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*
