I stayed up much too late last night watching "Cop Out" with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan on HBO. I knew nothing about this movie when I started watching around 11 p.m. When Bruce Willis pulled out a 1952 Topps Andy Pafko and went into a card shop, I was hooked and watched the movie until 12:30 a.m., well aware I had to wake up at 6 a.m. for the Orland Park show. The Pafko used in the movie looked like a reprint as did the other '52 Topps showed in a flashback scene. It was cool seeing a card shop in a movie, even though Bruce Willis got tased and robbed of his Pafko in the card shop. I also liked the fact that the bad guy in the movie had an amazing sports memorabilia collection.
Waking up was tough. Though I loaded my car and had an uneventful drive to Orland Park. There were a lot of cars in the Civic Center parking lot when I got there around 8 a.m. Apparently there was some sort of cycling event there and the cars weren't all for the card show. Load in and set up went smoothly. Dave was the first customer at my table. He was set up today next to Chuck. Normally there are quite a few guys at my table while I'm setting up. Today, I nearly finished set up before my regular group arrived which was a pleasant surprise. I had reloaded my '56, '57, and '58 Topps books. Dave and another customer took quite a few of those. Rick took quite a few '55 Bowmans today. Nothing for Terry today.
When I finished setting up, I got quite busy. Jim brought over some piles of cards for me to purchase, including some '64 Topps Giants, some '58, '59, '60 high numbers, and some football. One customer pulled out most of my White Sox cards from the new binders. Another customer bought some early '70s. I also seemed to sell quite a few '69s today. Chris dropped off a near-set of lower grade '69s for trade. Long-time customer Chuck from the North Side of Chicago made an appearance. I know Chuck purchased some cards, but I was so busy I can't seem to remember what I sold him today. I think he picked up a '65 Topps Willie Stargell amongst a group of others. Another customer picked up some '61 Topps. I sold a '67 Topps Steve Carlton, RBI Leaders and Roberto Clemente to another good customer. I sold a '62 Topps Ernie Banks and a Willie Mays All Star to a customer. Another customer bought some '61 Topps stars including a Nellie Fox, Roberto Clemente, and a World Series Card. Joel bought some cards, I believe some '60 and '61 Topps. I sold some '74 Topps football to another customer. Sales were pretty steady until about noon then the showed died for me. There were still people in the room but none of them seemed to come by my table.
In addition to my early morning purchases from Jim, I picked up a nice group of '70 Topps, some '68s, a few Post, and some early '60s Football from some other guys. I bought some cards from Tom, who regularly sets up at Fred Copp's shows. I also turned down some cards. Chuck Thomas had some cards I wanted but I didn't have the funds. A random guy had a '58 Topps Mantle PSA 4. It was the ugliest PSA 4 I have ever seen with rounded and frayed corners. He wanted $225 which I think is a fair price if the card looked nicer but it was ugly. A few other guys brought some cards by my table and the prices were too high. Junior had a real ugly '58 Topps Mantle/Aaron card that I turned down. I usually buy from Junior but that was the only card he brought by. I actually tried to go into the show with the mindset that I wasn't going to buy, but I just can't pass up good deals. I bought a lot of cards last week which I haven't paid for. I'm going to have to load up on eBay to raise the funds to pay for those cards.
Tom Ward made an appearance today. I haven't seen him in a while. Tom was set up in the side hallway. Also, Lou, who normally sets up at the Allstate Arena flea market was set up today. I was surprised that Mark Smith wasn't set up today.
At 1 p.m., with no customers, I went over to Jim's table and pulled a bunch of '67 Topps football commons out of his cheapie box. I started packing up around 1:30 and was on the road by 2:15 p.m. It took me an hour to get home today.
Next weekend I'm setting up at the Hesston (Indiana) Steam Engine Festival. This is a really cool event across Lake Michigan at the Michigan/Indiana border where there are several working steam train engines giving passengers rides through a nearby forest. There are also food booths and all sorts of old-time industrial steam engines on display. There is also a flea market. Last year I was at the festival with my dad on Labor Day and he asked if I wanted to do the flea market the following year. I said yes, thinking it was just one day. Well the flea market is four days and I'm a little bummed that I'm going to be spending the entire weekend at the festival flea market. My dad has a garage full of junk he is going to bring out. He wants to bring out four carloads of stuff. I'm trying to convince him to bring just one carload. I'm also going to bring out some cards but I'm not sure what to bring. I don't want to bring more than a bin or two of cards. I'm definitely not leaving any cards there overnight. So whatever I bring, it's coming home with me each night. It's going to be a long weekend and I'm not expecting to make much money. Most people go to this event to ride the trains not buy flea market stuff. I'm going to try and convince my dad all this week that this flea market is a bad idea and we should skip it. Unfortunately, my dad is as stubborn as a mule and I know I'm going to be stuck at the festival for four days. I'm not expecting to make much money. Whatever I do make will be spent on food and train rides for my kids. At least, maybe, the kids will have some fun. Though I think they'll be hating life after four days at our flea market booth. It's going to be a long weekend. Today was fun though and I'm looking forward to the next Orland Show in two weeks.
Waking up was tough. Though I loaded my car and had an uneventful drive to Orland Park. There were a lot of cars in the Civic Center parking lot when I got there around 8 a.m. Apparently there was some sort of cycling event there and the cars weren't all for the card show. Load in and set up went smoothly. Dave was the first customer at my table. He was set up today next to Chuck. Normally there are quite a few guys at my table while I'm setting up. Today, I nearly finished set up before my regular group arrived which was a pleasant surprise. I had reloaded my '56, '57, and '58 Topps books. Dave and another customer took quite a few of those. Rick took quite a few '55 Bowmans today. Nothing for Terry today.
When I finished setting up, I got quite busy. Jim brought over some piles of cards for me to purchase, including some '64 Topps Giants, some '58, '59, '60 high numbers, and some football. One customer pulled out most of my White Sox cards from the new binders. Another customer bought some early '70s. I also seemed to sell quite a few '69s today. Chris dropped off a near-set of lower grade '69s for trade. Long-time customer Chuck from the North Side of Chicago made an appearance. I know Chuck purchased some cards, but I was so busy I can't seem to remember what I sold him today. I think he picked up a '65 Topps Willie Stargell amongst a group of others. Another customer picked up some '61 Topps. I sold a '67 Topps Steve Carlton, RBI Leaders and Roberto Clemente to another good customer. I sold a '62 Topps Ernie Banks and a Willie Mays All Star to a customer. Another customer bought some '61 Topps stars including a Nellie Fox, Roberto Clemente, and a World Series Card. Joel bought some cards, I believe some '60 and '61 Topps. I sold some '74 Topps football to another customer. Sales were pretty steady until about noon then the showed died for me. There were still people in the room but none of them seemed to come by my table.
In addition to my early morning purchases from Jim, I picked up a nice group of '70 Topps, some '68s, a few Post, and some early '60s Football from some other guys. I bought some cards from Tom, who regularly sets up at Fred Copp's shows. I also turned down some cards. Chuck Thomas had some cards I wanted but I didn't have the funds. A random guy had a '58 Topps Mantle PSA 4. It was the ugliest PSA 4 I have ever seen with rounded and frayed corners. He wanted $225 which I think is a fair price if the card looked nicer but it was ugly. A few other guys brought some cards by my table and the prices were too high. Junior had a real ugly '58 Topps Mantle/Aaron card that I turned down. I usually buy from Junior but that was the only card he brought by. I actually tried to go into the show with the mindset that I wasn't going to buy, but I just can't pass up good deals. I bought a lot of cards last week which I haven't paid for. I'm going to have to load up on eBay to raise the funds to pay for those cards.
Tom Ward made an appearance today. I haven't seen him in a while. Tom was set up in the side hallway. Also, Lou, who normally sets up at the Allstate Arena flea market was set up today. I was surprised that Mark Smith wasn't set up today.
At 1 p.m., with no customers, I went over to Jim's table and pulled a bunch of '67 Topps football commons out of his cheapie box. I started packing up around 1:30 and was on the road by 2:15 p.m. It took me an hour to get home today.
Next weekend I'm setting up at the Hesston (Indiana) Steam Engine Festival. This is a really cool event across Lake Michigan at the Michigan/Indiana border where there are several working steam train engines giving passengers rides through a nearby forest. There are also food booths and all sorts of old-time industrial steam engines on display. There is also a flea market. Last year I was at the festival with my dad on Labor Day and he asked if I wanted to do the flea market the following year. I said yes, thinking it was just one day. Well the flea market is four days and I'm a little bummed that I'm going to be spending the entire weekend at the festival flea market. My dad has a garage full of junk he is going to bring out. He wants to bring out four carloads of stuff. I'm trying to convince him to bring just one carload. I'm also going to bring out some cards but I'm not sure what to bring. I don't want to bring more than a bin or two of cards. I'm definitely not leaving any cards there overnight. So whatever I bring, it's coming home with me each night. It's going to be a long weekend and I'm not expecting to make much money. Most people go to this event to ride the trains not buy flea market stuff. I'm going to try and convince my dad all this week that this flea market is a bad idea and we should skip it. Unfortunately, my dad is as stubborn as a mule and I know I'm going to be stuck at the festival for four days. I'm not expecting to make much money. Whatever I do make will be spent on food and train rides for my kids. At least, maybe, the kids will have some fun. Though I think they'll be hating life after four days at our flea market booth. It's going to be a long weekend. Today was fun though and I'm looking forward to the next Orland Show in two weeks.
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