Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

I have not been to the previous five, but I got VIP tickets for this year's show from 11/10 through 11/12.  It looks like they now have four confirmed signers: Alek Thomas (AZ - possible "World Champion" by then), Nick Loftin (KC), Darell Herniaz (A's), and Jordyn Adams (LAA).

Any local members (or World Series visitors staying in town an extra week) heading to the show?  I've got a "free" autograph included with my VIP purchase, so if there is a fan of one of the aforementioned players, I'd be willing to work out a Transaction for their auto.  LMK,

-Kurt

Just giving this a bump - haven't had any responses.
 

While I'm here... I just posted a small group of D'backs & Rangers cards from my collection on ebay (a.k.a. pazzocow).

Here's a link to one of my old-school Diamondbacks items, from the 2001 WS Championship era:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/145398878175

It's a 2002 LR&S Curt Schilling "Slide Show" memorabilia card that has a "pull tab" jersey swatch, SN25.

Inching closer to that "green" 5000-star rating on ebay!

   Well, I went in on the first day with a budget limit of $100, and I spent $97 on 65 cards, plus a diecast #21 & an 8x10 Citgo sheet.  I was going to create a TCDb list of the treasures I dug up, but a lot of them had no scans so it wouldn't be all that exciting to look through.  However, here's some of the highlights of my dollar-box diving:

'18 Donruss "Teal" #256B Nolan Ryan SN 001/199

'02-03 BAP Memorabilia "All-Star Teammates" #AST-25 Kariya / Brodeur MEM ($50 TCDb value!?!)

'12-13 UD "Exclusives Spectrum" #134 Brayden Schenn SN 07/10

'21 Wild Card Alumination NIL "Groovin' Blue/Green" #NBG-12 Kennedy Brooks SN 2/3

'22 Panini Playbook "Goal Line Graphs" #GLG-CP Clinton Portis SN 01/99

...plus 13 more memorabilia cards and 16 more autographed cards, inc. four new Devils for the PC.

   Not bad for a few hours of "work".  I'll be heading back for Day 2, to finish searching the other half of the convention hall.  

How was the show? I'd be interested to check it out in the future, although card shows lately have been so expensive I might as well just shop on COMC and SportLots. The thrill of finding gems in dime, quarter, and dollar boxes seem to be a thing of the past. 

It was my first show visit in probably over ten years.  Only a few dealers with vintage stuff & most of that is now slabbed.  More Pokemon than vintage & plenty of recent sports stuff - again, mostly slabbed, or in way-over-priced boxes.  I tend to avoid the less-than-a-dollar boxes of unprotected, unorganized card stacks - assuming the wheat has already been separated from the chaff.  

Dollar boxes could be found at about 1/3 of the tables, so there are some gems to be had (see post above).

The organizers were a bit un-organized as I had to double back through the entrance to get my V.I.P. goodies.  We'll see tomorrow & Sunday how they handle the autograph signers and the extra foot traffic that they will cause.

Gotcha. In my experience, card shows have changed a lot over the last 5-10 years with the rise of graded cards and people entering the industry not because they love to collect but because they want to make a quick buck. It's a huge turn off for me and has caused card prices to inflate like crazy and the cards that I like to collect less and less available at shows. 

I missed this one unfortunately.  Just out of curiosity, we're there any dealers with boxes of commons to search thru?  It seems like I have a lot of sets with just basic commons that need to be found.  

Joe

Didn't notice this post the first time around, but I've been meaning to check out some local shows.

jweech - I'd guess about 1/3 of the tables have common boxes, but only grouped by sport, team, or star player at best.  I did notice someone armed with printed TCDb want lists yesterday.

   As for my Day 2, I started the morning with a quick stop at a nearby casino to claim some free play & food offers for lunch.  I tried my luck with the one-armed bandits & turned my $100 daily "allowance" into $170 - more cash for cards! 

   It was another day diving into the dollar & multi-dollar boxes, while letting others haggle over 3-figure slabbed cards and then listening to the dealers' gossip after the buyer/seller left.  Not much for the PC today... an upgrade for my '88-89 Topps Shanahan RC, an accidental dupe of a die cut Neal Broten BAP AU & one Storm (X-Men) insert.

   I did pick up a large handful of other autographed cards, including football legends (Joiner, Dempsey, Yepremian, Krause, et al.), baseball stars of old (Eck, Rollie, Blyleven & Klesko), six other hockey BAP AUs and a Tim Hardaway "Treasure".  Along with a small stack of inserts, in all only 39 cards to show for today's budget, which I spent to the last dollar.

Final update - Day 3

I arrived late, but just in time to get in line for Merrill Kelly's autograph on a baseball.  By the time I got it inked, it was almost 3:00 and several dealers were already packing it up, despite there being two more hours until close.  I managed to get half a dozen MEM & AU for $10 - inc. Rock Raines, Ron Guidry, Scott Bullett, Mike Meyers & two Topps Pro Debut minor league park bits.  Then at my last stop, heading for the door myself, I picked up a handful of '95-96 Finest hockey for the same price - some bronze Devils, plus a refractor, one gold & eight silvers.

I ended the weekend having spent $333, or nearly $400 total when also adding in admission fees, parking, etc.  However, I repeated my pre-show casino ritual Sunday morning & won another $110.  So, technically I only spent about $200 of my own money on the 125 various AU, MEM, SN collectible items I brought home.  It was much more satisfying digging for needles-in-haystacks than blowing that amount on just one slabbed piece of cardboard like so many other patrons did at that show.

I hope those of you in Toronto & other parts unknown (to me) enjoyed your nearby card shows this weekend too.