I have been home for a little while now. I finally went out and unloaded the van. Unloading the van after the National is a bear because I have extra stuff like seven card tables, an extra bin of cards, and a pile of tarps. I'm tired. It was a grueling five days.
A lot of dealers didn't bother showing up today and many more left by noon. Also, today's show had the smallest attendance of all five days. This was probably the lightest Sunday crowd of any National I have ever attended. Thankfully, the collectors were back today and I had a steady stream of sales. Sales were up. I don't know what happened yesterday. There was a big crowd but most dealers I talked to had an off day on Saturday. I big thank you to Andy and his son for making my day. They spent a few hours at my table. Andy's young son is working on a 1973 Topps baseball set and a 1970 Topps football set. It seemed like Andy was working on a lot of upgrades. Too bad I only get to see these guys once a year because they live in Florida.
Quite a few other guys visited my table today. A guy from New York purchased my 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson. Another guy from New York picked up a 1954 Topps Phil Rizzuto. A guy from Iowa purchased several hundred 1970 Topps baseball. My tablemate, the other Tony, purchased some cards from me as well today. One of the dealers next to me purchased a bunch of football rookies. I had quite a few other guys dinking around buying cards all day. It all added up and I was very happy. There were also the OBC guys who made some scattered purchases. A minor rant about the OBC guys. Many of them this year would only pay 5 to 7 percent of book for cards. Needless to say, I didn't sell much or anything to those few guys. I'm a little disappointed with those OBC guys only willing to pay 5 to 7 percent of book. They need to realize that dealers can't purchase their inventory at 5 to 7 percent of book so how can we sell them to you at that price? Most of the OBC guys are reasonable and terrific. There are a select few, though, that are a little ridiculous.
On the buying front, sellers were much more reasonable today. The dealer across the way offered me a binder of football cards from 1952 to 1963. The cards booked out at $4,700. The condition was way off grade and we couldn't agree on a price. I forgot this dealer's name but I've seen him for years at the National and at the Sun-Times show. He's a nice guy but was just a tad too high with these football cards. A guy came near the end of the show who was incredibly reasonable on a stack of star cards that included a pair of 1959 Eddie Mathews, a '62 Lou Brock rookie, a '62 Aaron, a '62 Eddie Mathews, a '62 Spahn, a '64 Koufax and a bunch of other stuff that I can't recall. The cards are still buried in my bins somewhere. I also purchased the latest Beckett football annual for $25 from the Beckett booth. The thing lists for $35. I would have purchased the annuals for the other sports if they would have been cheaper. At the 2010 National, Beckett was selling all their annuals for just $10 a pop.
I made it through the five days without having lost anything to theft. Though, I heard a dealer lost a binder with a complete 1960 Topps baseball set today. I know I have some young readers of my blog so I won't say the four-letter words I'm thinking about at the moment. The folks who run the National really need to hire security for the show. They're charging 20 bucks for admission and $1,100-plus for booths. Spend some of that money making this thing secure for your dealers!
I visited the Expoteria for the last time this morning and enjoyed some bacon and eggs. I'm going to miss that place. I was also a little melancholy this morning knowing this was the last day I was going to be surrounded by the most amazing assortment of vintage sports cards in the world. I may complain about this or that but when it comes right down to it the National is AWESOME! I was also lucky to spend that past five days with the best tablemates you can find in Jim and Scott Ziegert, Tony Schaefer and Dave McDonald. Thanks guys for a terrific five days!
Dave and I are talking about teaming up to do the National next year in Cleveland. I'm pretty sure we're going to do it. Time to plan for the next one! In the meantime, I'm taking a couple of weeks off and will be back at it for the August 25 Orland show. My next project is reloading 1955 Topps All American football and 1963 Topps baseball. I can't thank enough all the guys that purchased and sold me cards these past five days. You guys are the best! THANK YOU!!!!
A lot of dealers didn't bother showing up today and many more left by noon. Also, today's show had the smallest attendance of all five days. This was probably the lightest Sunday crowd of any National I have ever attended. Thankfully, the collectors were back today and I had a steady stream of sales. Sales were up. I don't know what happened yesterday. There was a big crowd but most dealers I talked to had an off day on Saturday. I big thank you to Andy and his son for making my day. They spent a few hours at my table. Andy's young son is working on a 1973 Topps baseball set and a 1970 Topps football set. It seemed like Andy was working on a lot of upgrades. Too bad I only get to see these guys once a year because they live in Florida.
Quite a few other guys visited my table today. A guy from New York purchased my 1953 Topps Jackie Robinson. Another guy from New York picked up a 1954 Topps Phil Rizzuto. A guy from Iowa purchased several hundred 1970 Topps baseball. My tablemate, the other Tony, purchased some cards from me as well today. One of the dealers next to me purchased a bunch of football rookies. I had quite a few other guys dinking around buying cards all day. It all added up and I was very happy. There were also the OBC guys who made some scattered purchases. A minor rant about the OBC guys. Many of them this year would only pay 5 to 7 percent of book for cards. Needless to say, I didn't sell much or anything to those few guys. I'm a little disappointed with those OBC guys only willing to pay 5 to 7 percent of book. They need to realize that dealers can't purchase their inventory at 5 to 7 percent of book so how can we sell them to you at that price? Most of the OBC guys are reasonable and terrific. There are a select few, though, that are a little ridiculous.
On the buying front, sellers were much more reasonable today. The dealer across the way offered me a binder of football cards from 1952 to 1963. The cards booked out at $4,700. The condition was way off grade and we couldn't agree on a price. I forgot this dealer's name but I've seen him for years at the National and at the Sun-Times show. He's a nice guy but was just a tad too high with these football cards. A guy came near the end of the show who was incredibly reasonable on a stack of star cards that included a pair of 1959 Eddie Mathews, a '62 Lou Brock rookie, a '62 Aaron, a '62 Eddie Mathews, a '62 Spahn, a '64 Koufax and a bunch of other stuff that I can't recall. The cards are still buried in my bins somewhere. I also purchased the latest Beckett football annual for $25 from the Beckett booth. The thing lists for $35. I would have purchased the annuals for the other sports if they would have been cheaper. At the 2010 National, Beckett was selling all their annuals for just $10 a pop.
I made it through the five days without having lost anything to theft. Though, I heard a dealer lost a binder with a complete 1960 Topps baseball set today. I know I have some young readers of my blog so I won't say the four-letter words I'm thinking about at the moment. The folks who run the National really need to hire security for the show. They're charging 20 bucks for admission and $1,100-plus for booths. Spend some of that money making this thing secure for your dealers!
I visited the Expoteria for the last time this morning and enjoyed some bacon and eggs. I'm going to miss that place. I was also a little melancholy this morning knowing this was the last day I was going to be surrounded by the most amazing assortment of vintage sports cards in the world. I may complain about this or that but when it comes right down to it the National is AWESOME! I was also lucky to spend that past five days with the best tablemates you can find in Jim and Scott Ziegert, Tony Schaefer and Dave McDonald. Thanks guys for a terrific five days!
Dave and I are talking about teaming up to do the National next year in Cleveland. I'm pretty sure we're going to do it. Time to plan for the next one! In the meantime, I'm taking a couple of weeks off and will be back at it for the August 25 Orland show. My next project is reloading 1955 Topps All American football and 1963 Topps baseball. I can't thank enough all the guys that purchased and sold me cards these past five days. You guys are the best! THANK YOU!!!!
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