Another great show at Gonzaga today. I arrived a little late due to some stomach issues. Thankfully Scott Zeigert helped me unload my car. Once set up, I had steady action at my table all day. I sold quite a few 1965 Topps baseball. I sold a 1955 Topps Duke Snider and a 1955 Topps Gil Hodges. Another customer picked up a 1962 Topps Nellie Fox. I have two regular customers named Jason. The first Jason purchased a 1959 Topps Yogi Berra.  The other Jason bought me out on my 1936 Goudey Wide Pens and several 1951 Red Backs. Another regular picked up a few 1933 Goudeys. I also sold a 1950 Bowman Yogi Berra. Quite a few guys pulled cards from the 1950s through 1980s. Another regular named Mike picked up some 1970 Topps for his set. I also sold two 1989 Donruss rack packs and a 1975 Topps Joe Theisman rookie. A regular customer picked up a 1975-76 George Gervin.

A few guys showed up with cards to sell. I skipped on a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie. I didn't even ask the guy the price because he's usually very high.  Another guy had a binder filled with several pages of 1960s football and about 25 pages of 1970s football.  He wanted $300. I offered $150. He offered the book to all the dealers in the room. Nobody took him up on his $300 and he went home with the binder. There was not $300 worth of cards in there. I think $150 was really generous. The guy made a mistake.

Another dealer gave me a box of 1960s football and baseball, about 150 cards, for $60. There was a Jim Brown in there and several Bart Starrs.  I picked up a binder of about 320 1969 commons from a customer for $75. After we made the deal, another guy came up to me and told me that the seller of the 1969s picked them up from another dealer for $60.  The guy was hot about it, telling me that it is wrong to buy something from one dealer and walk over to another and sell it for more.  I told him that I really don't have a problem with it and consider the extra cash I paid out a finders fee.  I can't really leave my table to walk around and see what's in the room so I don't mind when people bring me cards they purchased elsewhere in the room. Bottom line is I need cards. I sell a ton of commons and if the price is right, I'll buy them. I don't really care where they come from, as long as they're not stolen.  I think the guy got pissed off at me because I wasn't upset that the seller of the 1969s picked up the cards from another dealer in the room -- I think this guy had some misplaced anger. Card shows for me are about having a good time. There's no reason to get uptight. I'm happy with my purchase.

I'm pretty sure Johnny Logan, former Milwaukee Brave, was hanging out at the show today.  As I write this from home, I watching the White Sox/Dodgers spring training game and Billy Pierce is in the booth commenting on the game.  There's nothing like these old time ball players.

The only downer of the day was the rain. I got soaked loading up my car. The drive to Chicago was a little scary with heavy rain the whole way.  I love the Gonzaga show.  I can't wait for next month's show!!

I love Serb Hall because there are always multiple shows going on at the same time.  There is usually a vinyl record show in a room down the hall from the card show.  Today there was a breweriana show. I collect beer cans and was pumped to check out the breweriana show.  I convinced another dealer to watch my table and paid the five bucks to get into the breweriana show -- a little steep for admission.  I was disappointed that there were very few beer cans. There were mostly signs and serving trays.  I picked up a Sport Magazine from December 1936 with Luke Appling on the cover for $8.  I was surprised to find the Sport Magazines at the Breweriana Show. I spent maybe 15 or 20 minutes in the show.

Back at the card show, we had the largest crowd I have ever seen at a Serb Hall Show.  I think that can be attributed to the Breweriana show which was pretty well attended. Needless to say, I had a terrific day. Several of my regulars bought cards in quantity. I also sold a 1950 Bowman Ted Williams and a Roy Campanella to a customer. I sold some 1952 Parkhurst hockey to another customer. Quite a few guys dinked around my binders.

Only one customer showed up at my table with cards to sell. This same guy had some cards at the last Gonzaga show. I picked up a 1935 Diamond Stars Jimmy Dykes from him which turned out to be creased when I got it home.  So I wasn't too quick to pull the trigger with him this time.  Also, when I buy cards, I prefer the seller to quote me a price. A deal rarely goes down if I throw out a price.  The guy had mostly Braves from the 1950s including some Johnston Cookies. He wanted $7 a piece of the cookie cards, which I thought was too high.  He had a 1955 Topps Hank Aaron that I was interested in.  The card was in Good Condition with some corner wear and surface scratching.  I offered $50, thinking I could sell it for $75,  but he picked up his pile of cards and walked away. He never even gave me a counter offer or a price of any kind. I'm hoping he doesn't show me overpriced cards next weekend at Gonzaga. 

Overall, a terrific weekend with the Orland and Serb Hall shows.  I ended up making just as much money as I made at the last Sun-Times Show but only had to spend $150 in table fees as opposed to $375.  Plus I worked just two, instead of three days and I was home by 3 p.m. each day rather than the 6 or 7 p.m. of the Sun Times.

I was a little worried  when I pulled into the parking lot at the Orland Park Civic Center around 8:15 a.m. and saw about 1/10 of the cars I normally see.  We were going up against the Sun-Times show in Rosemont and quite a few dealers and customers skipped us in favor of the Sun-Times show.  Unloading my car this morning was real difficult because high powered winds were sweeping across the region. Every time I opened my car door the wind would slam it shut. Same with the trunk. After I finally got everything out of the car and onto the cart, the wind blew two of my display cases off of the cart.  Luckily, these cases are made of thick wood and they were not damaged at all.

Once inside, I was taken aback by all the empty tables. This show has 90 tables and they are all usually full. I normally take three tables, but today I took over a fourth because there was no one there.  I essentially had the entire back wall which is something I've always wanted to do.  I brought extra stuff anticipating extra space.  I had a nice display.

Another vintage dealer Mike and I discussed our prospects at earning enough money to pay for the tables.  Mike was unaware that the Sun-Times show was today and he was not happy.  Luckily, quite a few of my regulars showed up. Rick purchased quite a few high grade 1964s. Larry picked up a nice group of 1963s. Another gentleman spent quite a few dollars on 1964s.  I sold a Roger Maris rookie to another customer.  A 1976 and 1979 Pete Rose to a customer. A 1968 "Manager's Dream" card went to a customer who usually purchases hockey.  I sold some Exhibits to Will, some 1987 rack packs, and quite a few commons from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s to other guys.  I didn't sell any basketball cards. I don't think I sold much football.  Baseball carried the day. Overall it was a  pretty good day.  I also purchased a lot of 1968s, a 1964 Mantle and a 1964 Topps Coin Sandy Koufax.

I didn't make quite as much as I did on the Saturday at the November Sun-Times Show but I also didn't spend nearly as much in table fees and parking.  I also had lousy days on Friday and Sunday at the Sun-Times Show and feel pretty good about skipping it this time around.

I've spent much of this evening pricing 1965s. Tomorrow I head up to Milwaukee for the Serb Hall show. I'm hoping my Serb Hall regulars will be in attendance.

I was the walking dead on Saturday. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, tired, pale, sick. I drank a ton of tea and felt better by Sunday morning. Though there were times at the show I could have passed out.

I walked into the room at the Radisson in Schaumburg a little later than usual because I had a tough time getting going. The dealer set up next to me had placed a bunch of his merchandise on my table. One of his customers was looking through a box of cards on my table and had cards spread out. I brought in one of two loads from my car and kindly informed the dealer and his customer that I would need the space shortly. The dealer pulled off some of his stuff but not all of it. On the way out to get my second load, I told the show promoter Fred Copp that I was a little disturbed that the dealer next to me had not moved all his stuff off of my table.  I must have been a little loud because when I brought the rest of my stuff in, the guy had moved his junk.  Though he had a stack of five banker boxes up against one of my display cases. I had to move the boxes to be able to put cards into my display case. The guy mumbled something at me while I moved his boxes. I ignored him.

Action at my table was fairly steady. Big John started out my day picking up a few cards for sets he is building. I made a nice sale to Tom of some 58s and 59s.  Jim Goodfriend purchased a bunch of 1977 Topps commons. Quite a few guys dinked around in my binders and the sales began to add up.  Several guys picked up cards to send out to get signed. The day brightened significantly when I sold a 1948 Bowman Stan Musial rookie to a customer I have seen at Orland but never at Schaumburg. So with money in my pocket, I went on a spending spree. I picked up a box of mixed vintage from another dealer, a pair of Tommy John rookies and a Dave McNally rookie from one customer and a 1955 Topps Al Kaline, Eddie Mathews and a few commons from another customer.  Nice haul. I offered $150 to a guy who showed up at my table with a binder of cards.  The cards were off grade and featured mostly Cubs and a few other stars. About half the binder was vintage and the other half was reprints.  I figured the binder was worth about $200.  The guy tells me other dealers offered him $2,000. I said no way. He showed me fliers from two dealers that I know, smart dealers who would never spend $2,000 on $200 worth of cards.  When I asked the guy why he didn't take the 2,000 from the other dealers, he said they didn't have the money on them. I kindly thanked him for showing me the cards and he left the room. Overall, a good day, one of my better Schaumburg shows.