The One Steal At The Show

For the second time in 30 years, I went to a card show last weekend.

I was happy to see another one after the success of last year's show.

However, this year's show had a much different feel to it.

*takes a sip of steamy, hot coffee with a dot of hazelnut creamer*

It started out just like usual, a quiet hour-long drive to an Elks Lodge a few towns away from me.

I arrived about 45 minutes into the show, but you would have thought I was a few hours late. The parking lot was pretty packed already which was already completely different than the previous year's show.

Which immediately had me concerned about how it was going to go.

After finding a parking spot, I went inside and once again paid the $10 to get in which immediately cut into my limited budget for the show.

But I stuck on the wristband and tried to be on my merry way and look for tables worth checking out. This time instead of fifteen or so tables, there may have been closer to double that. Double the tables and double the crowd to start.

 

I never would have expected to find the things I wanted the most at the first table, but that's just the way the cookie crumbled at this show. I hit up the first table I went to and found the $1 bin and dug,dug and dug through. I found some goodies, spent $10 on 11 cards and moved onto the next tables. 

Sadly, I am sure most of you who attend shows where you are probably would have found this stuff in the dime boxes or a little more. But those kinds of boxes didn't exist here at this show.

The problem I had after the first table's stuff, it all went downhill.

Flippers, Pokemon and TCG and "recent sellers" made up the rest of the show. There was so much stuff overpriced. For example, a 2025 Prizm Jaxson Dart rookie you could get on eBay for under $6, were priced for $25-$25 at the show. And that was just some of the overpricing. It was quite depressing and really made me think of where the hobby is heading even more so.

Not to mention, about 95% of the show was all modern cards and anytime I asked a seller if they had any cards from 1995-1999 they just stared at me and shook their head no. This time the show was about modern overpriced, overproduced junk.

What happened to the hobby being a hobby? I remember in the 90's when we had card shows all of the time here that cards were actually affordable and made sense.

It had gotten so bad after the first table, I wasn't sure if I was going to find anything else to bring home.

And I almost didn't.

Until I decided to check out two other boxes from that first table and landed a few 90's hockey insert/parallel cards end my show visit. I spent $10 to get in and $20 in cards overall. I went there with $40 and there was no way I was going to force myself to spend the last $10 just to say I spent it. There wasn't anything priced well enough for me to do so.

Instead that last $10 went into a little over two gallons of gas along with $30 more to fill my tank again.

That's really sad.

So, let's not turn this into a depressing post and show off my scores all from that one table. After spending an hour to dig not only did I find some great 90's goodness, but I also found a cheap surprise that was a steal at the show.

Here are my pickups,

 

(I do have this one, but I couldn't leave it there)

(possible set need)

(I actually overpaid for this one since he wanted $10 but gave me a $5 offer that I accepted, but was worth it. Epic Looney Tunes episode that hit core memory)

(my first hard hats for hockey)

(I never leave Summitt parallels behind)

 

Now drumroll on the big steal of the show......

2022 Mosaic GENESIS parallel rookie of Seiya Suzuki! I don't think the seller knew it was a case hit genesis parallel. This card alone paid for the ticket and the other cards I bought. Right now I am holding onto it until the right trade comes along for it. I paid $1 for it.

Despite the overpricing by everyone, I will say there were a few bright spots. For one, there were actually kids there. Two, some sellers were very friendly and cut some deals. The guy I went to cut prices on a few of the cards above and even gave me a couple free. Three, most sellers that I watched interact with kids were nice. I felt bad for one kid who kept getting shot down sometimes rudely, while trying to trade off an autograph rookie card of Dillion Gabriel. Other than that, it seemed most sellers were treating kids the way they should be treated.

Another cool thing that I wished I had pictures of, was a hockey card sellers table. It was epic. Gretzky rookies, Gretzky autograph, Lemieux autographs, Sidney Crosby autographs, Bobby Orr autograph, Gordie Howe autograph and other legends autographs. It was mind-blowing and probably the best table in the whole show.

Well, that does it for my second show in thirty years. It wasn't as good as last years but was still fun to walk around at. I hope they have it again next year. I know they mentioned something about having another in the fall, but not sure I will attend that one. I guess it depends on how busy I will be recovering still from shoulder surgery, attending school and getting ready to coach basketball again.

Let me know your thoughts on my pickups and how I did. Let me know your favorite one as well. Also, how was the last show you went to in comparison to mine? Lots of conversation can be had in comments.

For now, *takes a sip*, I need to finish up my last project so I can enjoy two weeks off from classes.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

5 Things I Did In The Hobby Last Week

Welcome to the next edition of 5 Things I Did In The Hobby Last Week. I am glad a few of you have reached out and let me know this is one of your favorite segments on here. I like information such as that.

But, for those of you that are new to this segment, here is the background to it:

This series is once again related/played on by Elon Musk's email to government officials in February 2025 asking them about what five things they did.

Also, once again, this is not about politics. I just liked the idea.

*its best to never post politics, make friends, not enemies*

*takes a sip of fresh brew*

I can't believe it's been since the end of March since I last posted one of these, so let's see what I did in the hobby the last couple of weeks.

Hopefully now that I will be slowing down for three weeks from school, I can get some new posts up and get caught up from the stack of mail and card sorting I have to do.

Without further ado, here are the 5 things I did in the hobby last week,

1.As always, I did a lot more social media posts across my planet of them. I started doing Rodney Hampton, Eli Manning updates along with small mail day posts on there since it's much faster to send out a social media message than putting up a big blog post.

If you want to catch up on stuff you missed out on, here is a list of all of my social media channels:Cards Over Coffee YouTube Channel is for cards:

Cards Over Coffee - YouTube

Matt's World Of Fun YouTube Channel is for everything else:
Matt's World Of Fun! - YouTube

On top of this, I have two Facebook accounts, Cards Over Coffee and Sport Card Collectors,

Twitter/X: Coffee Card Guy

Instagram account: Coffee Card Guy

Bluesky as Cards Over Coffee

There you have that. Now go check me out on those!

2. A couple of weeks ago, I sorted and bagged up more cards for my girls AAU team. Each girl got a baggie with cards-including Caitlin Clark because our team's name had Fever in it-stickers and matching wristbands which we all wore for the weekend games.

 

3. I finished a bigger trade with a Twitter friend. I had to go through tons of pictures and circle cards I wanted. It was basically a big trade for base.

. 

I am hoping I can finally get some cards out to blogging friends soon for pwe trades! My mailbox has been too empty recently.

4.I uploaded some pictures on here to blog about, now to find time to blog about them. I did put up a couple new posts last week; they didn't really hit. No comments, low views, I wonder if my long break hurt them. Hopefully new posts next week won't have those same issues (or today's).

5.I have been commenting on other blogs when I have had time in-between to do so. Either way, I have read all of the new blog posts regardless of if I have time to comment or not.

And there you have it. Five things I did in the hobby last week (or month).

I hope to keep this series going when I have time to post on it.

*takes this posts final sip*

Tell me five things you did in the hobby last week or make a comment on mine. I will make sure to read and comment back on all of them.

Have a super Saturday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

It's Gonna Be May

*to the tune of NSYNC's gonna be me*

Every new post I do...doesn't seem enough for you.

 

You don't want to miss a post again.

Because I drink coffee unlike them.

Maybe when you finaaaaalleeeee

Get to read the newest one.

Guess what....it's published in MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Happy May. Or Me. Or whatever Justin Timberlake actually says.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Chasing The Gold Medal

 

Mikaela Shiffrin is not only a Gold Medal winning machine, but she is also a local hero.

She wasn't technically born and raised here, but she went to school and ski school within thirty minutes of where I live.

Which is a quick background on why I collect her.

She is by far the biggest known athlete/celebrity here.

So anytime I find her cards and find them affordable, I grab them.

One of the newest chases I did for fun is chase some of the 2026 Topps Chrome Winter Olympics cards. I knew going into this pursuit that I wouldn't be able to land a full rainbow with the cost of her cards, but I thought it would be fun just to make a run of what I could.

Here is what I have added so far or as I call it, chasing the gold medal (though I did get the gold refractor)

• Base
• Refractor
• Red, White & Blue Refractor (Value Exclusive)
• Pink Refractor /250
• Aqua Refractor /199
• Blue Refractor /150
• Green Refractor /99
• USA Flag Refractor /76
• Purple Refractor /75
• Gold Refractor /50
• Orange Refractor /25
• Black Refractor /10
• Red Refractor /5
• Superfractor /1

 

(this is my favorite refractor from the chase, USA-USA-USA)

 

 

And there you have it. I should have taken a group picture because nothing is better than a group picture of shiny things.

I would love to add any of the remaining ones, but that is very doubtful. But, it's been fun just chasing these down and that Topps Now I opened up this post with from her latest Chasing The Gold Medal add to her ever so growing collection of them.

I will need to update my TCDB soon even though I am a long ways from first. Here is what I have so far, SHIFFIN COLLECTION.

Let me know in comments if there are any Gold Medalists that you collect? Do you collect Shiffrin? have any cards of hers I don't? Check my collection above.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday night.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Dewey Decimal System Not Needed

Remember before computers were used having to flip through drawers of card catalog cabinet in the library? Remember having to run your fingers through index cards looking for the books you needed for research that most were sorted by using the Dewey Decimal system?

Well, BCW Supplies brought back that fun but actually made it fun.

It's called the 6-Drawer Card Catalog.

This is a place where you store sports cards instead of library ones.

Each very durable stackable drawer can hold up to 700 loose sports cards, 1,150 loose gaming cards, 210 standard toploaded cards, or 45 cards in 35 pt. BCW Magnetic Card Holders. Which is very useful for any card collection.

The drawers have these pull tabs, you attach yourselves by snapping them on, for easy pulling open of the drawers.

Inside, you will find plenty of storage room and each one comes with six clear plastic dividers.

I have actually had this for a couple of months trying to find the best use for such a wonderful item.

Then I finally decided this would make a perfect home for my NY Giants future studs collection. I had thought about storing my toploaded Rodney Hamptons in here, I still might use the bottom part of this for that, but guys like Malik Nabers, Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo will call this home for now.

There is even a part on the front of this where you can add a toploaded card, toploader already included, of the player or whatever you choose to put in each drawer as a way to label them.

I have added both Dart and Nabers so far. Still have four drawers to go and plenty of room in the two I already added.

I will add more cards to this soon. But, I may have to find a place to put it first. It was actually quite heavy already before adding cards to it, well, at least heavier than I expected. It would probably make a great place to also set my coffee on because I know it's not moving anywhere!

If you are looking to add one, you can find yours on the BCW Supplies website, HERE. Remember to use code MATT10 at checkout to SAVE 10% off your purchase!

I hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!

Let me know your thoughts on this product or memories of using the card library system.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Monday Thoughts With Matt

Yup, it's Monday.

I haven't done one of these segments in a long time so figured hey, let's do this.

So, I just want you to grab a cup of your favorite warm beverage in your wife's mug, or your own, 

then walk over and sit down in your most comfiest chair, take a breath, relax.

Yeah, I used Jessica's mug again.

Let's just talk in this NEW segment.

So, I recently went to a card show again, my second one in thirty years (I will certainly be posting on this) and noticed one trend......OVERPRICING!

It was really disappointing to walk into a card show and find $2 cards marked up to $20. There were lots of that and plenty of wax flippers especially for Pokemon. They were charging almost two times what they got them for.

I am all for letting sellers price what they want to sell them for, but do they actually sell anything? And what about the poor kids-sometimes literally-going to these shows trying to find their favorite Pokemon or favorite sports player and the prices are jacked way up? They most likely go home with nothing or way overpay for something a simple eBay search would have landed them the card cheaper for.

Now, I don't have a lot of money and went there with basically not much too spend and I found it really hard at each table to even spend anything. Though, in the end I did because well, I went to a card show. As I said earlier, I will go on more about this and show off my cards in another post.

For today, are you finding this same kind of thing at your local card shows? How do you think they can resolve this? How do you shop at these?

Let me know below and hope everyone has a Magnificent Monday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

I Am The Terror That Flaps In The Night

*takes a sip from freshly brewed pot*

Those who know me, know my love of the Disney Afternoon cartoons.

*takes another sip, then goes back in time*

I came home from a long day of school, flipped on the TV and watched the entire two hour block.

I would watch Talespin, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Bonkers which were among my favorites, but none ever topped my super favorite, Darkwing Duck.

The Terror That Flaps In The Night easily became my favorite cartoon growing up. Those around me had to deal with me walking around pretending I was Darkwing whether that was at home, at a friend's house or on recess. 

They all knew I was Darkwing.

I began asking for the figures for Christmas and despite my poor upbringing, I was fortunate enough to find a few figures under the tree over the years. I never did complete all of them and had to use other figures to replace the characters I was missing from other shows, but I made it work.

As I evolved more into a card collector later on and grew up, I began to just leave my toys in my toy box and eventually sold all of them around eighth grade to my aunt for my cousins. I turned that money into cards.

 

Sadly, as I aged, I realized how much those toys meant to me, especially the Darkwing Duck ones. But, there was nothing that I could do to get the ones I wanted back. My aunt divorced my uncle, their kids grew up and moved away and the toys I can only assume went into the trash.

*plays sad music* (thinks that you are visualizing a tiny violin)

The good thing *plays upbeat music* was that I was older and an adult and I could buy back those things I wanted. They may not have been the ones I specifically owned, but they could fill in the holes. I first started with the ones I originally had, then realized, "hey, I am an adult, why not finish what I wanted to back then?" So, I finished the set and still have it to some day display.

Over the years, I have added a few other things to my Darkwing Duck collection including some comic books, the DVD set, some VHS' and a 1992 Pro Set Promo card which was the only card in existence at that point.

Notice how I said, at that point.

Recently, I have found more Darkwing Duck cards which brought that child out even more with me.

It kicked off with Disney Lorcana set. They aren't technically real cards and are apart of a game, but, to me, they were and they were needed to be added.

So, I grabbed some of my favorite characters and art from the set including some foil parallels,

 

 

And this is what I have so far. There are more I need and one I really want is the rare that featured all of the characters. It's a little overpriced.

Most recently Topps released a set called Topps Disney Neon which has a real Darkwing Duck base card and it also includes parallels. So far, I have only added the rainbow foil parallel. 

I will post this at some point.

*takes final sip of the post*

I know I am probably not the only one who used to watch Disney Afternoon on this blog, let me know your favorite show from the block 

Also, have you bought any TCG cards like the ones above for your PC? Try any of the new Topps Disney Neon? Let me know in comments!

Have a great Friday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*