This weekend’s card show pickups – Stop #1

This weekend, we were fortunate enough to have two cards shows in the area, and they were only 15 or so minutes apart.  One is a show that is put on twice a year and the other is our monthly show.  If you read the Sports Collectors Daily website, you’ve probably seen Rich Klein’s pieces about his shows, and this is his monthly show.

Both shows started at 10:00, so I decided to attend the Addison show first.  It’s the twice a year show and pulls sellers from far away.  There were sellers from Oklahoma, Louisiana and three that came down from Wichita to set up.  Knowing that there would be sellers I’d never seen, I wanted to head there early. Not that anyone would really be looking for the same things I was, but I wanted to make sure that I had my shot at anything.

I walked in and decided that I would go around the room counter clockwise, looking at the outside tables.  Then, I’d circle again at the inside tables.  My plan wasn’t to buy anything until I had perused the entire room.  As I most of the way through my first round, I spotted one lonely vintage hockey card in a display case.  Everything else was baseball or football.  Though it was vintage, I knew that sweater on the player and I knew it was a Blackhawk.  I also knew that at $10, it would be mine, and it now is.

To be honest, I don’t know anything about the player.  He appears to be wearing the “A” on his sweater, so I will definitely do some research on him in the near future.  I had been chatting with the seller and he was one that was from Wichita.  As we talked, I decided to look though a box of vintage cards that were a dollar apiece.  I’m slowly working on a set of 1955 Topps All American, so it’s always worth looking.  I didn’t find any, but I did find something else worth a buck, to me.

I believe I have a couple of these in boxes somewhere, but there’s nothing wrong with vintage multiples.  I will never go wrong with vintage cards of former WVU Mountaineers.

I continued on my journey and briefly chatted with a gentleman set up at the show that also sets up at the card shop closest to my house.  While it is a local card shop, there are actually four gentlemen that are set up in the shop.  Bill and I have chatted in the past about that 1955 All American set.  He actually had a complete set there that he had a potential buyer for.  I took a look through the pages and it’s good that they were in sheets.  Otherwise, I’m sure my drool would have hurt the value on them.

I knew that the table behind me had mostly vintage and had a lot of football.  Most of his inventory was in very good shape, considering the age.  However, he had a box of, as he called it, “well loved” vintage and that’s where I purchased my final three card of the show.

While a card obviously in poor shape, I wasn’t passing this card up at the $5 marked price.  It is card #1 in the set and if you know vintage, you understand the significance of card #1.  I don’t know when I will again be able to fill this void in the set for $5, so I wasn’t passing it up.  In time, I will upgrade to one in better condition.  However, this was a pickup that had me extremely happy.  If you aren’t aware, high book on this card is $125.

This card is probably now the card that is in the worst shape of any in my collection.  A common in this set books at $18 and Kazmaier is only a $25 card.  I could have waited and still picked up a better piece for not too much more, but he had it for $2, so I thought “what the hell.”  I’m sure this will be the least that I will ever pay for a card from this set.

This card was the third one I picked up.  It was marked $7, and there were others cheaper, but I knew the name and also, it appeared in better shape that most of the other cards in that particular box. After scanning it, I noticed some creasing that wasn’t obvious in the darker room at the card show, but I’m not complaining at all.

I was happy to pick up these cards for $14, but when I told the seller I was ready, he said he’d give them to me for $10.  It made my day even better.  I left this show spending just $26 (counting the $5 admission fee), but I can’t remember the last time I felt so good leaving a show.

I’ve decided to change what I’m doing in the hobby.  I’m not interested in picking up cards anymore that I think I can flip or trade.  It’s just too time consuming.  I just want to focus on my Andrew Shaw PC, a few other minor PCs and vintage.  I don’t want to walk out of shows or card shops anymore with cards that aren’t going into my PC.  I knew leaving that these five cards would be in my PC for quite awhile, and it was a great feeling.

I will post about stop two of this weekend’s card shows on Sunday.  Until then, happy collecting!

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