Post-Show Post: The Goods

Well, we made it down to Joliet and back in one piece.  Actually, two since there are two of us.

It was a mall show, and as Andy said, our first in at least a decade if not closer to 15 years, so we weren’t really sure what to expect.  You saw the specs Andy posted.  Well, 50 tables my boot-ay!  I’d say it was 20 at the most really.  If you count all the non-card kiosks and food stands taking up space in between card tables, you might get up to 50.  Still, it didn’t take long to get back into the swing of things.

But you could care less about all of that.  You want to know what we walked away with, don’t you?  Well, we didn’t buy much, but what we did get, I am quite happy with.

The main table we raided had some cards in a box that were 10 for $1.  For a little while we were confused, because the cards we were seeing weren’t worth just $.10, but the dealer confirmed it and we loaded up.

For those keeping track, that’s a 1969 Jesus Alou (in good condition and centered well), a 1970 Boog Powell (the back doesn’t look as nice and there’s a small crease, but still), 1975 Brewers Checklist (Hank Aaron’s in that picture somewhere.  If you guessed the guy in the blue checkered jacket, you’re wrong), a 1972 Rollie Fingers (corners aren’t perfect, but good otherwise), 1975 John Briggs (basically NM), 1975 Jim Wynn (also NM), 1983 Walter Payton Team Card (EX/NM), and 1990 Score Bo Jackson (I just really like this card).

But that’s not all —

1986 Topps Football

Who could pass up 2 Joe Montanas, an LT, an Elway, 3 Warren Moons, a Bernie RC (?) and a Craig for less than a dollar?  You’d be crazy not to buy them.  The pictures are a little weird on Roger and Joe.  I think the Niner’s were fed some bad seafood, because RCraig looks like he needs a hospital and Joey Monty is about to throw up.

That’s STILL not all from the dime bin!

ten cent heaven (cont.)

A 1983 Ronnie Lott and the two heavy hitters.  A Will Clark 1987 Fleer RC (he has a smug look on his face like, “I know you’re going to buy this card.  I’m the Freakin’ Thrill.”) and a 2001 SP Game Bat – Milestone Edition Rafael Furcal Piece of the Action International Connection bat relic (phew, that’s a long description).  Now, I don’t know tons about relics still, but I do know that if one is being sold for ten cents, you buy that relic – even if it is from a crazy obscure set.  Book value of this card alone is $10, which means it’s probably worth a dollar.  Regardless, I love the look of the bat piece with the way they imprinted the flag inside the sliver.

Not a bad way to spend $2, eh?  We weren’t done with this dealer.  He also had some random stuff in team bags for a quarter each, so we grabbed four of those.

7 cards, $0.036 per card - the worst deal

We saw the Barkley Ultra and the Magic Fleer and figured we’d try it.  Probably would have been better off with one of the Bulls team bags.  Next show.

26 cards - $0.0096 per card

A thick stack of 2004 Heritage.  If there’s even one card that Andy needs for his set, this was worth picking up.  Halladay and Reed Johnson were showing.

20 cards - $0.0125 per card

We saw the CC and Manny Ramirez Bowman’s Best and found mostly all 2000 Bowman’s Best cards.  There are some decent players in  there.  Also, we were surprised to find two serial numbered cards.  Eli Marrero (the only non-2000 card, 1998 Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractor #092/100 – books at $12 for being a common prospect atomic refractor), and a Ryan Christianson RC #’d 0547/2999 (common rookies listed at $5).

24 cards, $0.0104 per card

More Bowman’s Best.  The pack showed Pedro Martinez and Jose Canseco.  There was a variety of years included in this team bag grab bag.  And again, we got 2 #’d cards.   Both 1998 Refractors (non-atomic, so no need to duck and cover) – Ray Lankford #289/400 and Rusty Greer #057/400 (both valued at about $4-5).  We got some doubles from the 2000 team bag, and the player selection wasn’t as good this time, but still probably worth the quarter price tag for the adventure of it all.

We also each bought a few packs of wax – Andy bought some 2009 Playoff Contenders looking for an auto

Success!

Here are the highlights of the pack – 2 basic inserts and a Javon Ringer on-card auto.  I believe the on-card autos are one per box in this product (with 2 or 3 stickers as well).  Could have been better, but could have been worse.

I threw some cash at 3 packs of 09 A&G as I’m slowly trying for the set and 3 packs of ’10 heritage since I am impatient and know that the box coming in the mail will only get me started.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong

I did pretty well in the mini-department, but I’m not collecting those.  I didn’t have that Longoria Highlights, and I’m still deciding whether to try for that insert set.  I also got 3 National Pride’s I didn’t have, but only 6 base cards that were new.  Collation in these packs sucks.  Heritage wasn’t as fruitful insert wise, but got 100% new base cards since it’s the first I’ve gotten.  In 3 packs, got 2 “inserts” – Uggla Chrome and the Blalock SP.

That last card is an Alan Henderson 1995-96 Skybox Rookie Prevue insert.  I overpaid and got it for $1.  Basically I’m trying to collect all the 1995-96 Basketball series 1 inserts (with limitations) and this was the only card I came across that I needed.  I’m sure I’ll get more in depth about that quest in another post.

So there you have it.   Our first show in who knows how long, but it was fun and I’m looking forward to the next one.

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