Sunday, November 4, 2012, Best Western Plus, Schaumburg, IL -- Another in a series of late blogs. I'm slowly catching up. Well, the Schaumburg show was really nice on this sunny late fall day. We were in the bigger room which was a surprise. I only brought two display cases thinking we'd be in the smaller room and I wouldn't have as much space. Without the display cases, I just laid the cards out on the table, which is always a worry because theft does occur on occasion. Luckily, we had only honest customers and dealers today.
Last month, I observed that the hotel was serving its breakfast buffet in one of the meeting rooms while they rehabbed their restaurant. After set up, I made a bee line for the buffet. It was the same stuff they had in the restaurant, only difference was the bacon and sausages were overcooked. The buffet costs $11 and I wasn't too happy. As a diabetic, I'm limited to what I can eat. I can't eat potatoes and bread, so I try and fill up on bacon and sausage which just wasn't good today. I ate a sweet roll, which I shouldn't have done. Though, I did work the sugar off after the show raking leaves in my yard. I'm skipping the buffet next time.
We had a nice crowd early on and sales were brisk. Don, also known as Beanie, got things going early with a purchase of a few 1959 Topps baseball commons. Don got his Beanie nickname because he sells Beanie Babies along with sports cards and memorabilia. Don was set up next to me today and I caught an indepth conversation he had with some customers about Beanie Babies. They were talking about the good old days when certain Beanie Babies would sell for several hundred dollars. Those same Beanies go for just $5 today.
Back at my table, Fritz picked up some big hitters from the 1961 Topps set including a Koufax, Mantle All Star, Maris All Star, Brooks Robinson All Star and Whitey Ford All Star. A regular picked up some 1967 Topps baseball. A new customer picked up my 1959 Topps Art Ditmar. Uncle Morty made an appearance today. I haven't seen old Mort in months. I like Mort but he can be difficult and trying at times. Today, he found a 1957 Topps common that I had priced at $7. He took the card over to a window and gave it some severe scrutiny. He found on indentation on the surface where someone had probably absent mindedly placed a piece of paper over the card and wrote something. Mort found slight evidence of the letters R and C indented on the surface of the card. Pretty amazing for a guy around 80 years old to be able to see that. I never noticed it and would need a magnifying glass to find it. I dropped the price to $3 and Mort was happy.
Larry picked up some 1981 Topps football. A regular picked up some 1967 Topps baseball. Chuck picked up some 1969 Topps baseball commons, some 1964 Topps coins, and some 1962 Post -- an "eclectic mix," Chuck said. Randy purchased a nice pile of 1959 Topps commons. Willie picked up my 1954 Red Heart Minnie Minoso, an Orlando Cepeda rookie and some 1961 Post. A regular rounded out my day with some 1967 Philadelphia football.
On the buying front, I turned down a mix of 1950s and '60s cards from Junior. I just didn't see the resale value in the cards and passed. I did pick up a nice grouping of 1953 Bowman Color from a dealer.
With the Bears-Titans game at noon, the crowd thinned out pretty quick and I packed up and vacated earlier than usual. I was able to get home and catch the end of the game and put some time in the yard dealing with the leaves. As I write this, I'm watching the Bears-Texans game after attending the Serb Hall show today and the Orland show yesterday. Those blogs are in the hopper and hopefully I'll post those soon. Next week, November 18, is Gonzaga. This should be an interesting show because the Sun-Times Show is in Rosemont this weekend and quite a few dealers and customers will be there. Also, the Packers are playing at noon so it will be an early crowd and an early day. I had a really nice show on November 4 in Schaumburg and am looking for another good show at Gonzaga.
Photos today are of Beanie Don's display. Thanks Don for letting me take the photos and post them.
Last month, I observed that the hotel was serving its breakfast buffet in one of the meeting rooms while they rehabbed their restaurant. After set up, I made a bee line for the buffet. It was the same stuff they had in the restaurant, only difference was the bacon and sausages were overcooked. The buffet costs $11 and I wasn't too happy. As a diabetic, I'm limited to what I can eat. I can't eat potatoes and bread, so I try and fill up on bacon and sausage which just wasn't good today. I ate a sweet roll, which I shouldn't have done. Though, I did work the sugar off after the show raking leaves in my yard. I'm skipping the buffet next time.
We had a nice crowd early on and sales were brisk. Don, also known as Beanie, got things going early with a purchase of a few 1959 Topps baseball commons. Don got his Beanie nickname because he sells Beanie Babies along with sports cards and memorabilia. Don was set up next to me today and I caught an indepth conversation he had with some customers about Beanie Babies. They were talking about the good old days when certain Beanie Babies would sell for several hundred dollars. Those same Beanies go for just $5 today.
Back at my table, Fritz picked up some big hitters from the 1961 Topps set including a Koufax, Mantle All Star, Maris All Star, Brooks Robinson All Star and Whitey Ford All Star. A regular picked up some 1967 Topps baseball. A new customer picked up my 1959 Topps Art Ditmar. Uncle Morty made an appearance today. I haven't seen old Mort in months. I like Mort but he can be difficult and trying at times. Today, he found a 1957 Topps common that I had priced at $7. He took the card over to a window and gave it some severe scrutiny. He found on indentation on the surface where someone had probably absent mindedly placed a piece of paper over the card and wrote something. Mort found slight evidence of the letters R and C indented on the surface of the card. Pretty amazing for a guy around 80 years old to be able to see that. I never noticed it and would need a magnifying glass to find it. I dropped the price to $3 and Mort was happy.
Larry picked up some 1981 Topps football. A regular picked up some 1967 Topps baseball. Chuck picked up some 1969 Topps baseball commons, some 1964 Topps coins, and some 1962 Post -- an "eclectic mix," Chuck said. Randy purchased a nice pile of 1959 Topps commons. Willie picked up my 1954 Red Heart Minnie Minoso, an Orlando Cepeda rookie and some 1961 Post. A regular rounded out my day with some 1967 Philadelphia football.
On the buying front, I turned down a mix of 1950s and '60s cards from Junior. I just didn't see the resale value in the cards and passed. I did pick up a nice grouping of 1953 Bowman Color from a dealer.
With the Bears-Titans game at noon, the crowd thinned out pretty quick and I packed up and vacated earlier than usual. I was able to get home and catch the end of the game and put some time in the yard dealing with the leaves. As I write this, I'm watching the Bears-Texans game after attending the Serb Hall show today and the Orland show yesterday. Those blogs are in the hopper and hopefully I'll post those soon. Next week, November 18, is Gonzaga. This should be an interesting show because the Sun-Times Show is in Rosemont this weekend and quite a few dealers and customers will be there. Also, the Packers are playing at noon so it will be an early crowd and an early day. I had a really nice show on November 4 in Schaumburg and am looking for another good show at Gonzaga.
Photos today are of Beanie Don's display. Thanks Don for letting me take the photos and post them.
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