Saturday, April 9, 2022, Rock Church, Rockford, IL
It was pretty cool that my good buddy Dave McDonald was set up next to me at the Rock Church show. Prior to the show, I told Dave that this is an excellent show for vintage. Luckily, he was able to secure a table as there was a last-minute cancellation.
Dave seemed to have beefed up his inventory and had a lot of nice vintage cards out on Saturday. Others commented to me that they were impressed with the quality and condition of Dave's cards. Dave has a terrific eye and always stocks beautiful cards. When he gets off grade cards, he flips them to me. If you are looking for high-grade raw vintage, Dave is your man.
Beautiful vintage cards aside, for some reason, the second Saturday of every month is filled with card shows in the general Wisconsin-Illinois area. I have not been to any of the others but I am fairly certain that the Rock Church show is the best of the bunch. This show always has a large number of dealers with an incredible variety and is well attended.
I get a lot of vintage set builders at the Rock Church show. I brought out all of the binders and was busy most of the day. It looked like Dave was busy as well. I'm hoping he is back next month.
I had many sales but most were of the small-dollar variety and overall sales lagged behind last month when I had higher end stuff out. I'll probably do something a little different for the May show.
On the buying front, I did not purchase anything but ended up making a trade with Terry Hatch. Now, I love Terry, I have known him for years but our trades never work out in my favor. He gave me a small box of 1971 Topps high numbers along with some 1972's that included a handful of high numbers. In return, I gave him a stack of 1972's that included stars and mostly high numbers.
Dollar for dollar, maybe the trade was even but I figure in the time I spent pricing the cards and the fact that those spots in the binders are now empty. If I don't receive money for cards, I look at it as a loss. I hate having my binders wiped out when I receive just cards and not any money in return. It just feels like a complete waste of time for me, considering the effort I put in sorting, pricing and inserting cards into the binders. I am just not a big fan of trading.
Like I said, quite a few guys did actually pay for some cards. I appreciate you! Thank you to everybody who spent some money at my table!
I did get offered some cards. A young guy had a box of 1990 Topps. No thank you. An older guy had some unique slabbed cards that featured a 1941 Play Ball card with a cut signature below, all in the same slab. He had three or four of them and wanted $80 a piece. The cards were commons and not in very good shape. They were 15-dollar cards at best. I figured the autographs were worth about $15 to $20. I also dislike cut autographs. I like to see the original item that was autographed. Cutting out an autograph from a photo or even a note card leaves it less desirable, in my opinion. Anyway, I would have been a buyer at $40 but not $80. He said they were selling on eBay for $100. I doubt it.
I watched Dave pick up a 1959 Topps Bob Gibson Rookie SGC 4.5. I thought the card was priced too high. Though, that card seems to be rising in value. The guy offered me some cards as well but I did not feel I could make any money at his prices. He did buy some cards from me. Thank you!
I would like to thank Phil Bucaro for throwing a wad of duct tape at me. I was impressed with the speed and accuracy of Phil's arm. He hit me right in the numbers from across the aisle. Nice throw for old guy! It is always great to see Phil and Skip. Love those guys.
Now for the piece de resistance -- 15th & Chris Burger Food Truck. Oh my! When John, the promoter, told me there was as food truck outside serving burgers, I pictured the run-down crappy food truck that showed up at the warehouse I used to work at in Chicago back in the day. No sir! This was something special.
15th & Chris serves up specialty burgers cooked fresh in the truck. They had seven or eight different burgers to choose from. I went with "The Wrecker," that featured bacon, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, blue cheese, and the house spicey sauce. Delicious! I was covered in goop while eating that thing but did not mind. Also, the parmesan fries were awesome. Made my day!!
I can't say enough about John and Mike and the Rock Church show. These guys do an absolutely phenomenal job. They have scheduled a second show in Janesville, WI. The first one is May 29. See flyer below. I've reserved two tables. The show is the day after the May 28 Madison show so I think I'll just spend the night in either Madison or Janesville. Should be a good time.
Next Rock Church show is May 14. Up next for me is the Woodstock show at the St. John's church on April 16. I'm trying to figure out what to bring out. The binders have not been doing as well as I would like these past few shows. I might shake it up for Woodstock. I am currently working on my 1960 Topps baseball binder. If I can finish the reload by Saturday, I'll bring out the baseball binders. I only have one table at the show. If I do not finish the reload, I think I will bring out cheapy boxes. Hope to see you Saturday in Woodstock!
Don't forget my next Oak Creek show is May 7 and I've got three former Packers signing autos including Dorsey Levens, Craig Newsome and Shannon Clavelle. I am not sure how the Oak Creek show can grow any larger but the May 7th will be my largest to date with 77 dealers and 122 tables. Autograph guests will be in the Chapel.
Below are some photos from the Rock Church show. Enjoy!
It was pretty cool that my good buddy Dave McDonald was set up next to me at the Rock Church show. Prior to the show, I told Dave that this is an excellent show for vintage. Luckily, he was able to secure a table as there was a last-minute cancellation.
Dave seemed to have beefed up his inventory and had a lot of nice vintage cards out on Saturday. Others commented to me that they were impressed with the quality and condition of Dave's cards. Dave has a terrific eye and always stocks beautiful cards. When he gets off grade cards, he flips them to me. If you are looking for high-grade raw vintage, Dave is your man.
Beautiful vintage cards aside, for some reason, the second Saturday of every month is filled with card shows in the general Wisconsin-Illinois area. I have not been to any of the others but I am fairly certain that the Rock Church show is the best of the bunch. This show always has a large number of dealers with an incredible variety and is well attended.
I get a lot of vintage set builders at the Rock Church show. I brought out all of the binders and was busy most of the day. It looked like Dave was busy as well. I'm hoping he is back next month.
I had many sales but most were of the small-dollar variety and overall sales lagged behind last month when I had higher end stuff out. I'll probably do something a little different for the May show.
On the buying front, I did not purchase anything but ended up making a trade with Terry Hatch. Now, I love Terry, I have known him for years but our trades never work out in my favor. He gave me a small box of 1971 Topps high numbers along with some 1972's that included a handful of high numbers. In return, I gave him a stack of 1972's that included stars and mostly high numbers.
Dollar for dollar, maybe the trade was even but I figure in the time I spent pricing the cards and the fact that those spots in the binders are now empty. If I don't receive money for cards, I look at it as a loss. I hate having my binders wiped out when I receive just cards and not any money in return. It just feels like a complete waste of time for me, considering the effort I put in sorting, pricing and inserting cards into the binders. I am just not a big fan of trading.
Like I said, quite a few guys did actually pay for some cards. I appreciate you! Thank you to everybody who spent some money at my table!
I did get offered some cards. A young guy had a box of 1990 Topps. No thank you. An older guy had some unique slabbed cards that featured a 1941 Play Ball card with a cut signature below, all in the same slab. He had three or four of them and wanted $80 a piece. The cards were commons and not in very good shape. They were 15-dollar cards at best. I figured the autographs were worth about $15 to $20. I also dislike cut autographs. I like to see the original item that was autographed. Cutting out an autograph from a photo or even a note card leaves it less desirable, in my opinion. Anyway, I would have been a buyer at $40 but not $80. He said they were selling on eBay for $100. I doubt it.
I watched Dave pick up a 1959 Topps Bob Gibson Rookie SGC 4.5. I thought the card was priced too high. Though, that card seems to be rising in value. The guy offered me some cards as well but I did not feel I could make any money at his prices. He did buy some cards from me. Thank you!
I would like to thank Phil Bucaro for throwing a wad of duct tape at me. I was impressed with the speed and accuracy of Phil's arm. He hit me right in the numbers from across the aisle. Nice throw for old guy! It is always great to see Phil and Skip. Love those guys.
Now for the piece de resistance -- 15th & Chris Burger Food Truck. Oh my! When John, the promoter, told me there was as food truck outside serving burgers, I pictured the run-down crappy food truck that showed up at the warehouse I used to work at in Chicago back in the day. No sir! This was something special.
15th & Chris serves up specialty burgers cooked fresh in the truck. They had seven or eight different burgers to choose from. I went with "The Wrecker," that featured bacon, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, blue cheese, and the house spicey sauce. Delicious! I was covered in goop while eating that thing but did not mind. Also, the parmesan fries were awesome. Made my day!!
I can't say enough about John and Mike and the Rock Church show. These guys do an absolutely phenomenal job. They have scheduled a second show in Janesville, WI. The first one is May 29. See flyer below. I've reserved two tables. The show is the day after the May 28 Madison show so I think I'll just spend the night in either Madison or Janesville. Should be a good time.
Next Rock Church show is May 14. Up next for me is the Woodstock show at the St. John's church on April 16. I'm trying to figure out what to bring out. The binders have not been doing as well as I would like these past few shows. I might shake it up for Woodstock. I am currently working on my 1960 Topps baseball binder. If I can finish the reload by Saturday, I'll bring out the baseball binders. I only have one table at the show. If I do not finish the reload, I think I will bring out cheapy boxes. Hope to see you Saturday in Woodstock!
Don't forget my next Oak Creek show is May 7 and I've got three former Packers signing autos including Dorsey Levens, Craig Newsome and Shannon Clavelle. I am not sure how the Oak Creek show can grow any larger but the May 7th will be my largest to date with 77 dealers and 122 tables. Autograph guests will be in the Chapel.
Below are some photos from the Rock Church show. Enjoy!
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