I have been setting up at Fred Copp's shows regularly for the past 10 years. His weekend shows have always had the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fred recently changed the hours from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. which is more in line with most other shows around the country. Though it is going to take me some time to get used to the new hours.
I made it to the Radisson in Schaumburg around 8 a.m., the earliest I've ever been there. I noticed a new large sign in front of the place which reads "Park Inn" in large letters and "by Radisson" in small letters. So I think I'll start calling this place the Park Inn rather than the Radisson since the Park Inn sign hits you over the head when you drive by the place.
All the other dealers were setting up when I got there while Willie was over at the Rolling Meadows show, checking things out, as he normally does when these two shows are on the same day. By 9:30 a.m., we had people in the room, so the new hours seem appropriate. The Woj, Beanie, Willie, Ted and I were in one room while Fred was in an adjacent room. In Fred's room, was a nice selection of wax, supplies, price guides, books, old media guides, vintage singles, singles from the 1980s and McFarland figures. In our room, Beanie had some cool old photos of Wrigley Field on one of his tables. He also carries the newest cards and a nice selection of vintage. The Woj carries the newest cards, sets going back to 1979, and some books. Ted carries the newest cards with a smattering of vintage. Ted always has a nice inventory of current Black Hawks. Willie's case was filled with PSA encased/certified autographed vintage cards. He had a box of cards featuring all the Chicago sports teams, and laid out on a table were various autographed 8X10s, and Wacky Packages. He was also showing off his recent pick-ups from the Sun-Times Show including a couple of autographed Jim Brown rookies, an autographed Yaz rookie, an autographed Johnny Bench rookie, and a 1956 Topps autographed Willie Mays. I was stunned by Mays' autograph because it looks like he did it with his non-writing hand. At age 80, Mays doesn't see very well and his signature has really suffered. Willie said the autograph on his card his a better example than most. I wrote to Mays when I was a kid in 1979 and he signed a Hall of Fame postcard I sent to him. The auto on my postcard is beautiful. It's large and the "W" on Willie flows and is unique. I wonder if Mays has arthritis because his current signature couldn't be any more different than the one on my old postcard.
Customers seemed to come in by clumps on this day. We had about an hour where there was a crowd in the room then a few clumps after that, along with stragglers at the end. I didn't recognize too many of the customers. I always like to see new faces. One new customer purchased a large pile of '65 Topps baseball. Several customers purchased cards out of my 50-cent box. There were also some regulars. My guy who purchases my 25-cent packs was there and found four packs to his liking. I sold a bunch of packs to Kyle, a sweet kid who always comes to the shows with his dad. Uncle Morty showed up today. I haven't seen Mort in quite sometime. I sold Mort my 1951 Bowman Lou Boudreau. I have four regular customers named Larry, two of the Larry's were at this show. I sold one Larry a 1955 Topps Johnny Podres and a 1976-77 Topps basketball checklist. The other Larry looked but didn't pull the trigger -- which was the theme of the day. I had quite a few lookers but a small amount of buyers. Thankfully Willie bought some cards at the end to get signed.
On the buying front, I picked up a few hundred 1959 Topps baseball. Pictured below are some of these gems.
Overall, a mellow day. The Bears-Chiefs game may have affected attendance. There was a good group of dealers at this show that I always enjoy seeing so it was a pleasant day. I'm debating on setting up at Fred's December 26th show in Bloomingdale. Anyone working on some vintage sets, who would like to meet me at that December 26th show, let me know. I have a large inventory that I don't bring out to the shows and will have some time to fill some wantlists prior to the show.
Next weekend I'm back at the Orland Park Civic Center. I had a really nice show in Orland on Thanksgiving weekend and am hoping for more of the same. I'm working on reloading my 1970 Topps baseball binder for the show. I'm about halfway done. I'd also like to get some other binders reloaded but I don't know how much time I'll have to work on it this week. I'm also going to bring out a nice pile of new stuff for my display cases including a '54 Bowman Mickey Mantle (this card is cool!). As long as the snow stays away, it should be another nice day in Orland. See you there!!
I made it to the Radisson in Schaumburg around 8 a.m., the earliest I've ever been there. I noticed a new large sign in front of the place which reads "Park Inn" in large letters and "by Radisson" in small letters. So I think I'll start calling this place the Park Inn rather than the Radisson since the Park Inn sign hits you over the head when you drive by the place.
All the other dealers were setting up when I got there while Willie was over at the Rolling Meadows show, checking things out, as he normally does when these two shows are on the same day. By 9:30 a.m., we had people in the room, so the new hours seem appropriate. The Woj, Beanie, Willie, Ted and I were in one room while Fred was in an adjacent room. In Fred's room, was a nice selection of wax, supplies, price guides, books, old media guides, vintage singles, singles from the 1980s and McFarland figures. In our room, Beanie had some cool old photos of Wrigley Field on one of his tables. He also carries the newest cards and a nice selection of vintage. The Woj carries the newest cards, sets going back to 1979, and some books. Ted carries the newest cards with a smattering of vintage. Ted always has a nice inventory of current Black Hawks. Willie's case was filled with PSA encased/certified autographed vintage cards. He had a box of cards featuring all the Chicago sports teams, and laid out on a table were various autographed 8X10s, and Wacky Packages. He was also showing off his recent pick-ups from the Sun-Times Show including a couple of autographed Jim Brown rookies, an autographed Yaz rookie, an autographed Johnny Bench rookie, and a 1956 Topps autographed Willie Mays. I was stunned by Mays' autograph because it looks like he did it with his non-writing hand. At age 80, Mays doesn't see very well and his signature has really suffered. Willie said the autograph on his card his a better example than most. I wrote to Mays when I was a kid in 1979 and he signed a Hall of Fame postcard I sent to him. The auto on my postcard is beautiful. It's large and the "W" on Willie flows and is unique. I wonder if Mays has arthritis because his current signature couldn't be any more different than the one on my old postcard.
Customers seemed to come in by clumps on this day. We had about an hour where there was a crowd in the room then a few clumps after that, along with stragglers at the end. I didn't recognize too many of the customers. I always like to see new faces. One new customer purchased a large pile of '65 Topps baseball. Several customers purchased cards out of my 50-cent box. There were also some regulars. My guy who purchases my 25-cent packs was there and found four packs to his liking. I sold a bunch of packs to Kyle, a sweet kid who always comes to the shows with his dad. Uncle Morty showed up today. I haven't seen Mort in quite sometime. I sold Mort my 1951 Bowman Lou Boudreau. I have four regular customers named Larry, two of the Larry's were at this show. I sold one Larry a 1955 Topps Johnny Podres and a 1976-77 Topps basketball checklist. The other Larry looked but didn't pull the trigger -- which was the theme of the day. I had quite a few lookers but a small amount of buyers. Thankfully Willie bought some cards at the end to get signed.
On the buying front, I picked up a few hundred 1959 Topps baseball. Pictured below are some of these gems.
Overall, a mellow day. The Bears-Chiefs game may have affected attendance. There was a good group of dealers at this show that I always enjoy seeing so it was a pleasant day. I'm debating on setting up at Fred's December 26th show in Bloomingdale. Anyone working on some vintage sets, who would like to meet me at that December 26th show, let me know. I have a large inventory that I don't bring out to the shows and will have some time to fill some wantlists prior to the show.
Next weekend I'm back at the Orland Park Civic Center. I had a really nice show in Orland on Thanksgiving weekend and am hoping for more of the same. I'm working on reloading my 1970 Topps baseball binder for the show. I'm about halfway done. I'd also like to get some other binders reloaded but I don't know how much time I'll have to work on it this week. I'm also going to bring out a nice pile of new stuff for my display cases including a '54 Bowman Mickey Mantle (this card is cool!). As long as the snow stays away, it should be another nice day in Orland. See you there!!
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