Very festive day at the Orland Park Card Show with wonderful Easter decor and a visit from the Easter Bunny. I wanted to get a photo with the Easter Bunny but could not get away from my tables.
Excellent show once again. Nice crowd.
The guy next to me has been selling his personal collection at the last several shows. He has baseball and football cards from 1969 through 1972 in two binders. Nice guy even though he is a Steelers fan. He told me he was originally a Bears fan but became disillusioned after years of futility. Can't blame him.
I am pretty sure he was selling his childhood collection. I don't think he looked at his cards until he decided to sell them. He placed them in the binders by team. He does not seem to understand that most folks collect vintage cards by year, not team -- though some do collect by team. He also had no idea of the value of his cards. He priced everything at a $1 a card whether it was a star or a common. Advanced collectors/dealers came through and cleaned him out of all of his stars which were priced way too cheap. I watched him sell multiple $20 cards for just a $1 each. He offered me the binders for 50-cents a card. I actually sell most of those cards for 25 cents a card, so I would need a much better deal. Though, I think he is having fun and does not really need the money as he told me stories of golfing in Mexico.
I brought out all of my binders and two display cases of graded cards this month. Eddie came by and purchased a pile of the graded cards. Thanks Eddie! I sold several other cards to random collectors including my 1970 Topps Nolan Ryan PSA 5.
Quite a few guys attacked the binders, as usual. Will pulled all of my 1977-78 Topps hockey. Thanks Will! I have one regular customer who completed his 1972 Topps baseball set with me a year or so ago. Today, he brought his teenage son who started on his own '72 set. Nice folks. See picture above. Actually there are a ton of nice folks in Orland who I have known for years.
Will and I were talking about the current dealers that were there when I first started setting up at this show 25 years ago. We think there are a good eight or nine guys left from that time period. So many guys have just disappeared or gone onto that great card show in the sky that we really miss like Big John who used to have the very first table when you walk in. There was our amazing pal Chuck, who would occasionally set up and sell 1974 Topps baseball and Post Cereal baseball. To this day, Chuck was one of the most knowledgeable card collectors I have ever known. Miss those guys terribly.
Back at today's show, I purchased a nice group of 1971 Topps football from Jeff. Thanks Jeff! Jim sold me some 1967 Topps baseball stars. Thanks Jim. I pulled my usual stack of stuff from Walt. Nice haul, once again.
Love the Orland show which has been my home away from home for a very long time. Next one is slated for April 27.
Up next for me is Madison on Saturday, March 29, at the Sheraton Hotel on John Nolan Drive. I am going to bring out all of my binders and my publications. I should have 1961 Fleer football reloaded and ready to go.
After Madison, it is time once again for Oak Creek on April 5. My waiting list is now at 173 dealers. I am amazed that folks continue to ask to be added to the waiting list where the wait is now about a year.
So to clear off my waiting list for a day, I created the Wisconsin MegaShow set for April 19 at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex. I have currently sold 300 tables and have a 100 more to go. I started working on the layout today and see that I could fit as many as 500 tables in the space. We'll see how many we end with. Should be fun!!
Come on out to Madison on Saturday!!!