Wake me up when the show is over. What a snoozer! I don't think I've ever been so bored at an Orland show. Nothing but tumbleweeds in front of my table for most of the day. A large number of tables were empty early on. Some dealers showed up late while I think John moved some guys from the hallway into the main room in the late morning. There was actually a decent crowd in the room but they weren't buying much from me. The bulk of my set builders were AWOL and no autograph hounds. Things were so slow that I went and got my hot dogs at 10:45 a.m. Of course, when I returned with my hot dogs, things picked up a bit.
Rick was the first one at my table today. I have three or four '59 Topps Fox/Aparicio combo cards and Rick bought two of them. Rick is a real good guy who likes White Sox and anything in high grade. I can always count on Rick to purchase cards from me at Orland. One of my regular set builders picked up some '69s and '70s. Chris was set up across from me today and picked up a bunch of cards for his sets, including a nice pile of '65s. I noticed that several customers were set up today as dealers selling their wares.
Larry picked up my '56 Hodges. I have one regular who collects autographs and buys cards to put with his autos in some sort of display. He found a few cards at my table today. I had a new customer pick up a bunch of '67, '68 and '69 Cubs. Another new customer picked up some '70 Topps football Bears. A regular picked up my '40 Play Ball Hal Trosky. Another regular bought some football. Another set builder picked up quite a few '74s for his set, including a Winfield rookie. Gil picked up my '67 Schoendeinst and Mazeroski. Another regular picked up some '60 Topps. I sold a '89-90 Fleer Sticker Michael Jordan to a young collector. Another young collector picked up a '74 Nolan Ryan. I have a regular customer who collects Montreal Expos cards. Oddly, today he was buying New York Mets cards. Another regular picked up quite a few old Milwaukee Braves for his collection of Braves including a '64 Spahn and a '62 Spahn All Star. I sold up a couple of autographed '55 Topps cards that I picked up in St. Louis back in October. Not a totally disastrous day, but definitely one of my slower days at Orland. It made me wonder if I made a mistake skipping Serb Hall today. Orland and Serb are on the same day again in February. If sales don't pick up, I think I'll skip the Sunday February show in Orland for Serb.
On the buying front, there were quite a few folks walking around with cards. One guy offered me a pile with '80s, '90s, and '00s with some '60s and '70s mixed in. I wasn't interested. Junior had schwag again. A dealer came around with a large pile of '60s and 70s. It seemed like the pile was almost half '79 Topps football which has very little value while the guy was asking $500 for the pile. Some new dealers across the way and next to Chris offered me their table at the end of the show but I didn't want to make an offer because I didn't have much money in my pocket today. I referred them to Jim and I'm guessing they were too high on their price because Jim passed on the cards. I picked up a '62 Billy Williams and a '73 Clemente from one of my regular customers. I bought a '75-'76 Dr. J from a dealer. I picked up a small pile of '57s and some 1959 BVG graded cards from another dealer. I made a trade with Chuck where I gave him a '54 Larry Doby in exchange for a small pile of '72 highs, '71 highs and some '60s.
Not much else doing at this show. I would have left early except one customer spent a lot of time at my table at the end of the show. He made a nice purchase so I can't complain much. Besides Brad, I was the last to leave. Even Bill Nest beat me out the door.
I'm stealing a quote from the CU board which I think accurately describes the show today:
"I've been attending shows since 1986. Here is the breakdown of participants:
10% interesting people you'd like to have a conversation with, maybe a drink at the bar after the show (or before).
10% disinterested people, there with someone else, and they just can't believe someone would pay that kind of money for your cards. They'll waste your time when you should be servicing the big fish.
8% savvy collectors who will cherry pick your table for 2 hours and then try and bargain for the next hour. Torture. You would like to slap them in the face with a 100 ct pack of polysleeves.
2% Big fish. The guy with the cash who wants to start a 1955 Topps set because that's what he collected as a kid. He's got $3,000 to get started, and he really likes your Gil Hodges EX-MT for $300 because he's partial to the Dodgers.
1% Hot chicks.
9% Not so hot chicks.
10% Thieves who will rob you blind when you least expect it.
50% absolute turds for human beings. One of them will stink so bad he drives the Big Fish away from your table for good."
Better days ahead. Next week is Gonzaga and it couldn't come at a better time with the last two weeks being slow. I'm really hoping for a good show at Gonzaga because it's hard to keep my enthusiasm up when I have a string of bad shows. I'll have my '69-70 basketball for Gonzaga along with '71 football. I'm going to start my '71 baseball but I don't know how far I'll get this week. Please support your friendly neighborhood vintage card dealer and come out to Gonzaga next week and buys some cards!!
Rick was the first one at my table today. I have three or four '59 Topps Fox/Aparicio combo cards and Rick bought two of them. Rick is a real good guy who likes White Sox and anything in high grade. I can always count on Rick to purchase cards from me at Orland. One of my regular set builders picked up some '69s and '70s. Chris was set up across from me today and picked up a bunch of cards for his sets, including a nice pile of '65s. I noticed that several customers were set up today as dealers selling their wares.
Larry picked up my '56 Hodges. I have one regular who collects autographs and buys cards to put with his autos in some sort of display. He found a few cards at my table today. I had a new customer pick up a bunch of '67, '68 and '69 Cubs. Another new customer picked up some '70 Topps football Bears. A regular picked up my '40 Play Ball Hal Trosky. Another regular bought some football. Another set builder picked up quite a few '74s for his set, including a Winfield rookie. Gil picked up my '67 Schoendeinst and Mazeroski. Another regular picked up some '60 Topps. I sold a '89-90 Fleer Sticker Michael Jordan to a young collector. Another young collector picked up a '74 Nolan Ryan. I have a regular customer who collects Montreal Expos cards. Oddly, today he was buying New York Mets cards. Another regular picked up quite a few old Milwaukee Braves for his collection of Braves including a '64 Spahn and a '62 Spahn All Star. I sold up a couple of autographed '55 Topps cards that I picked up in St. Louis back in October. Not a totally disastrous day, but definitely one of my slower days at Orland. It made me wonder if I made a mistake skipping Serb Hall today. Orland and Serb are on the same day again in February. If sales don't pick up, I think I'll skip the Sunday February show in Orland for Serb.
On the buying front, there were quite a few folks walking around with cards. One guy offered me a pile with '80s, '90s, and '00s with some '60s and '70s mixed in. I wasn't interested. Junior had schwag again. A dealer came around with a large pile of '60s and 70s. It seemed like the pile was almost half '79 Topps football which has very little value while the guy was asking $500 for the pile. Some new dealers across the way and next to Chris offered me their table at the end of the show but I didn't want to make an offer because I didn't have much money in my pocket today. I referred them to Jim and I'm guessing they were too high on their price because Jim passed on the cards. I picked up a '62 Billy Williams and a '73 Clemente from one of my regular customers. I bought a '75-'76 Dr. J from a dealer. I picked up a small pile of '57s and some 1959 BVG graded cards from another dealer. I made a trade with Chuck where I gave him a '54 Larry Doby in exchange for a small pile of '72 highs, '71 highs and some '60s.
Not much else doing at this show. I would have left early except one customer spent a lot of time at my table at the end of the show. He made a nice purchase so I can't complain much. Besides Brad, I was the last to leave. Even Bill Nest beat me out the door.
I'm stealing a quote from the CU board which I think accurately describes the show today:
"I've been attending shows since 1986. Here is the breakdown of participants:
10% interesting people you'd like to have a conversation with, maybe a drink at the bar after the show (or before).
10% disinterested people, there with someone else, and they just can't believe someone would pay that kind of money for your cards. They'll waste your time when you should be servicing the big fish.
8% savvy collectors who will cherry pick your table for 2 hours and then try and bargain for the next hour. Torture. You would like to slap them in the face with a 100 ct pack of polysleeves.
2% Big fish. The guy with the cash who wants to start a 1955 Topps set because that's what he collected as a kid. He's got $3,000 to get started, and he really likes your Gil Hodges EX-MT for $300 because he's partial to the Dodgers.
1% Hot chicks.
9% Not so hot chicks.
10% Thieves who will rob you blind when you least expect it.
50% absolute turds for human beings. One of them will stink so bad he drives the Big Fish away from your table for good."
Better days ahead. Next week is Gonzaga and it couldn't come at a better time with the last two weeks being slow. I'm really hoping for a good show at Gonzaga because it's hard to keep my enthusiasm up when I have a string of bad shows. I'll have my '69-70 basketball for Gonzaga along with '71 football. I'm going to start my '71 baseball but I don't know how far I'll get this week. Please support your friendly neighborhood vintage card dealer and come out to Gonzaga next week and buys some cards!!
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