Sunday, February 3, 2013, Best Western Plus, Schaumburg, IL -- First show of February 2013 and I can't really complain about the weather here in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. It was chilly out but plenty of sun. We were in the small room today and had a nice turn out. I plugged the show heavily on Craigslist. Does anybody see my promos on Craigslist? I am wondering if those listings reach anybody. I did see a lot of new faces today. I also created a Fred Copp Shows Facebook page (click here for the page). We are starting to get a nice little following. I regularly post on there along with Ted Lee and Mike Stark. Feel free to like the page and post your pick-ups and comments. I also have a Fat Daddy's Sports Facebook page where I post randomly about a variety of sports-related subjects (click here for the Fat Daddy Facebook page).
A couple of quick observations from today. The church that has entertained us for the last two months was noticeably absent. There also wasn't any musak piped into the room. It was unusually quiet. I noticed that the refurbished hotel restaurant was open today and looks really nice. My day got off to a good start when I wasn't charged for breakfast again. I didn't get to the buffet until about 10:30 a.m. when they were putting the food away. They just let me have what I wanted.
The show begins at 9 a.m. and almost like clockwork our first customer in the room is one we have dubbed with a silly name. Today, I decided to give him a new name -- Apple. Why Apple, you ask? My son likes this animated TV show called "Annoying Orange" where the characters consist of talking grocery items. The apple character is regularly chastised by the other edible creatures for being, well, an apple. This customer at the Best Western show is definitely a freakin' apple.
So our Apple friend usually arrives for the 9 a.m. show at 8 a.m. when nobody is set up. Today, he actually was late and didn't show up until 8:15 a.m. I've known this guy for several years and I don't think he has ever seen my full display because he always arrives then leaves long before I finish setting up. While I was setting up today, I just happened to notice that Mr. Apple actually bought something from one of the other dealers. I haven't seen him buy anything from anyone in at least two years. I was blown away by this purchase today because he's such an apple.
Then there is Mort. I don't think an apple properly describes Mort. He's more of a pear. As usual, Mort the pear went through piles of cards, thought about a few but decided against purchasing anything today. Luckily, Mort showed up after the morning rush. I wasn't very busy and didn't mind showing him card after card, then hearing critique after critique. Mort is Mort. He's okay. I can deal with pears, it's apples that rub me the wrong way.
The rest of the customers today thankfully were neither apples nor pears. A regular customer got things going by purchasing some mid-1970's football and basketball. Tim picked up some 1960's football. Northwest Side Chuck purchased some football and a 1962 Post Luis Aparicio. Chuck also gave me the name of his mechanic for my ailing vehicle. Thanks Chuck! Ron then bought some 1972 high numbers.
A regular customer then picked up some 1960 Topps baseball. A new customer came in, actually a family of new customers, and they wanted their 1990's basketball cards appraised. Well, I stopped bringing 1990's basketball cards out to shows in the 1990's because they ceased to have any value. I can't even give them away. These folks seemed quite nice and I hated to break the bad news to them. They did have a 1976-77 Topps Moses Malone that's worth about 10 bucks. They were happy with that news. I was happy when they bought some of my 25-cent packs.
Then I had a new customer, who had his list on his iPad, purchase some 1972 Topps baseball. A regular customer purchased a 1955 Bowman Eddie Robinson. A new customer made my day by purchasing a large pile of 1959 Topps baseball, including a real nice Orlando Cepeda. Another new customer named Dan emailed me earlier in the week about 1956 Topps. He showed up and purchased a nice little pile. Thanks Dan! As usual, Willie rounded out my day by purchasing cards to send out for signatures. Today Willie bought some 1970's hockey.
On the buying front, I purchased an absolutely ugly 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson. I generally buy cards in any condition because I have customers that span the condition gambit. This card may be covered in creases but it's Jackie Robinson, who in my opinion is the most important player ever in professional sports and I never pass up an opportunity to buy one of his cards when the price is right. I also picked up a 1963 Fleer Carl Yasztresmki, along with some 1971 Topps coins and supers.
Overall, a very nice day, one of my better Schaumburg shows. I've got two shows this weekend. Saturday is Orland while Sunday is Serb Hall. My Orland customers have not seen my newly reloaded 1975 Topps Minis binder and my 1975-76 Topps basketball binder. The folks at Serb haven't seen those binders along with my 1975 Topps binder. I am also working on 1971 Topps football, which I should have completed in time for Orland. It is going to be a busy weekend!
A big thank you to everyone in Schaumburg. I'm not sure when I'll be back at that show. I'm planning on hitting one of Fred's Bloomingdale shows next month. In the meantime, please visit me this weekend in Orland and Milwaukee. Adios amigos!!
A couple of quick observations from today. The church that has entertained us for the last two months was noticeably absent. There also wasn't any musak piped into the room. It was unusually quiet. I noticed that the refurbished hotel restaurant was open today and looks really nice. My day got off to a good start when I wasn't charged for breakfast again. I didn't get to the buffet until about 10:30 a.m. when they were putting the food away. They just let me have what I wanted.
The show begins at 9 a.m. and almost like clockwork our first customer in the room is one we have dubbed with a silly name. Today, I decided to give him a new name -- Apple. Why Apple, you ask? My son likes this animated TV show called "Annoying Orange" where the characters consist of talking grocery items. The apple character is regularly chastised by the other edible creatures for being, well, an apple. This customer at the Best Western show is definitely a freakin' apple.
So our Apple friend usually arrives for the 9 a.m. show at 8 a.m. when nobody is set up. Today, he actually was late and didn't show up until 8:15 a.m. I've known this guy for several years and I don't think he has ever seen my full display because he always arrives then leaves long before I finish setting up. While I was setting up today, I just happened to notice that Mr. Apple actually bought something from one of the other dealers. I haven't seen him buy anything from anyone in at least two years. I was blown away by this purchase today because he's such an apple.
Then there is Mort. I don't think an apple properly describes Mort. He's more of a pear. As usual, Mort the pear went through piles of cards, thought about a few but decided against purchasing anything today. Luckily, Mort showed up after the morning rush. I wasn't very busy and didn't mind showing him card after card, then hearing critique after critique. Mort is Mort. He's okay. I can deal with pears, it's apples that rub me the wrong way.
The rest of the customers today thankfully were neither apples nor pears. A regular customer got things going by purchasing some mid-1970's football and basketball. Tim picked up some 1960's football. Northwest Side Chuck purchased some football and a 1962 Post Luis Aparicio. Chuck also gave me the name of his mechanic for my ailing vehicle. Thanks Chuck! Ron then bought some 1972 high numbers.
A regular customer then picked up some 1960 Topps baseball. A new customer came in, actually a family of new customers, and they wanted their 1990's basketball cards appraised. Well, I stopped bringing 1990's basketball cards out to shows in the 1990's because they ceased to have any value. I can't even give them away. These folks seemed quite nice and I hated to break the bad news to them. They did have a 1976-77 Topps Moses Malone that's worth about 10 bucks. They were happy with that news. I was happy when they bought some of my 25-cent packs.
Then I had a new customer, who had his list on his iPad, purchase some 1972 Topps baseball. A regular customer purchased a 1955 Bowman Eddie Robinson. A new customer made my day by purchasing a large pile of 1959 Topps baseball, including a real nice Orlando Cepeda. Another new customer named Dan emailed me earlier in the week about 1956 Topps. He showed up and purchased a nice little pile. Thanks Dan! As usual, Willie rounded out my day by purchasing cards to send out for signatures. Today Willie bought some 1970's hockey.
On the buying front, I purchased an absolutely ugly 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson. I generally buy cards in any condition because I have customers that span the condition gambit. This card may be covered in creases but it's Jackie Robinson, who in my opinion is the most important player ever in professional sports and I never pass up an opportunity to buy one of his cards when the price is right. I also picked up a 1963 Fleer Carl Yasztresmki, along with some 1971 Topps coins and supers.
Overall, a very nice day, one of my better Schaumburg shows. I've got two shows this weekend. Saturday is Orland while Sunday is Serb Hall. My Orland customers have not seen my newly reloaded 1975 Topps Minis binder and my 1975-76 Topps basketball binder. The folks at Serb haven't seen those binders along with my 1975 Topps binder. I am also working on 1971 Topps football, which I should have completed in time for Orland. It is going to be a busy weekend!
A big thank you to everyone in Schaumburg. I'm not sure when I'll be back at that show. I'm planning on hitting one of Fred's Bloomingdale shows next month. In the meantime, please visit me this weekend in Orland and Milwaukee. Adios amigos!!
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