I parked at the CTA lot on the morning of Saturday, August 1, 2015, the fourth day of the National Sports Collectors Convention. It was a short walk from the CTA lot to the convention center. I skipped the cafeteria and went with the free doughnuts, pictured above, for breakfast.
Like yesterday, light dealer traffic early on and masses by 10 a.m. Only problem was that the huge mountain of humanity was not interested in my cards. I watched Dave sell high-grade post-war vintage all day. Dave had a tremendous show. Seems like collectors that attend the National are most interested in high-grade cards. My mid- to low-grade stuff was largely ignored… which was strange because at past Nationals I have done extremely well with this stuff. Where were my customers?
I probably will not set up at the Atlantic City National next year – too far, too expensive. I will be back for the 2017 National in Rosemont. I think I may change my set up for that one. Less display cases, more binders, more sets. I hope I can get the same group of dealers back for that one. Dave, Seth, and Scott are all good guys and very easy to work with.
I watched Seth have steady sales all week long. Seth sells modern cards of which I know nothing about. Seth is an excellent dealer and was very busy the whole week. Like me, our other boothmate Scott did not appear to have a whole lot of sales other than on Wednesday.
I did not really talk to any other dealers at the show about sales so I do not know how things went for the other guys. I observed that some dealers did not open up on Saturday including Probstein and the dealer on the other side of P.J. I spent most of the day chatting with Dave’s customer Sandy, who surmised that Probstein, like Sandy Koufax, does not play on the Sabbath, thus, his booth was closed.
My first customer of the day was Abel, the promoter of the Jackson, Michigan. He purchased some 1965 Topps baseball for a set he is building for a buddy. His next show in Jackson is on Halloween. I can’t make that one. I will be trick-or-treating with my kids.
Then Paul, one of my favorites from the Orland show, stopped by my table. I have not seen Paul since I stopped setting up in Orland last year. He said he went to see me at the flea market on July 5 but that was the day I got stuck in Michigan. A few others said they went to the flea market looking for me. Sorry guys! I had planned to be there but just did not want to drive home from Michigan at midnight on July 4th.
Paul seems to be doing well. We both thought that the only thing missing was Will and Joe for the perfect Orland reunion. Will and Joe! Where are you guys? Paul purchased some 1973 Topps football then sold me some 1973-74 Topps hockey cards. Thanks Paul! Paul also mentioned that he is interested in setting up if I ever get a south-suburban card show together. I really gotta get crackin’ on that one.
Last sale of the day went to Tony Schaefer who purchased a bunch of star cards from the 1960s. Thanks Tony!!
One more day!! It has been a long week!! Final report from the National coming soon!
Note -- next time, I may swipe the speakers at the Topps booth -- way too loud!!
Like yesterday, light dealer traffic early on and masses by 10 a.m. Only problem was that the huge mountain of humanity was not interested in my cards. I watched Dave sell high-grade post-war vintage all day. Dave had a tremendous show. Seems like collectors that attend the National are most interested in high-grade cards. My mid- to low-grade stuff was largely ignored… which was strange because at past Nationals I have done extremely well with this stuff. Where were my customers?
I probably will not set up at the Atlantic City National next year – too far, too expensive. I will be back for the 2017 National in Rosemont. I think I may change my set up for that one. Less display cases, more binders, more sets. I hope I can get the same group of dealers back for that one. Dave, Seth, and Scott are all good guys and very easy to work with.
I watched Seth have steady sales all week long. Seth sells modern cards of which I know nothing about. Seth is an excellent dealer and was very busy the whole week. Like me, our other boothmate Scott did not appear to have a whole lot of sales other than on Wednesday.
I did not really talk to any other dealers at the show about sales so I do not know how things went for the other guys. I observed that some dealers did not open up on Saturday including Probstein and the dealer on the other side of P.J. I spent most of the day chatting with Dave’s customer Sandy, who surmised that Probstein, like Sandy Koufax, does not play on the Sabbath, thus, his booth was closed.
My first customer of the day was Abel, the promoter of the Jackson, Michigan. He purchased some 1965 Topps baseball for a set he is building for a buddy. His next show in Jackson is on Halloween. I can’t make that one. I will be trick-or-treating with my kids.
Then Paul, one of my favorites from the Orland show, stopped by my table. I have not seen Paul since I stopped setting up in Orland last year. He said he went to see me at the flea market on July 5 but that was the day I got stuck in Michigan. A few others said they went to the flea market looking for me. Sorry guys! I had planned to be there but just did not want to drive home from Michigan at midnight on July 4th.
Paul seems to be doing well. We both thought that the only thing missing was Will and Joe for the perfect Orland reunion. Will and Joe! Where are you guys? Paul purchased some 1973 Topps football then sold me some 1973-74 Topps hockey cards. Thanks Paul! Paul also mentioned that he is interested in setting up if I ever get a south-suburban card show together. I really gotta get crackin’ on that one.
Last sale of the day went to Tony Schaefer who purchased a bunch of star cards from the 1960s. Thanks Tony!!
One more day!! It has been a long week!! Final report from the National coming soon!
Note -- next time, I may swipe the speakers at the Topps booth -- way too loud!!
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