just at our booth, but the show overall. Sunday was probably the slowest day. The dealers were buying up stuff like crazy on Friday, and the crowd on Friday night was insanely busy. It was great to see so many kids there with their dads or moms. I read the threads here about this industry drying up, but I'll tell you what there was a lot of kids and teenagers there at the show.
I had a dad and son maybe 10 years old buy a 2012 Topps Prime Football set with a Robert Griffin Auto BGS 9. I gave them a great deal at only $150. The parents are getting into modern cards more and more I think. Vintage is a great investment long term of course, but modern is all about following current players, and chasing the stars and rookies of today. You would be amazed at how many 40 plus year olds where buying modern boxes and cases to break open. So in my opinion cards are alive and well and kids are in the industry, and maybe moving in more of a positive direction than we think.
Yes there where some big names at the show like Shaquille Oneal and his first signing at a show ever, Strasburg, etc.... So that brings some younger folks to the show. I would say the crowd was almost as busy as the National. I don't think there was as must cash flow as the National but the showing IMO was outstanding. Yes we had Vintage that noboby had out of the 150 plus dealers there. It created a buzz like Dave had mentioned. People where coming over from others telling them about what we had. I just don't think people came prepared to buy 1972 Wax series 5/6 boxes, or 75 Rack boxes, etc.
Working with Dave is amazing. We have come from different paths in life, but somehow have built an amazing relationship around sportscards and the industry. Our plan is to continue to work together, have fun, and make a little money. It was Awesome meeting all the members that came to the show, and selling some items to them at great prices.
I will say you have to give deals there or else your going to leave empty handed. Dave and I did very, very well with sales. You have to sell. You can't just stick to VCP or book prices, as everyone wants a little love. So you have to price things accordingly. I stickered all my cards 10% up from VCP or Ebay prices, so I could give 10-20% off of my sticker and the customers still received a great deal, and I didn't give the farm away.
The other thing I noticed was about half the dealers just sat on their duffs the whole time and of course did minimal business. Where we tired at the end of the day, sure, but we stood and smiled and talked and chatted it up with anyone that came to our booth. One of the big reasons I believe we did so well. We where complimented from several dealers on not only what we had to sell, but how much buzz and business we did. Especially it being our first show.
Dave and I have talked and probably will do the show in the spring as it was just plain fun. It's a lot of work setting up, and closing down each day, but well worth it.
Thanks for all the comments and support from everyone that came to the show, and those who posted here. This industry is amazing, and we all love it for different reasons, and that's what makes it so great.
I sold a lot of modern graded cards like Luck, Griffin, Richardson, Lopes, etc from Football, the only modern I had. Modern is alive and well, and most of the sales where to adults. This board may not have as many modern buyers, but they are out there for sure. I will always enjoy busting modern and grading them out to make a profit.
Dave covered a lot of what we experienced, and I look forward to sharing our experience in the future. Now I need to get on to busting my 4 cases of 2012 Football Topps Chrome!!!
Have a great day everyone and thanks again for following along!
Great Report and pictures. Looks like you guys had a great time. One question though for Dave... Whens the next 75 mini rip???? Been waiting since the last one!!!
Then Shawn dropped by and said hello. Great guy with great ideas. He is working on a slabbed 1960 set in 5/6/7 range, and I had a stack of maybe 20 1960 6s that I had pulled from my set when I upgraded a while ago. But instead of pulling out a list like everyone else always does, Shawn sat down and pulled out his smart phone. He connected to Photo Bucket where I discovered that he had all of his cards SCANNED AND IN ORDER so that he could see them and compare things he wanted to upgrade, what he needed, etc. What I great idea! I will definitely be doing this if I can ever find the time. A 64GB i-Phone can probably hold 30,000 card images in high-res so Photo Bucket might not even be needed.
>>
You are correct about not needing photobucket. I just bought the Galaxy S III on Saturday and did not have enough time to get all the pics on the phone for Sunday's show. To me it is much better than a list. I can actually see the card I have and judge whether I should upgrade.
Thanks for the time and the great prices on the cards I picked up. It was nice meeting you and Mike.
See you at the National.
Shawn
After those four National League games, Gorman Thomas was never the same, and neither were the Brewers, and come to think of it neither was I.
I just got back the Ric Flair cards tonight from John and I am thrilled with them. He was excellent to work with and super professional and I would have no hesitation on collaborating on any project with him.
Thanks again and I can't wait to see these in a PSA holder!!
I thought I'd bump this thread from a few years ago. I was thinking back to the only time that I met Mike and that was at the sun times show and he was there with Dave (70ToppsFanatic). He gave me a great deal on something just because I was a CU member.
Comments
BTW Mike, I know you got me a Rose Auto, right?
Mark
T206 Set - 300/524
<< <i>BTW Mike, I know you got me a Rose Auto, right?
Well it's good news and bad news.
Good News: Yes, he did get you the Rose autograph.
Bad News: Rose signed his steak. And at $100.00 for the steak he was not going to save it and give it to you. He wound up eating the steak AND the autograph.
Doug
Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
<< <i>
<< <i>BTW Mike, I know you got me a Rose Auto, right?
Well it's good news and bad news.
Good News: Yes, he did get you the Rose autograph.
Bad News: Rose signed his steak. And at $100.00 for the steak he was not going to save it and give it to you. He wound up eating the steak AND the autograph. >>
LOL!!!! Knowing Peter Edward Rose, I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't.
Mark
T206 Set - 300/524
Guys got my vote for becoming the next Willie Mays. Douchebag
poor kid was devastated. i was standing right behind him and thought i had a chance. so, what a jerk-off huh? i bet the dozens of people he did sign for thought so, too.
oh yeah, cool pix guys.
no way you're not setting up at the natty
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
Thanks,
Scott
1975 Topps Registry Set "Scott's 75 Topps Set"
It was nice meeting you Saturday. Your display of vintage cards and wax boxes really stood out.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
Great meeting you and thank you for stopping by. As I told you, I met Mr. Clemente when I was about 8 or 9 years old.
As an avid Mets fan (in those days) I had no love for Pirates, but I must say how I was totally won over by this man who
went out of his way to relate to me and teach me the important lesson that it is what is inside the package that matters,
not the wrapping!
I cried for several days when I heard about his plane crash.
He was truly a star as a human being (as well as being one as a ball player).
Dave
Finally got back to Ohio around 3AM. First time I ever set up at a show before. Had a great time meeting people, making new friends, getting a few good deals, giving
a few good deals, hanging out with a friend of more than 30 years who I haven't had the chance to do this with in years due to our jobs and family responsibilities, etc.
And best of all, re-discovering what an awesome friend and partner I have in Mike Kelley.
We were far from the biggest fish in this pond, but were were amongst the busiest. It seemed like there were practically always people around our table either looking
at stuff, talking, sharing stories, etc. In fact, I may have been able to get away from the table for a grand total of 30 minutes during the whole show (and then I got
called back to dig out a box of low grade 1971s for a guy trying to finish off a 2nd set...great story follows below).
The day got off to a great start when Jeremy and his dad (Greg) came by and introduced themselves. We had a great time meeting them, sharing our interests, looking at
a few things, pointing them in the direction of people we knew/had met who might have things they would be interested in, etc. I was really impressed by the idea that
this father and son were at the show together and doing what they clearly have loved doiong together for the better part of three decades since Jeremy was a young
boy. How cool is that? Make you reflect on what really matters. When they left I took a quick timeout to call my dad in NYC, just to say hi.
Then Shawn dropped by and said hello. Great guy with great ideas. He is working on a slabbed 1960 set in 5/6/7 range, and I had a stack of maybe 20 1960 6s that I
had pulled from my set when I upgraded a while ago. But instead of pulling out a list like everyone else always does, Shawn sat down and pulled out his smart phone.
He connected to Photo Bucket where I discovered that he had all of his cards SCANNED AND IN ORDER so that he could see them and compare things he wanted to upgrade,
what he needed, etc. What I great idea! I will definitely be doing this if I can ever find the time. A 64GB i-Phone can probably hold 30,000 card images in high-res so Photo
Bucket might not even be needed.
Soon after Shawn keft a older man came by asking about slabbed 1957 Topps BB in high grade (I had a small stack in the case that he wanted to see). In talking with him, we discovered
that we are both working on this set in PSA 8 or better, and that we are both very close to done. He mentioned that he was having difficulty with the middle series cards, so I mentioned
my friend Paul in Florida who helped me fill in my mid-series holes about 15 months ago. Paul and I had a great lunch in Dayton last fall. He was in visiting his daughter who had just
had Paul's first grandchild, so I drove over and we went to lunch in a unique tapas restaurant that is one of the finest places of its kind in the world (El Meson, West Carrollton, OH).
It was a great time, and knowing that Paul is loaded with a seemingly endless supply of 1957 PSA 8s and 9s I am sure that this guys from the show is certain to catch up to me and pass
me quickly if he calls Paul.
Then one of the more enjoyable conversations of the day happened. A guy came over and saw some of the older racks in our display. He asked if we had every seen Christmas racks and if
we knew anything about them. We spent the next 15 minutes together. I gave him the background info I had on Mark Murphy finding these things, pushing them and the subsequent dsicovery
of what they really were. He then mentioned that he had a friend who was was offering him a 1952 rack with Mays showing and he didn't know how to value it. I think we finally agreed that
it should be priced conservatively to protect the buyer against low grade cards or possible manipulation.
Then I discovered how there are some dealers who spend the entire show going from table to table trying to buy up nice cards at a slight discount so that they can walk to another table and
immediately sell them to another dealer and made a quick $50! Given some of the cards we had available I was in no rush to just give them away to one of these guys. However, in our case
Steve has brought about 10 Payton RCs all raw but in NM shape (a few might have been EM, but most were solid NMs). So this dealer comes over and sees that there are 3 of the Payton cards
in the case and tells us he's got a quick sale possibility and he'd like to make $50 out of the deal. We haggled for just a few minutes, and then we let him know that we actually had 10 total cards
with us (we actually had 12, but 2 were 8/9 range raw cards which we pulled to submit). Anyway we worked out a deal whereby he made his $50 and Steve got around $100/card. Very nice
deal with almost no work at all.
The story of the day goes to my new friend Dan. Dan is probably in his late 50s and he's a public school teacher in the Chicago area. He was the guy looking to fill out the low grade 1971 set.
Dan appreciated that I had come back to dig out the 1971 box. We were able to get his set finished off and somehow things just clicked. We talked for a bit, exchanged phone numbers and emails. Then he said he needed to go for a little bit, but he would be back. Sure enough, he came back about 45 minutes later and hands me a 1952 Look N See Babe Ruth in PSA 7. He asked me if I could use VCP to
let him know what it was worth? As I was fumbling around on my i-Phone to check I asked him where he got it. He told me had traded the 1971 low-end set for it! And he was just bubbling about it. He had turned something that held very little value to him into something that he really cherished. And it needed to be a full set, so what he got from us was the final pieces of the puzzle that got him to where he wanted to be. I gave him a high-5 and congratulated him on the great deal he had pulled off. And I realized that it really was a great deal because of how important it was to Dan. Regardless of whether the 1971 set was worth less than the Ruth or significantly more, Dan got what he really wanted with minimal out of pocket costs. Well done Dan!
There were quite a few smaller sales on Sunday. The biggest move for me was a 268-card partial slabbed 1970 Topps set including quite a few stars. It was around 200 8s and the rest mostly 7s with less than 10 higher/lower. I met a dealer from WV who is working on the 1970 set in 7 or better. It was serendipitous. I am the 70ToppsFanatic because of this set. And here was a guy who gave me a fair price to take all my doubles and lesser cards since my upgrades. Between this and the 1963 group I sold friday I probably left the show with 500 less slabbed cards than when I started the show!
Toward the end of the day, there were a few more smaller sales. Then we packed up, loaded up (took about 90 minutes in total) and we were then driving off to get back to Ohio.
I will definitely do more shows after this experience. Mike and I are starting to discuss plans for National in 2013. Also, our Virtual Collection idea received a lot of positive feedback from the people we spoke
about it with, so we're starting to move forward on it. We'll update the board as things progress.
I guess the most important thing to say is thank you to all of you who wished us well, all who stopped by, all who suggested that we post pix and updates, etc. It was great for us to have
your support, and we appreciate your allowing us to post about what we were doing here in this forum. We're lookng forward to meeting more of you (and seeing those of you who we already
know) at future shows.
Dave
Mike is one of the nicest guys ive met in this hobby and im glad to call him a friend of mine. i really hope you guys set up at the national.
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
<< <i>Mike is one of the nicest guys ive met in this hobby and im glad to call him a friend of mine. >>
I thought you were talking about me.
I second Eric's comment on the great writeup Dave and I'm glad you guys had a good time. Either way, we'll all be at the National again this year and have a blast.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
Here are pictures of the (2) 1980 topps baseball cello packs that Mike sold to me. He gave me a very generous price for the pair. They are from BBCE and 1 of the past group rips.
Thanks again for a nice time. Wish I had bought more at your table.
Paul.
Later, Paul.
WOW what a trip!
I drove from South Carolina 900 miles, and did it in 13 hours. Once I reached the city of Chicago it took me an hour and a half to go 10 miles to my hotel,lol. I had gotten there around 6pm, nice rush hour in the city.
I hadn't sold since I was a kid with my dad and brother at flea markets, so didn't know what to expect. I won't bore you with what Dave already covered, but want to add a few things I noticed and was surprised about.
First it was busy, not just at our booth, but the show overall. Sunday was probably the slowest day. The dealers were buying up stuff like crazy on Friday, and the crowd on Friday night was insanely busy. It was great to see so many kids there with their dads or moms. I read the threads here about this industry drying up, but I'll tell you what there was a lot of kids and teenagers there at the show.
I had a dad and son maybe 10 years old buy a 2012 Topps Prime Football set with a Robert Griffin Auto BGS 9. I gave them a great deal at only $150. The parents are getting into modern cards more and more I think. Vintage is a great investment long term of course, but modern is all about following current players, and chasing the stars and rookies of today. You would be amazed at how many 40 plus year olds where buying modern boxes and cases to break open. So in my opinion cards are alive and well and kids are in the industry, and maybe moving in more of a positive direction than we think.
Yes there where some big names at the show like Shaquille Oneal and his first signing at a show ever, Strasburg, etc.... So that brings some younger folks to the show. I would say the crowd was almost as busy as the National. I don't think there was as must cash flow as the National but the showing IMO was outstanding. Yes we had Vintage that noboby had out of the 150 plus dealers there. It created a buzz like Dave had mentioned. People where coming over from others telling them about what we had. I just don't think people came prepared to buy 1972 Wax series 5/6 boxes, or 75 Rack boxes, etc.
Working with Dave is amazing. We have come from different paths in life, but somehow have built an amazing relationship around sportscards and the industry. Our plan is to continue to work together, have fun, and make a little money. It was Awesome meeting all the members that came to the show, and selling some items to them at great prices.
I will say you have to give deals there or else your going to leave empty handed. Dave and I did very, very well with sales. You have to sell. You can't just stick to VCP or book prices, as everyone wants a little love. So you have to price things accordingly. I stickered all my cards 10% up from VCP or Ebay prices, so I could give 10-20% off of my sticker and the customers still received a great deal, and I didn't give the farm away.
The other thing I noticed was about half the dealers just sat on their duffs the whole time and of course did minimal business. Where we tired at the end of the day, sure, but we stood and smiled and talked and chatted it up with anyone that came to our booth. One of the big reasons I believe we did so well. We where complimented from several dealers on not only what we had to sell, but how much buzz and business we did. Especially it being our first show.
Dave and I have talked and probably will do the show in the spring as it was just plain fun. It's a lot of work setting up, and closing down each day, but well worth it.
Thanks for all the comments and support from everyone that came to the show, and those who posted here. This industry is amazing, and we all love it for different reasons, and that's what makes it so great.
I sold a lot of modern graded cards like Luck, Griffin, Richardson, Lopes, etc from Football, the only modern I had. Modern is alive and well, and most of the sales where to adults. This board may not have as many modern buyers, but they are out there for sure. I will always enjoy busting modern and grading them out to make a profit.
Dave covered a lot of what we experienced, and I look forward to sharing our experience in the future. Now I need to get on to busting my 4 cases of 2012 Football Topps Chrome!!!
Have a great day everyone and thanks again for following along!
"Live everyday, don't throw it away"
One question though for Dave...
Whens the next 75 mini rip????
Been waiting since the last one!!!
Jeff
<< <i>
Then Shawn dropped by and said hello. Great guy with great ideas. He is working on a slabbed 1960 set in 5/6/7 range, and I had a stack of maybe 20 1960 6s that I
had pulled from my set when I upgraded a while ago. But instead of pulling out a list like everyone else always does, Shawn sat down and pulled out his smart phone.
He connected to Photo Bucket where I discovered that he had all of his cards SCANNED AND IN ORDER so that he could see them and compare things he wanted to upgrade,
what he needed, etc. What I great idea! I will definitely be doing this if I can ever find the time. A 64GB i-Phone can probably hold 30,000 card images in high-res so Photo
Bucket might not even be needed.
>>
You are correct about not needing photobucket. I just bought the Galaxy S III on Saturday and did not have enough time to get all the pics on the phone for Sunday's show. To me it is much better than a list. I can actually see the card I have and judge whether I should upgrade.
Thanks for the time and the great prices on the cards I picked up. It was nice meeting you and Mike.
See you at the National.
Shawn
Josh Wilker - Cardboard Gods
Current obsession, all things Topps 1969 - 1972
Me + unopened 70's-era wax = lots of bustin!
I bought a couple '75 OPC wax packs from them, and pulled the Bench in the 2nd pack.
Nice meeting you guys! Will deff see you again at the next show.
ALWAYS Looking for Chris Sabo cards!
Thanks again and I can't wait to see these in a PSA holder!!
Jeremy