The stars aligned perfectly on Saturday, December 5, 2015, for my monthly card show at the Clarion Hotel in Milwaukee bringing out a really nice crowd. I think it helped that we had a really great dealer line-up with Gary, Terry, Scott, Larry, Bill, Mike M. and PJ. This was my most vintage-heavy show to date. Oh my, we had a tremendous vintage inventory in the room thanks to Mike and Terry. Mike's display cases were filled with nothing but vintage heavy hitters. I admired his 1963 Topps Pete Rose rookie. The only dealer with shiny stuff was Scott, who had a bunch of cool autos and inserts. All of the dealers enjoyed a steady flow of customers all day long. One of my better-attended shows.
I had reloaded some 1961 Post Cereal baseball cards for the show. Quite a few guys, including Jason and Bill, found some cards in there. A big shout out to my buddy Jim Kaiser, who is working on a 1956 Topps baseball set. My law school pal Andy stopped in. A big thank you to Gizmo for coming up from Illinois and buying cards from quite a few dealers. I sold several T205 cards to a new customer. We both agreed that the artwork is so much cooler on the T205s than the more popular T206s. Tim also came up from Illinois and bought some cards. Thanks Tim! Todd, who I met in the spring at the Appleton show, came down and found some cards for his sets. Thanks Todd!
I was busy most of the day and enjoyed chatting with numerous folks at my tables. I also bought a few cards. A huge thank you to Mike P. who has been regularly bringing me cards at this show for months. Mike always has good stuff and I appreciate our deals. Thanks Mike! Bill also brought me mounds of stuff. Thanks Bill! I definitely went home with more cards than I came with. I picked up some 1950s and 1960s football, some early 1960s baseball, some Coke football bottle caps from the late 1960s, some old Sports Illustrateds, and some 1971 Topps coins, among assorted goodies.
My next Clarion show is set for Sunday, January 3, 2016. This will be my only Sunday show in 2016. I am hopeful that we have the exact same crowd for the January show that we had in December. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday. I hope you all found some great cards (I know I did!).
I was back up in Wisconsin on Sunday, December 6, 2015, for the show in Madison. I have set up at this show a few times over the years. All those shows were at the Crown Plaza. Promoter Darin Blang recently moved the show to the Clarion in Madison. The show at the Clarion was just as good as the one at the Crown. I love the fact that this show does not open until 10 a.m. which gives me plenty of time to drive up from Illinois. I took a new route thanks to my trusty GPS. I have been driving to Madison since I was a teenager and always took either I90 or I94. The GPS took me to Route 12, to 14, then a brief ride on I90 and I was at the Clarion. This route saved at least a 1/2 hour and was more interesting. My only issue was some heavy fog. It was foggy on Saturday for my drive to Milwaukee and twice as foggy on Sunday for my ride to Madison. Visibility was only 25 to 50 yards or so which made for some scary driving.
Once safely in Madison, I enjoyed some free hotel breakfast at the Clarion. I especially appreciated several cups of free coffee. Like my show on Saturday, we had a really nice turn out on Sunday. The room was filled with dealers. Gary, who was set up at my show was also set up in Madison. The only other dealer I knew was Jerry, who regularly sets up at Gonzaga. There were many more modern dealers at this show.
I saw some folks that I normally see at the Gonzaga show, who purchased a bunch of cards. There was a customer named Jim, who remembered me from my last visit to Madison. Jim purchased a ton of cards, including a huge stack of 1970 Topps baseball. Thanks Jim! Quite a few other guys found some cards in my binders.
Gary remarked on my reduction of inventory from the day before where I had five tables full of stuff. I just had two tables at the Madison show. Both Gary and I agreed that the Madison show is excellent. My sales were very good, even with just two tables.
After spending a ton of money on Saturday, I was not in a buying mood on Sunday. Only one person showed me some cards and he did not have a price in mind. I watched him attempt to make a deal with another dealer. It seemed awkward and they could not come to an agreement. I decided not to pursue anything. It is really hard to make a deal with a customer who is not certain of the value of his cards or how much money he would like to obtain in exchange for his cards.
I observed that Jerry, pictured above, had a nice inventory of Diamond Stars that he recently picked up. I was tempted but decided to bring home some money. Another dealer had some Exhibits that piqued my interest but he was crazy high on his prices. He wanted $500 for a grouping of 20 or 30 cards. I don't think he had more than $50 worth of stuff there. Where in the world did he get a number like $500? Exhibits are not rare or expensive cards. Strange.
I put out some fliers for my Clarion show on a small side table. I overheard some dealers talking about my show. They have never been to my show and were curious. One said that every time he does an internet search on card shows, my show is the first one to pop up -- which was good to hear. Hopefully, these guys give my show a try sometime.
I noticed something interesting about this show as compared to the Milwaukee shows. This show draws dealers from far northwest Wisconsin, guys who never travel to shows in Milwaukee, located in southeast Wisconsin. The Milwaukee shows, on the other hand, seem to draw dealers from all the lakefront towns from Northern Wisconsin down to Illinois. It sure would be cool if we could somehow get all these dealers together at one show in either Madison or Milwaukee some time.
Anyway, I had a really nice show in Madison and a really great weekend buying and selling cards. Up next is the Gonzaga show on Sunday, December 14, 2015. The pre-Christmas show is always one of the best Gonzaga shows of the year. Keith and all the folks at the WSCA do a tremendous job with their annual food drive and always have gifts for the kids. I just received the WSCA newsletter and saw that Denny McLain will be signing autographs at the January Gonzaga show.
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday along with those that bought cards from me on Sunday in Madison. I'm looking forward to another great Gonzaga show on Sunday!!
I had reloaded some 1961 Post Cereal baseball cards for the show. Quite a few guys, including Jason and Bill, found some cards in there. A big shout out to my buddy Jim Kaiser, who is working on a 1956 Topps baseball set. My law school pal Andy stopped in. A big thank you to Gizmo for coming up from Illinois and buying cards from quite a few dealers. I sold several T205 cards to a new customer. We both agreed that the artwork is so much cooler on the T205s than the more popular T206s. Tim also came up from Illinois and bought some cards. Thanks Tim! Todd, who I met in the spring at the Appleton show, came down and found some cards for his sets. Thanks Todd!
I was busy most of the day and enjoyed chatting with numerous folks at my tables. I also bought a few cards. A huge thank you to Mike P. who has been regularly bringing me cards at this show for months. Mike always has good stuff and I appreciate our deals. Thanks Mike! Bill also brought me mounds of stuff. Thanks Bill! I definitely went home with more cards than I came with. I picked up some 1950s and 1960s football, some early 1960s baseball, some Coke football bottle caps from the late 1960s, some old Sports Illustrateds, and some 1971 Topps coins, among assorted goodies.
My next Clarion show is set for Sunday, January 3, 2016. This will be my only Sunday show in 2016. I am hopeful that we have the exact same crowd for the January show that we had in December. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday. I hope you all found some great cards (I know I did!).
I was back up in Wisconsin on Sunday, December 6, 2015, for the show in Madison. I have set up at this show a few times over the years. All those shows were at the Crown Plaza. Promoter Darin Blang recently moved the show to the Clarion in Madison. The show at the Clarion was just as good as the one at the Crown. I love the fact that this show does not open until 10 a.m. which gives me plenty of time to drive up from Illinois. I took a new route thanks to my trusty GPS. I have been driving to Madison since I was a teenager and always took either I90 or I94. The GPS took me to Route 12, to 14, then a brief ride on I90 and I was at the Clarion. This route saved at least a 1/2 hour and was more interesting. My only issue was some heavy fog. It was foggy on Saturday for my drive to Milwaukee and twice as foggy on Sunday for my ride to Madison. Visibility was only 25 to 50 yards or so which made for some scary driving.
Once safely in Madison, I enjoyed some free hotel breakfast at the Clarion. I especially appreciated several cups of free coffee. Like my show on Saturday, we had a really nice turn out on Sunday. The room was filled with dealers. Gary, who was set up at my show was also set up in Madison. The only other dealer I knew was Jerry, who regularly sets up at Gonzaga. There were many more modern dealers at this show.
I saw some folks that I normally see at the Gonzaga show, who purchased a bunch of cards. There was a customer named Jim, who remembered me from my last visit to Madison. Jim purchased a ton of cards, including a huge stack of 1970 Topps baseball. Thanks Jim! Quite a few other guys found some cards in my binders.
Gary remarked on my reduction of inventory from the day before where I had five tables full of stuff. I just had two tables at the Madison show. Both Gary and I agreed that the Madison show is excellent. My sales were very good, even with just two tables.
After spending a ton of money on Saturday, I was not in a buying mood on Sunday. Only one person showed me some cards and he did not have a price in mind. I watched him attempt to make a deal with another dealer. It seemed awkward and they could not come to an agreement. I decided not to pursue anything. It is really hard to make a deal with a customer who is not certain of the value of his cards or how much money he would like to obtain in exchange for his cards.
I observed that Jerry, pictured above, had a nice inventory of Diamond Stars that he recently picked up. I was tempted but decided to bring home some money. Another dealer had some Exhibits that piqued my interest but he was crazy high on his prices. He wanted $500 for a grouping of 20 or 30 cards. I don't think he had more than $50 worth of stuff there. Where in the world did he get a number like $500? Exhibits are not rare or expensive cards. Strange.
I put out some fliers for my Clarion show on a small side table. I overheard some dealers talking about my show. They have never been to my show and were curious. One said that every time he does an internet search on card shows, my show is the first one to pop up -- which was good to hear. Hopefully, these guys give my show a try sometime.
I noticed something interesting about this show as compared to the Milwaukee shows. This show draws dealers from far northwest Wisconsin, guys who never travel to shows in Milwaukee, located in southeast Wisconsin. The Milwaukee shows, on the other hand, seem to draw dealers from all the lakefront towns from Northern Wisconsin down to Illinois. It sure would be cool if we could somehow get all these dealers together at one show in either Madison or Milwaukee some time.
Anyway, I had a really nice show in Madison and a really great weekend buying and selling cards. Up next is the Gonzaga show on Sunday, December 14, 2015. The pre-Christmas show is always one of the best Gonzaga shows of the year. Keith and all the folks at the WSCA do a tremendous job with their annual food drive and always have gifts for the kids. I just received the WSCA newsletter and saw that Denny McLain will be signing autographs at the January Gonzaga show.
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to my show on Saturday along with those that bought cards from me on Sunday in Madison. I'm looking forward to another great Gonzaga show on Sunday!!
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