Would you buy cards from this guy? Like the bald head? A good number of people on Wednesday bought some cards, not so much on Thursday. I had no idea what to expect on Friday, July 31, 2015, the third day of the National Sports Collectors Convention. Lisa dropped me off again around 8 a.m. I hit the cafeteria and dined on eggs and sausage. I attempted to be healthy and planned to skip the complimentary doughnuts for dealers. Well, when I walked into the lobby I saw Tony Schaefer carrying a plate filled with shiny delicious doughnuts. They looked so good. I could not resist and went and got a white-frosting doughnut with sprinkles. To my credit, I was able to limit my intake to just one doughnut per day -- which was really hard to do because I wanted to eat hundreds of them!
After a slow day on Thursday, I decided to change things up a bit. I replaced by football-basketball display case with graded cards. I don't have that great of a graded inventory and was hesitant to bring them out but I felt like I needed something to spark sales.
I was open for business by 8:45 a.m. The first hour of the show seemed to be dealers walking around. By 10 a.m. the place was a mad house, packed to the gills with people. My graded inventory immediately drew interest. A guy wearing a Washington Nationals T-Shirt purchased my 1951 Berk Ross Willie Mays PSA 5 and a raw 1938 Goudey common.
The graded theme continued with my next customer, clad in a St. Louis Cardinals hat, who purchased my 1974-75 Topps Artis Gilmore PSA 8. He said he collects Kentucky Colonels from the ABA and was excited to find the Gilmore. I remember Gilmore more from when he played for the Bulls in the mid-1970s. He was awesome and one of my favorite players back then.
Next up I made a real nice sale to a father and son team that came in from San Francisco. They purchased my 1933 Goudeys Rabbit Marranville and Pie Traynor. Ahhh, I much better day already! Next up, a father and son team from New York brought over a small stack of low grade cards to sell, consisting largely of battered cards from the 1970s. There was a beat up 1967 Killebrew, a '79 Pete Rose All Star, a '78 Eddie Murray rookie, lots of low grade junk. They wanted $50 for the stack. I figured I would be lucky to sell the stack for $30 and offered $20. They declined and walked away. I just won't offer much for low grade cards because I can't sell them for much. The only card in the stack I wanted was the Killebrew. They would not sell it to me individually. They wanted to move the whole crappy stack.
I then had some annoying folks at my table. First annoying guy looked at my T205 Johnny Kling. The Kling has a Piedmont back which is a little more difficult of a back to obtain in the T205 set. The card is in Good condition with corner and edge wear. I have the card priced at $80. Annoying guy offered me $30. Sorry, I am not that hard up for cash where I have to give my cards away. Next annoying guy was one of those OBC guys who was wearing one of the old OBC hats that are white with blue lettering. Only this guy's hat was brown... I don't know what turned the white to brown, I can only speculate. He made ridiculously low offers on a bunch of cards. I did not sell him a single card. I don't mind discounting cards and I even expect buyers to ask for a discount but that discount MUST be reasonable. Asking for less than half of my sticker price is NOT reasonable. I will not sell cards to unreasonable customers and prefer they skip my table. It is very expensive to set up at this show plus I have spent money to purchase each and every card on my table. If I was to sell cards to these two jokers, I would be losing money. I am set up to make money, not lose money. I don't expect to get rich but to keep the party train rolling, I must make more than I paid for each and every card. I refuse to sell cards for less than I paid for them.
My day improved quickly after the lowballers vacated the area. A dentist from the Edison Park neighborhood in Chicago purchased my Hawthorn Melody Club of Champions beanie. I was sorry to see that thing go because it is so cool but I observed that the dentist really appreciated the item. At this point, I was officially having a good day. Woot!
Next up, was a White Sox fan who purchased several publications. Andy made one last trip to my table and picked up my graded 1968 Topps Willie Mays, a T206 Hal Chase and a 1968 Ernie Banks. Thanks Andy! I look forward to seeing you this fall!!
Dave started to organize a few things in his case that he wanted to consign to some of the auction houses. He had a box of several hundred high grade 1953 Topps baseball cards that he was going to consign. He never made it to the auction house. He started to tell two Boston dealers set up across the way about the cards and they purchased them. They purchased a lot of stuff from Dave during the show. We were across from these guys two years ago and they also purchased a ton of stuff from Dave at that show.
Another item Dave was considering to consign was a strip of 1955 Johnston Cookies that included Pafko and Logan. Luckily for me, Dave offered the cards to me first. I purchased them then placed them in the display case with the publications. A short while later the cards sold at a nice profit. Thanks Dave!
Next up was a customer wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt who purchased a pile of exhibits and publications. Matt from Wisconsin had sent me an email reminding me to bring 1964 Topps Coins and Exhibits. I should have held the Exhibits for Matt. He arrived shortly after Mr. Texas Longhorn. Matt was able to find a few coins and also purchased a 1933 Goudey Lon Warneke. Thanks Matt!
Matt was my last customer capping off a really good day. On the buying front, I picked up a stack of non-sports cards and a pair of 1907 George Hull White Sox postcards. George Hull was a clothing company and the postcards feature players for the 1906 World Series champion White Sox. I purchased them from a young guy who said they came from the estate of his great-grandmother -- kind of cool. I have never seen these postcards before. Now I am interested in them and would like to find some more!
I was getting a little stir-crazy after sitting at my booth for three days and decided to wander around the show a bit. I met a really nice older collector-dealer from Philadelphia who sold me some T206s at really nice prices. I should have purchased more! I was only able to walk one aisle. This show is huge and there was a lot to look at! Below is a photo of some of the cool old pictures I saw on my little walk around the show and a random photo of some of the booths.
After a slow day on Thursday, I decided to change things up a bit. I replaced by football-basketball display case with graded cards. I don't have that great of a graded inventory and was hesitant to bring them out but I felt like I needed something to spark sales.
I was open for business by 8:45 a.m. The first hour of the show seemed to be dealers walking around. By 10 a.m. the place was a mad house, packed to the gills with people. My graded inventory immediately drew interest. A guy wearing a Washington Nationals T-Shirt purchased my 1951 Berk Ross Willie Mays PSA 5 and a raw 1938 Goudey common.
The graded theme continued with my next customer, clad in a St. Louis Cardinals hat, who purchased my 1974-75 Topps Artis Gilmore PSA 8. He said he collects Kentucky Colonels from the ABA and was excited to find the Gilmore. I remember Gilmore more from when he played for the Bulls in the mid-1970s. He was awesome and one of my favorite players back then.
Next up I made a real nice sale to a father and son team that came in from San Francisco. They purchased my 1933 Goudeys Rabbit Marranville and Pie Traynor. Ahhh, I much better day already! Next up, a father and son team from New York brought over a small stack of low grade cards to sell, consisting largely of battered cards from the 1970s. There was a beat up 1967 Killebrew, a '79 Pete Rose All Star, a '78 Eddie Murray rookie, lots of low grade junk. They wanted $50 for the stack. I figured I would be lucky to sell the stack for $30 and offered $20. They declined and walked away. I just won't offer much for low grade cards because I can't sell them for much. The only card in the stack I wanted was the Killebrew. They would not sell it to me individually. They wanted to move the whole crappy stack.
I then had some annoying folks at my table. First annoying guy looked at my T205 Johnny Kling. The Kling has a Piedmont back which is a little more difficult of a back to obtain in the T205 set. The card is in Good condition with corner and edge wear. I have the card priced at $80. Annoying guy offered me $30. Sorry, I am not that hard up for cash where I have to give my cards away. Next annoying guy was one of those OBC guys who was wearing one of the old OBC hats that are white with blue lettering. Only this guy's hat was brown... I don't know what turned the white to brown, I can only speculate. He made ridiculously low offers on a bunch of cards. I did not sell him a single card. I don't mind discounting cards and I even expect buyers to ask for a discount but that discount MUST be reasonable. Asking for less than half of my sticker price is NOT reasonable. I will not sell cards to unreasonable customers and prefer they skip my table. It is very expensive to set up at this show plus I have spent money to purchase each and every card on my table. If I was to sell cards to these two jokers, I would be losing money. I am set up to make money, not lose money. I don't expect to get rich but to keep the party train rolling, I must make more than I paid for each and every card. I refuse to sell cards for less than I paid for them.
My day improved quickly after the lowballers vacated the area. A dentist from the Edison Park neighborhood in Chicago purchased my Hawthorn Melody Club of Champions beanie. I was sorry to see that thing go because it is so cool but I observed that the dentist really appreciated the item. At this point, I was officially having a good day. Woot!
Next up, was a White Sox fan who purchased several publications. Andy made one last trip to my table and picked up my graded 1968 Topps Willie Mays, a T206 Hal Chase and a 1968 Ernie Banks. Thanks Andy! I look forward to seeing you this fall!!
Dave started to organize a few things in his case that he wanted to consign to some of the auction houses. He had a box of several hundred high grade 1953 Topps baseball cards that he was going to consign. He never made it to the auction house. He started to tell two Boston dealers set up across the way about the cards and they purchased them. They purchased a lot of stuff from Dave during the show. We were across from these guys two years ago and they also purchased a ton of stuff from Dave at that show.
Another item Dave was considering to consign was a strip of 1955 Johnston Cookies that included Pafko and Logan. Luckily for me, Dave offered the cards to me first. I purchased them then placed them in the display case with the publications. A short while later the cards sold at a nice profit. Thanks Dave!
Next up was a customer wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt who purchased a pile of exhibits and publications. Matt from Wisconsin had sent me an email reminding me to bring 1964 Topps Coins and Exhibits. I should have held the Exhibits for Matt. He arrived shortly after Mr. Texas Longhorn. Matt was able to find a few coins and also purchased a 1933 Goudey Lon Warneke. Thanks Matt!
Matt was my last customer capping off a really good day. On the buying front, I picked up a stack of non-sports cards and a pair of 1907 George Hull White Sox postcards. George Hull was a clothing company and the postcards feature players for the 1906 World Series champion White Sox. I purchased them from a young guy who said they came from the estate of his great-grandmother -- kind of cool. I have never seen these postcards before. Now I am interested in them and would like to find some more!
I was getting a little stir-crazy after sitting at my booth for three days and decided to wander around the show a bit. I met a really nice older collector-dealer from Philadelphia who sold me some T206s at really nice prices. I should have purchased more! I was only able to walk one aisle. This show is huge and there was a lot to look at! Below is a photo of some of the cool old pictures I saw on my little walk around the show and a random photo of some of the booths.
Back at booth 309, my booth, I picked up a new consignor who brought me complete baseball and football sets from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lisa picked me up after the show and we met the consignor at the CTA lot where we loaded the sets into my car. I will be posting those sets shortly to eBay, so keep tabs on my eBay auctions!
I finally received my cards back from PSA. I was not happy with the grades. The 55 Bowman Mantle got a 6, the 1962 Topps Mantle also got a 6 while the 1962 Topps Maris got a 5 and the 1963 Topps Mantle got a 5. I may resubmit the '62 Maris and the '63 Mantle. The 55 Bowman Mantle and the '62 Mantle are up for sale on eBay -- click HERE.
After three days at the National, I was pretty tired. Once home, I ate some food and passed out. The blog for Day 4 will be up shortly.
I finally received my cards back from PSA. I was not happy with the grades. The 55 Bowman Mantle got a 6, the 1962 Topps Mantle also got a 6 while the 1962 Topps Maris got a 5 and the 1963 Topps Mantle got a 5. I may resubmit the '62 Maris and the '63 Mantle. The 55 Bowman Mantle and the '62 Mantle are up for sale on eBay -- click HERE.
After three days at the National, I was pretty tired. Once home, I ate some food and passed out. The blog for Day 4 will be up shortly.
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