I somehow made it to Orland around 8:15 a.m. The first thing I noticed was the large amount of vintage dealers at the show. With some regular vintage customers set up as dealers, a new vintage guy from Sheboygan, Wisc., along with some semi-regular vintage dealers, it was a packed house of vintage. I was a little worried about my sales with all the vintage dealers but I ended up having a good day.
There was a good crowd in the room for a Saturday show. However, in years past we had folks from out of state attend the Thanksgiving weekend show while visiting family in the Chicago area. I don't think I had any of these type of customers today. The room was filled with regulars and semi-regulars. I didn't have any new customers today. One year, I sold some T-206s to a guy from Australia who was in town visiting his wife's family. For several years, I had a family from Iowa regularly buy from me at this show, but I haven't seen them in the last two years.
Rick was my first customer today. He picked up some '69s. Another regular purchased some '74s. I sold some football cards to another regular. I made a nice cash and trade deal with Gil. I picked up a box of '63s while Gil got a large pile of '64s. Gil came back later in the show and gave me a small box of 1950s football in exchange for a '65 Banks, a '64 Mays and a few other cards. Another regular purchased quite a few '60 Topps. Dennis pulled a large pile of cards from the '69 book and purchased all my '69 stars. It was nice to see Don, who I haven't seen in a while. Don is recently retired and keeps busy coaching youth sports. Don picked up some '53 Bowmans and a Batter Up Jimmy Dykes today. Tony S. purchased a '56 Clemente and a '56 Jackie Robinson. Chris picked up some '70 Topps football. Will bought some '62s and was kind after I forgot to bring the cards he purchased from me on eBay (Next show Will for sure!). A semi-regular picked up my '52 Bowman Minnie Minoso rookie and my '51 Bowman Billy Pierce rookie. Quite a few other guys dinked through my binders and pulled assorted cards and treasures.
On the buying front, I picked up some early '70s hockey. I also made a nice trade with Chuck where I got a whole bunch of '62 Post. Last Orland show another dealer Steve gave me a nice deal on some cards. I went over to his table near the end of the show today to see if he had anything else but I couldn't really look at his display case because Terry had it blocked with his briefcase. In fact, Terry seemed to be intimidating anyone who approached Steve's table while hassling Steve to purchase his whole table. I didn't even get to look at any cards out of the case because Steve sold his whole table to Terry while I was standing there. The little episode left a bad taste in my mouth.
All in all, it was an excellent show. There's a lot of good people at the Orland show and it is always a pleasure to see them. Next up, Serb Hall in Milwaukee. I haven't been to Serb since May and I am a little nervous about this show because I've had some bombs in the past. I'm hoping all my Milwaukee peeps show up or it is going to be a long day.
I was too busy to take any photos so I scanned some of my purchases-trades below: