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*

The Ghost Of Christmas Box Part 2

 *sits down with a big stack of cards nearby, takes sip, gets ready for a new post on Cards Over Coffee*

I felt like the good version of Scrooge this Christmas season as my mail box was visited by three blogger mail days. 

I had the ghost of Christmas Box, the ghost of Christmas Card and the Ghost of Christmas Package.

For today's post, you will be visited by the last ghost, the Ghost Of Christmas Box which was sent by Wes who is famously known for the packages he sends.

And this one was such a whopper, I broke it up into four posts and didn't even come close to covering it all. I had to narrow it down to the like the Top 45ish and leave the rest for your imagination.

Let's keep the momentum flowing!

*takes a sip*

 

When a sweet Eli Manning is the first card in the next post, you know that whatever all of this is leading up to will be huge.

   

And I don't know what people have against Leaf and Wild Card, this card has more Pow! to it than anything Panini and Topps puts out.

Charles Way Bronze parallel from 1999 Upper Deck. Not the easiest card to find.

Same way with this Fleer Tradition Heritage Parallel. Not easy finds. I haven't added much to my Way collection in a few years.

 

Film Cel relics still excite me, I don't know why. I rather have real ones that include real Cels from the movie, but these are cool despite being manufactured ones.

 

This card caught my eye right off. Not only is it attractive, but the creativity of using the fists attacking each other on opposite sides of the card really brings this card to life.

 

J-Lo rookie? I am not sure on that. I just know I wanted it just in case. I also want the Lady Gaga version of this card as well.

 

Someone must have read my Top Want Lists because this one.....

 

And these two have been on there forever. The Crown Royale Deion was a HOT card back in 1995 as it featured Sanders with the Cowboys for the first time and that just stirred up some memories.

The 1998 Playoff Contenders Rookie Leathers were the two hardest ones I needed for my set chase. Now I can probably continue to pursue that set chase that those two were knocked down.

Well, there is Part 2 for ya. Still two more parts remain which means two more cups of coffee, or more, to finish them.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday! My second game is today, fingers crossed on another great result! This team today will be tough.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Blog Bat Around- The Last Base Card

John over at John's Big League Baseball Blog came up with a new Blog Bat Around and I was all on board to participate. 

Most of the Blog Bat Arounds I participate in. The ones I don't either I don't see, or they are a bit more challenging, and I am too lazy to dig stuff out for.

John's challenge was to post a last base card of your favorite player. I took this another route as I chose to post one of his first and one of his last. It had to be a base card, no inserts, autographs, relics or any of that fancy stuff.

Which isn't too hard for me as I have plenty of favorite players and base of them.

Choosing a player was pretty simple as the first player that came to my mind for me should be the one that comes to mind first, Rodney Hampton.

This is his 1990 Topps rookie card. I have close to 100 of these. It was a weird challenge to myself if you are curious why.

And one of his final, he has like six with three being different levels from Black Diamond, from 1998 Score.

Rodney played his entire career for the Giants from 1990-1997. He rushed for consecutive 1000-yard seasons from 1991-1995. After the 1995 season, Rodney was offered a Free Agent offer sheet by the 49ers which the Giants quickly and fortunately matched. 1996 season he shared carries season with Tyrone Wheatley and fell short of his usual 1000-yard season. Only to get hurt in the season which costed him most of the 1997 season except two games and one playoff game. He was then cut by the Giants prior to the 1998 season and never was signed so he decided to retire. Which is what I like. I wanted to make sure he was a Giant for life unlike some other running backs I know....

If you haven't joined in yet on this Blog Bat Around, go do so. It was fun.

In the meantime, drink your coffee, and have a happy and safe Memorial Day. 

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Shoebox Delivers Part 2

Coffee is brewed and hot. Cards are ready next to me, and I am ready for a new Cards Over Coffee.

As promised with Part 1 of the magical Shoebox trade I did with my father, I said I would reveal what key/fun cards were in the trade in a series of posts.

I finally took a few minutes this morning just to snap the pictures I wanted for my baseball part of these posts and I am ready to go with this next installment.

So, let's kick it off and see some baseball cards.

*takes a sip*

There were actually a lot of baseball cards as opposed to other sports in the shoebox. I cannot show off everything that was in there as most were incomplete base sets, so I am putting the main focus on the inserts and parallel cards I discovered instead.

There were roughly 100 of these Collectors Choice stickers in there. Not sure if there was a complete set or not, but there were plenty of duplicates of each player including my main man Griffey.

Roughly ten of these were included in the box with Gary being the best player in the group.

There was plenty of Gold Medallions found from a variety of years. This one is from 1998.

1999 (I posted Jay because we have roughly the same kind of hair cut)

2000.

There was probably about 25 cards for each year. I made sure to double check for Platinum medallions, but there were none. Curses!

There was plenty of these though, 1998 Bowman International Parallel. About 50 to be a rough estimate. 

I thought this was a really cool looking insert concept with the black/white and colored side taking a look at the future and the past. We need more creativity like this now-a-days. There was roughly 6 to 8 of these in the box and these fell 1:6 packs.

There were two Big Shots. These fell 1:4 packs and look great. Ultra nailed it with the insert designs.

Double Trouble inserts. These were the only two in there and fell 1:4 packs with 20 cards in the set.

 

And then what I considered the best finds of the baseball cards if not the entire box, 1:8 pack odds Kid Gloves. Embossed insert with a glove background speaks baseball to me. It also speaks that I need to chase this 12-card set now. If any of you have any I don't have pictured here, let me know!

This sums up the baseball cards of the shoebox. I still have NY Giants which I will post on here, Football which had some really cool finds and basketball with some sneaky fun discoveries.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I hope all of you come back and see what's coming up next in this series! I am not sure when I will get to posts with so many appointments and possible procedures coming up, but I will get to it when I can. My urology appointment is currently set up for Thursday, but I have PT on my shoulder tomorrow. And if all goes well,I will have surgery Friday on the kidney stone if I cannot pass it before then.

I hope all of you have a great Tuesday. Remember to tell your loved ones that you love them any chance you get.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*