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NATIONAL REPORT - DAY 4 REPORT and RECAP! FINAL pictures - PHOTO HEAVY!!!
bounce
Posts: 1,094 ✭✭✭
Finished up the first day a little while ago, working on getting pictures to share.
In the meantime...
My first take is there was lots of great stuff of course, but I'm slightly underwhelmed if I'm completely honest. Could be my taste in collectibles of course, could just be I was unlucky in my searching today but I had trouble finding things to buy. Overall, I'd suggest most individual card prices in graded vintage are 15-25% premium over market. You absolutely have to try to haggle, but even that was like brick walls for me most of the day.
I'm sure most are interested to know, yes the BBCE booth is something else. By far, BY FAR, the best in terms of pre-90s unopened material. I didn't hang out there but I did swing by a couple times, I think they sold the 1980 basketball boxes, may have sold an 86 fleer basketball box and that hockey vendor is unbelievable. Tons and tons of racks in baseball and football, it too much to take in. The display looks great, and they've got a bunch of autographs and graded cards as well. It's well done for sure.
There are a TON, and I mean a TON, of auction houses. I haven't heard of a lot of them before, but I guess I will need to start paying attention. Seems like that's the trend for now. Seems pretty dangerous to me, and one complaint I definitely have is the lack of authentication. SO MANY are doing these "auction letters", if you want a real Psa or Jsa letter you have to pay more on top of the buyers premium. I think that's bad business at the least, and I could really see this creating some problems and embarrassment for both auction house and authentication in the future. Just wait - it's gonna happen, you win the auction and don't authenticate immediately and try later and only then does the authentication expert say no.
I did see quite a few Mantle rookies, but not so many Mays and Robinsons. I didn't see much high grade vintage basketball, but I did see plenty of 86 fleer but not much in PSA 10. I saw some Star basketball but it was all outrageously priced. There is a ton of vintage raw cards, I don't really do a lot of that so hoping others will chime in on that front because my instincts tell me that's where the deals are. If you can dig and grind, you will probably find a gem in the rough. That's not my game, but I may try a bit of it tomorrow to see if I can change my luck.
I did see Bill Simmons but he said he's not blogging the "weird" this year - disappointing. I also saw Evan Mathis, he seems like a pretty nice dude.
My feet hurt, my wallet doesn't (yet) but we are just a sneak peak in. I will post pics of my pickups later, The Navarro will hopefully appreciate my acquisitions today.
Let's hear it from you other guys - you don't have to say where or who, but let's see what's changed hands! SHOW US SOME CARDS!!!
In the meantime...
My first take is there was lots of great stuff of course, but I'm slightly underwhelmed if I'm completely honest. Could be my taste in collectibles of course, could just be I was unlucky in my searching today but I had trouble finding things to buy. Overall, I'd suggest most individual card prices in graded vintage are 15-25% premium over market. You absolutely have to try to haggle, but even that was like brick walls for me most of the day.
I'm sure most are interested to know, yes the BBCE booth is something else. By far, BY FAR, the best in terms of pre-90s unopened material. I didn't hang out there but I did swing by a couple times, I think they sold the 1980 basketball boxes, may have sold an 86 fleer basketball box and that hockey vendor is unbelievable. Tons and tons of racks in baseball and football, it too much to take in. The display looks great, and they've got a bunch of autographs and graded cards as well. It's well done for sure.
There are a TON, and I mean a TON, of auction houses. I haven't heard of a lot of them before, but I guess I will need to start paying attention. Seems like that's the trend for now. Seems pretty dangerous to me, and one complaint I definitely have is the lack of authentication. SO MANY are doing these "auction letters", if you want a real Psa or Jsa letter you have to pay more on top of the buyers premium. I think that's bad business at the least, and I could really see this creating some problems and embarrassment for both auction house and authentication in the future. Just wait - it's gonna happen, you win the auction and don't authenticate immediately and try later and only then does the authentication expert say no.
I did see quite a few Mantle rookies, but not so many Mays and Robinsons. I didn't see much high grade vintage basketball, but I did see plenty of 86 fleer but not much in PSA 10. I saw some Star basketball but it was all outrageously priced. There is a ton of vintage raw cards, I don't really do a lot of that so hoping others will chime in on that front because my instincts tell me that's where the deals are. If you can dig and grind, you will probably find a gem in the rough. That's not my game, but I may try a bit of it tomorrow to see if I can change my luck.
I did see Bill Simmons but he said he's not blogging the "weird" this year - disappointing. I also saw Evan Mathis, he seems like a pretty nice dude.
My feet hurt, my wallet doesn't (yet) but we are just a sneak peak in. I will post pics of my pickups later, The Navarro will hopefully appreciate my acquisitions today.
Let's hear it from you other guys - you don't have to say where or who, but let's see what's changed hands! SHOW US SOME CARDS!!!
0
Comments
The 500 HR club bats were pretty cool, too.
And ONE FINAL THING -
if you saw 2000 legendary signatures of Bird, Magic, Russell or Erving, please let me know! These are cards I was really hoping to see and didn't. Same with the UD Wilt Chamberlains, didn't see a single one today and would like to try and pick one up if I can.
Here's what I picked up today, like I said it was a slow day for me. But I was pretty pleased to run across these in the last hour. They're roughly twice the size of regular index cards, I especially liked them because they were dated and both came with JSA letters.
<< <i>just curious, what percentage of the floor space is represented in your pic? I would guess a small percentage but I don't know. >>
Probably 40-50%, it goes back to the left pretty far
ROUND 2 about to start - going with te Baylor short for luck today, hoping to track down a couple Ted Lyons items!
<< <i>
<< <i>just curious, what percentage of the floor space is represented in your pic? I would guess a small percentage but I don't know. >>
Probably 40-50%, it goes back to the left pretty far
ROUND 2 about to start - going with te Baylor short for luck today, hoping to track down a couple Ted Lyons items! >>
Thanks. As long as you didn't wear those shorts on New Year's Day you should be fine. Good luck.
Appreciate today-
Bill
<< <i>Is that Chester A. Arthur, the President? That's pretty darn cool! And if so, dated shortly before his death. >>
yes it is! good eye
<< <i>As long as you didn't wear those shorts on New Year's Day you should be fine. Good luck. >>
good one - i was there for that classic meltdown. but i was also there at the TCU game so figure we owed one back on that. as i continue to say, if BU is going to win 10 games a year and lose on New Year's every year, you can sign me up now for the rest of time. I'd rather us be playing then and losing, as opposed to 15 years ago when we were losing every time we played.
I will work on a few more pics this afternoon for ya. So far in the AM today, it's same thing as yesterday - prices are a bit too high but I'm sensing they're getting softer.
Was also standing by while a MAJOR deal got done, will give some minor details on that one tonight.
I really only care about pre-1986 unopened product but I was checking out all the interesting stuff. The last time I was at a National was probably 2003 or 2004. I went Wed night and walked through in about 3 hours. I was surprised general admission was $22 each. The only booth with any older unopened product worth mentioning was BBCE. I was in love with the 1975 Topps mini wax case but I don't just throw around $50,000 like that. I did pick up the only 1980 Topps BB cello and rack box they had. I asked Steve about 1970's product and as we all know he said everything 1977 and older is getting really tough. He said 1978 and 1979 is still popping up. He also had a 1952 Topps pack for $15,000. I saw another PSA graded 1952 Topps pack at another booth. Most of the BBCE stuff is the same as on the website with a few additions, like the boxes I purchased. They were down to one 1986-87 Fleer basketball box at $35,000 when I was there. The prices at BBCE were about the same as the website but some were slighthly lower. Overall glad I went to see everything and buy in person. Kruk Cards had some nice early 80's cases. DACW had a few and I mean a few pre-1986 boxes. There were some other guys with a few early to mid 1980's unopened boxes but not much. There was the occasional older unopened packs mixed in some showcases of other dealers.
There were a ton of raw and graded vintage cards. I saw about 4 or 5 1952 Mantles, a few 1986 Jordans PSA 10, lots of PSA 9. There is a ton of signed products. Some other really unique items too. Overall I am glad I went. Did I accomplish much, probably not but it was fun to see again after all these years away.
Got started a little bit late but still in time for VIP entrance 30 minutes early. I ended up slightly to the left around the corner, but gives you a sense of how many VIPs there are.
I wore my Baylor shirt today, hoping for some better luck and found this MONSTER 15 minutes in...
So the day was off and running...and then it just absolutely DIED. Same issue as yesterday, there is literally a TON to see, but if you're looking for good prices you're probably in the wrong place. So I diverted my attention to other things like pictures of the really cool stuff.
Some Presidential material
First 5 HOFers if that sort of thing interest you
A FULL 1951 BOWMAN SET with a 9.1 GPA! WHAT?!?!?
How about some T206s, in 7s or 8 - yes, all of them are 7s and 8s
48 Leaf Jackie in a 9 - a 9!
How about 4 PSA 8 Cobbs? Just 4 of them, that's all.
1979-80 Hockey vending - wait, what's missing from this photo? Maybe it's all the vending boxes that were there yesterday and aren't today?
Did someone say 1952 Topps pack, or maybe 1967 Cello box? Yeah, we got that.
Not old enough to remember those? That's cool, we got some early 70s for you. Try these on!
Or maybe Football is more your thing?
These are your fellow boardies, Manny got a good picture as well. We are considering a contest for who can name the most board members by their screen ID.
And of course the real deal.
QUICK EDIT - I went back today to find out - the asking price on this Wagner is $800,000. WOW!
As confirmed by others, there are literally TONS of vintage raw and graded, but it's all expensive from what I can tell and certainly of the cards I'm interested in it's expensive.
I toiled and toiled, did everything I knew to do, and then...after HOURS and HOURS, I finally landed this guy.
And talk about a great end to the evening, ran into these Hall of Famers on the way back in.
Day 2 at the National draws to a close!
<< <i>Drawing a blank...I know thats Dave Winfield but whos the other guy? >>
Is it Lawrence Taylor?
<< <i>Drawing a blank...I know thats Dave Winfield but whos the other guy? >>
that's funny, I knew it was L.T. but couldn't figure out who the other one was. lol
thanks for the pics! Looks like a blast.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Edit;
My bad his son is locked up.
Looks like those 79/80 Gretzky Vending boxes are gone at $3500 a pop
I knew that was LT but didn't know that was Dave Winfield until someone said it was. Then I looked again and easily recognized him lol
I actually ran into LT at my LA Fitness about 3 min from my house about 4 months ago. We were both walking up to the entrance and he held the door for me and let me go in first. I was thinking "is that LT?". He then got on the elliptical and as I was going to the treadmill, we made eye contact and he knew I recognized him and I went up and said hi and said "aren't you LT" and he was like "yeah but lets not spread that around" which was totally understandable and I said it was nice to meet him and went on my way. That was kinda cool to run into a HOF at the gym. Especially next to my house.
<< <i>And 10 minutes later decided this would be a good pairing.
Awesome Lajoie's! One of my favorite poses. Congrats!
For a second I thought this was Stan Lee:
<< <i>Yeah yeah, bounce, all that stuff is cool but I wanna see the unopened! OK, here's a few for the keep 'em wrapped crew. All from the BBCE booth.
1979-80 Hockey vending - wait, what's missing from this photo? Maybe it's all the vending boxes that were there yesterday and aren't today?
Did someone say 1952 Topps pack, or maybe 1967 Cello box? Yeah, we got that.
Not old enough to remember those? That's cool, we got some early 70s for you. Try these on!
Or maybe Football is more your thing?
<< <i>so you say no big deal to a 1951 Bowman set - OK, that's cool. How about one that FULLY SIGNED? Yes, you read that right. EVERY CARD IS SIGNED, WHAT WHAT?!?!?!?
That's amazing! And the fact that they had the big star cards signed in ball point pen is even better!
<< <i>the fact that they had the big star cards signed in ball point pen is even better!
I have to disagree, Stan. I would pass on that Mays 100 times out of 100. I have no use for autographs you can barely see. I would value that card exactly the same as I would value an unsigned copy, not a penny more.
<< <i>
<< <i>the fact that they had the big star cards signed in ball point pen is even better!
I would pass on that Mays 100 times out of 100. I have no use for autographs you can barely see. I would value that card exactly the same as I would value an unsigned copy, not a penny more. >>
First off, my name is Jimmy. Second, you can have a blurry marker signature on a vintage card if you want it. I don't.
The Mays signature didn't come out all that great due to his failure to press down when signing. As you can see, Mantle did press down, and it's a beauty. That Mantle autograph is about as perfect as you could ask for on a signed vintage rookie card. Just because you don't value that signed Mays anymore than a raw copy is your problem, because you sure as heck will never be able to buy that one for the price of an unsigned copy. The market would dictate that.
<< <i>
<< <i>Drawing a blank...I know thats Dave Winfield but whos the other guy? >>
that's funny, I knew it was L.T. but couldn't figure out who the other one was. lol >>
Same here!
Some thoughts:
1. Myself and several other attendees need to go heavier on the deodorant. It was ripe in a few places.
2. I hate it when dealers don't price stuff. I get it, they don't want to show their hand (I'm guessing), but it takes forever to get pricing on cards at those booths.
3. There was nary a Bird/Magic RC to be had in a PSA 8 holder. I looked everywhere and actually left the show with cash in my pocket because I couldn't find that card. I almost felt embarrassed for myself having money when I exited.
4. Seems like everyone's in the auction house biz now. The frustrating thing is they're "previewing" their upcoming auctions, and not selling. There were several items that I had interest in that could only be had in their next auction, which was a bummer. It was like going to a strip club where you could see the goodies, but couldn't put them in your pocket.
5. Some of the more well known booths seemed to have people working there that didn't represent what I've heard of the owners. There were a couple of booths where the people seemed completely uninterested in even making eye contact with you, much less saying hello. One booth in particular I went by twice and felt like I was invading their living room while they were watching TV. Weird business model. Sorry, rant over.
6. Place was huge and totally fun. Next time I won't wear Birkenstocks. My dogs are barkin'.
1. One dealer had a display case (2' x 3' or so) full of stacks of PSA 8/9 '86 Fleer Jordans, and one PSA 10.
2. Another dealer had the same size case jam-packed with stacks of PSA graded OPC Gretzky rookies. All grades from 1 up to 8.
3. The third dealer had display cases with these cards (all PSA 10) '86 Fleer Jordan, '81 Topps Montana, three '84 Topps Elways (yes, THREE PSA 10s!), two PSA 10 Steve Yzerman OPC rookies, two OPC Mark Messier rookies, two OPC Patrick Roy rookies, FOUR Mario Lemieux OPC rookies, and oh yeah, a PSA 10 OPC Ken Dryden rookie! Again, every card at #3 was a PSA 10. I just remembered, the dealer also had a PSA 9 (I know, after all those others, what's so big about a 9) Nolan Ryan rookie.
Oh, and Memory Lane was letting people hold and swing a game-used Babe Ruth bat this afternoon! I was one of the lucky ones to do so!
Steve
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>the fact that they had the big star cards signed in ball point pen is even better!
I would pass on that Mays 100 times out of 100. I have no use for autographs you can barely see. I would value that card exactly the same as I would value an unsigned copy, not a penny more. >>
First off, my name is Jimmy. Second, you can have a blurry marker signature on a vintage card if you want it. I don't.
The Mays signature didn't come out all that great due to his failure to press down when signing. As you can see, Mantle did press down, and it's a beauty. That Mantle autograph is about as perfect as you could ask for on a signed vintage rookie card. Just because you don't value that signed Mays anymore than a raw copy is your problem, because you sure as heck will never be able to buy that one for the price of an unsigned copy. The market would dictate that. >>
James, why are you so upset? It's just my opinion, personal taste, and you're entitled to yours. You're right, the Mantle is gorgeous. So are the Teddy and the Whitey. I'm pretty sure I didn't mention any card in my post other than the Mays (see above). Take a chill pill, man, it's just cardboard. As far as the market dictating stuff and all that jazz, this is all hypothetical anyway. I could never afford a 51B Mays, even if somebody tore a hole through his face. Anyway, no need to get riled up.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>the fact that they had the big star cards signed in ball point pen is even better!
I would pass on that Mays 100 times out of 100. I have no use for autographs you can barely see. I would value that card exactly the same as I would value an unsigned copy, not a penny more. >>
First off, my name is Jimmy. Second, you can have a blurry marker signature on a vintage card if you want it. I don't.
The Mays signature didn't come out all that great due to his failure to press down when signing. As you can see, Mantle did press down, and it's a beauty. That Mantle autograph is about as perfect as you could ask for on a signed vintage rookie card. Just because you don't value that signed Mays anymore than a raw copy is your problem, because you sure as heck will never be able to buy that one for the price of an unsigned copy. The market would dictate that. >>
James, why are you so upset? It's just my opinion, personal taste, and you're entitled to yours. You're right, the Mantle is gorgeous. So are the Teddy and the Whitey. I'm pretty sure I didn't mention any card in my post other than the Mays (see above). Take a chill pill, man, it's just cardboard. As far as the market dictating stuff and all that jazz, this is all hypothetical anyway. I could never afford a 51B Mays, even if somebody tore a hole through his face. Anyway, no need to get riled up. >>
I'm not riled up. I just came back with a reply to yours. Maybe it's just a simple misunderstanding of tone that can happen on a message forum since we can't see or hear the other person in person.
OK - screaming over. PHEW! (well, maybe one last holler - that's how we saw scream in Texas).
Uploading some photos now, today's writeup is coming shortly.
<< <i>I've been in the market for 1979 unopened Hockey vending/wax and I'm both bummed and a tad upset that these were cherry-picked for the National. Oh, well. Not surprised they're gone at 3500 per. >>
I am curious what you mean by cherry picked in this situation.
<< <i>HEY YOU CLOWNS!
Jimbo and I are cool. He just misunderstood my post. Jimminy and I have kissed and made up.
<< <i>
<< <i>I've been in the market for 1979 unopened Hockey vending/wax and I'm both bummed and a tad upset that these were cherry-picked for the National. Oh, well. Not surprised they're gone at 3500 per. >>
I am curious what you mean by cherry picked in this situation. >>
+1
It's well known that Steve holds back premium product for the National each year~the National is where you want to make your biggest impression as a dealer so I can completely understand why he does that each year.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>I've been in the market for 1979 unopened Hockey vending/wax and I'm both bummed and a tad upset that these were cherry-picked for the National. Oh, well. Not surprised they're gone at 3500 per. >>
I am curious what you mean by cherry picked in this situation. >>
+1
It's well known that Steve holds back premium product for the National each year~the National is where you want to make your biggest impression as a dealer so I can completely understand why he does that each year. >>
And...pics are posted and roughly 30 board members are there, with several offering to help procure or set aside product for those not able to attend.