Saturday, March 8, 2025, Machinists Hall, St. Louis, MO
After a long hiatus from this show, I returned this past November and had an excellent show. I was busy all day long, so I was looking forward to the March 8th show and expected another solid day.
I never seem to learn. Rule Number 1, never have any expectations! Not sure why I did so lousy this past Saturday when there was as virtual feeding frenzy at my tables in November.
Oh, well, you just never know how a card show will go. All you can do is hope for the best.
With not much doing at my tables, I had time to walk the show and was impressed with the number of vintage dealers. Man, there were more 1959 Topps Bob Gibson rookies than I have ever seen anywhere else. A lot of guys had three or four of them in their case. I do love seeing all the vintage.
The dealer next to me, pictured above, had a case filled with vintage hockey slabs. It was cool! He seemed to know a lot of people at the show and had a lot of action, both buying and selling. Though, he did not sell any of his hockey. He said he rarely sells any of his hockey. I was surprised because, back in the day, I use to sell a ton of hockey in St. Louis. I hardly sold any at the November show and did not bother to bring any out this past Saturday.
I had a little different set up this time around. I brought out all of my baseball and thought my recently reloaded 1973s would do well. I think I had one guy go through there and pull out a few cards. In November, I put out all of my football binders and did really well with them. This time around, I left the football at home because everything I reloaded since November has been wiped out. I'm selling a ton of football cards these days. So, instead of the football, I put out two display cases and brought my $1 box and another discount box. I was pleased with the sales out of the display cases and the discount boxes but it did not generate the same amount of sales as the football binders.
While this show was disappointing, I am not discouraged. I really like this show. Promoter Ron Estes is a super nice guy and a great vintage dealer as well. The show is well attended and everyone is pleasant. My only complaints are that the lighting is terrible and there is no food.
Surprisingly, my hotel, a La Quinta Inn, had a decent breakfast and I swiped a danish and an orange and ate them at the show.
On the buying front, I picked up a couple of George Brace signed photo/postcards for my collection. One dealer had a vintage binder of Cardinals autographs and one of Browns autographs. There was cool stuff in there. I could have gone crazy. I'll hit him up again the next time.
Afterwards, I did not want to leave St. Louis because the weather was amazing -- 64 degrees and sunny. I stopped off at Hardees on the drive home. I have not eaten at a Hardees in years and now I know why. The burgers taste funky. The meat is a bit gamey. I had a few bites and threw the thing away. I eventually stopped at a Denny's and had a much better meal.
This was a double-bill weekend with Valparaiso on Sunday. I drove up to New Buffalo, Michigan, and spent the night at my folks' place. It is so peaceful and quiet there. I love it. There are also a few casinos around there but I was too tired after the drive to partake.
Anyway, not sure when I'll make it back to St. Louis but I will be back eventually.
Up next is the Chicago Sports Spectacular this weekend, March 14 through 16. I will once again be in Booth #45 right next to the guy that has rows of jerseys and T-shirts for sale. Hope to see you this weekend!
After a long hiatus from this show, I returned this past November and had an excellent show. I was busy all day long, so I was looking forward to the March 8th show and expected another solid day.
I never seem to learn. Rule Number 1, never have any expectations! Not sure why I did so lousy this past Saturday when there was as virtual feeding frenzy at my tables in November.
Oh, well, you just never know how a card show will go. All you can do is hope for the best.
With not much doing at my tables, I had time to walk the show and was impressed with the number of vintage dealers. Man, there were more 1959 Topps Bob Gibson rookies than I have ever seen anywhere else. A lot of guys had three or four of them in their case. I do love seeing all the vintage.
The dealer next to me, pictured above, had a case filled with vintage hockey slabs. It was cool! He seemed to know a lot of people at the show and had a lot of action, both buying and selling. Though, he did not sell any of his hockey. He said he rarely sells any of his hockey. I was surprised because, back in the day, I use to sell a ton of hockey in St. Louis. I hardly sold any at the November show and did not bother to bring any out this past Saturday.
I had a little different set up this time around. I brought out all of my baseball and thought my recently reloaded 1973s would do well. I think I had one guy go through there and pull out a few cards. In November, I put out all of my football binders and did really well with them. This time around, I left the football at home because everything I reloaded since November has been wiped out. I'm selling a ton of football cards these days. So, instead of the football, I put out two display cases and brought my $1 box and another discount box. I was pleased with the sales out of the display cases and the discount boxes but it did not generate the same amount of sales as the football binders.
While this show was disappointing, I am not discouraged. I really like this show. Promoter Ron Estes is a super nice guy and a great vintage dealer as well. The show is well attended and everyone is pleasant. My only complaints are that the lighting is terrible and there is no food.
Surprisingly, my hotel, a La Quinta Inn, had a decent breakfast and I swiped a danish and an orange and ate them at the show.
On the buying front, I picked up a couple of George Brace signed photo/postcards for my collection. One dealer had a vintage binder of Cardinals autographs and one of Browns autographs. There was cool stuff in there. I could have gone crazy. I'll hit him up again the next time.
Afterwards, I did not want to leave St. Louis because the weather was amazing -- 64 degrees and sunny. I stopped off at Hardees on the drive home. I have not eaten at a Hardees in years and now I know why. The burgers taste funky. The meat is a bit gamey. I had a few bites and threw the thing away. I eventually stopped at a Denny's and had a much better meal.
This was a double-bill weekend with Valparaiso on Sunday. I drove up to New Buffalo, Michigan, and spent the night at my folks' place. It is so peaceful and quiet there. I love it. There are also a few casinos around there but I was too tired after the drive to partake.
Anyway, not sure when I'll make it back to St. Louis but I will be back eventually.
Up next is the Chicago Sports Spectacular this weekend, March 14 through 16. I will once again be in Booth #45 right next to the guy that has rows of jerseys and T-shirts for sale. Hope to see you this weekend!
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