Late last night I posted about my pickups from the first of two card shows that I attended yesterday. If you didn’t catch it, you can find it here. After leaving the show in Addison, I made the 15 or so minute drive northwest to Plano to attend our monthly local card show.
As I walked in and paid my $1 admission, I noticed that there were a couple of different sellers than normal. I wasn’t too shocked, since at least one seller was set up in Addison for the weekend and he usually takes three tables, I believe. The first table I walked to, I saw a 1955 Topps All American Red Grange that was PSA graded 5. I do wish I had $150 to put out for it and it was pictured below!
I headed over to the table where Beckett was set up, selling the monthly mags, yearly books and taking grading submissions. I chatted with the rep for a few minutes and actually made my biggest individual purchase of the weekend there. I might have seen that this was going to be released, but if I did, I’d forgotten. It also could be that I was excited for the new vintage collector magazine that also debuted at the National a few weeks ago.
I was really excited about this, since I’ve decided to start selling off most of my current cards and get into vintage. I only subscribe to one Beckett OPG and this has all sports. For me, the key is that it’s not a “price guide” with only stars listed. It has the complete checklists for those old sets.
I made my way around the room and to be honest, thought I was going to leave without picking up any cards. That’s not a bad thing, though. In the past, I would have felt I “needed” to buy something to justify going and would likely have bought something I didn’t need or want, and it would just be money that was essentially wasted.
The last table was someone’s that I don’t recall seeing at any local shows before. I noticed a Jerry West auto that I inquired about. He was asking a little more than I wanted to put into it. No worries. I do want to pick up one sometime soon, though. That one has a picture from the chest up and you couldn’t see a team. When I do finally pick mine up, I’d love him to be in a WVU uniform.
As I was starting to walk away from table, a card caught my eye. It was a vintage Blackhawks card and it was at a price I was happy to see.
I don’t know anything about Fred Sasakamoose, but the sweater he was wearing caught my eye, along with it being vintage. Some of the Blackhawks cards from my early hockey collection were from the season that the NHL celebrated it’s 75th anniversary, and there were many Blackhawks pictured in these uniforms. The card brought the combination of vintage, affordability and a little bit of bring back my youth all together.
I looked through the stack and there were a handful of different Blackhawks cards from this same set. However, only one of them really caught my eye.
I know there’s writing on the back, but on low cost vintage, that doesn’t bother me. This was just a cool piece to pick up for my PC. Like Fred Sasakamoose, I knew nothing about Al Rollins either.
On my way out, I stopped to say my goodbyes to Rich Klein and as happens a lot, he asked about what I had picked up. I showed him the two cards and then my education for the day began. Come to find out, Al Rollins won the 1953-54 Hart Trophy (NHL MVP), despite having a 12-47 record in goal that season. He is currently one of only three players to win the award that is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was interesting to fire up the ol’ Google machine and read a little bit about him. I think that’s a bit of the appeal of vintage to me, looking into and finding out more about these old players.
In summary, between two shows, I bought a total of seven cards and spent $27 on them. I bought the vintage almanac for $20 and paid $6 in admission fees between the shows. Only half of the money I spent was on actual cards and that percent is less if you figure in gas to get to north of Dallas and also all the toll fees. I can safely say, thought, that it was the most satisfying card show day I’ve had in quite awhile. All because I’m changing how I collect.
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