Aloha from Chicago

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Posted By: DMcD

I arrived in Chicago on Monday evening and am presently ensconced in the friendly confines of the Rosemont Embassy Suites Hotel across the street from the site of the imminent National. I have created a new album on my ImageEvent photo site and have posted some photos already of my "tourist day" in town today (Tuesday). The plan is to upload pictures each night of the day's goings-on. The computer I brought with me is a full-grade POS so I can't guarantee anything but I will do my best for you guys that couldn't make it here. (If any of you that are staying at Embassy Suites hear loud vulgarities that begin with "f" coming from the fourth floor, that will be me scolding the effing computer).

Took the train into town this morning and had a walkabout. It was hot as an insensitive metaphor, as we say down in Texas, in Chicago today. The upside was that the girls were attired accordingly and Michigan Avenue was indeed Magnificent. (Sorry guys, no photos. "Excuse me, Miss. May I take your picture and put it on the internet? My website needs some eye candy." Uh-huh.) When I wasn't being a leering pervert I felt like Clem Kadiddlehopper gawking the tall buildings. Golly!

Went for a tour of Wrigley Field in the afternoon. It's a gem of a ballpark but it was a bit strange being there with no game being played. Am looking forward to being part of the Wrigley crowd this weekend. Have tickets for Saturday's game with the Pirates.

That's it for me tonight. I'll post again to inform y'all, as we say out in Hawaii, when I have uploaded more photos.

==================================
Wednesday afternoon: The votes are all in and I am an insensitive mofo. It is not my style to deliberately piss people off; the offending simile has been removed. My intent on the thread is primarily to share any halfway decent photos I take. I don't want the thread to detour into whether I am a pig or not.

Vintage cards, scantily-clad Chicago maidens, uku-zillion penguins, authentic Dutch people and more at . .

http://imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika

edited to fix link.

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Posted By: leon

Thanks for posting a thread like this and I will see you in several hours....if you are around. Tonight is the 5pm-9pm show night so it's going to be a little bit late of a one....I should be at the Embassy Suites at around 2pm-2:30pm today and will head over to pick up my badge, cases, etc.... (knock on wood).....

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

If I were a woman reading the above description I think I would be offended.

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Posted By: Steve

Peter beat me to it. Tex, just a wee bit outta context here.

Try these;
It’s hotter than a snake booty in a wagon rut in Odessa. Or, It’s hotter than an armadillos' hide at a West Texas picnic on the Fourth of Joooly.

Appreciate the rest of your report though. Wrigley is on my bucket list and Chitown is a fun city, but be safe. Steve F

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Monday night late......was in the show most of the day yesterday while people were setting up. Gonna be pretty big--about like the last couple Nationals here. Not as big as the 1993 National at McCormick place though. Went to the Cubs game last night....IN MILWAUKEE......little 90 mile road trip. Beautiful stadium..........will try to upload some photos later like David........

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Posted By: Peter Thomas

Should get in to Sofitel about 3:30 this afternoon. Will get over to pick up tickets and catch up with who I can find at the show. A little sad that Chris will not be there, first National on my own, but he is going to be in New York earning some money for future cards.

Peter

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Posted By: Marty Ogelvie

nice post David,

Did you go without the Mrs'?

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Posted By: paulstratton

You're one funny mofo David. Keep the updates coming.

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Posted By: Bob

David- great post, keep them coming for all of us guys stuck at home
TBob

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Posted By: S Gross

David, FYI, when you edit a post it messes up the link.
What I do is re-cut-and-paste the link everytime I edit.

not being critical , just missing out on the fun .....

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Here's a link directly to David's National pics.

http://imageevent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika/bbbofsfirstclass/thechicagonational

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Posted By: DMcD

How ya doin', sportsfans! The first day of the National is pau. Got there at 5, stayed until 9, walked miles of aisles, saw plenty nice cards and jawboned with lots of Net54ers. Took a few photos, just had a look at them and unfortunately many of them are a tad on the crappy side, mostly either due to poor focus or flash blowback. Nevertheless, I am in the process of editing them and hope to upload a couple of dozen in the next hour or so. I need to take the Imageevent site off-line in the meantime. I will edit this post when the pikkies are ready.
======================
OK, the pictures are uploaded and the site is back on-line. It's not photojournalism at its best, my pictures don't really capture the sheer vastness of the show nor much of the great cards I saw (loads of glorious cabinets, razor sharp CJS, Richard M's killer Breisch-Williamses, the list goes on) nor the convivial jocularity (Barry can translate) and all-around good BSing that went down wherever there were Net54ers to be found. I'll take another shot at it tomorrow. Gotta go crash.

Vintage cards, scantily-clad Chicago maidens, uku-zillion penguins, authentic Dutch people and more at . .
http://ImageEvent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika

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Posted By: Alan

We got in about 8 pm local time. Just finished dinner. Now deciding what to do.... !!!

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Posted By: paulstratton

Instead of Mr.Mint they now have Mr.Armpit by the front door?

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Gizmo has that coveted spot.

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Posted By: DMcD

Paul: Unfortunately, Brockleman-Luckey is actually situated nowhere near the front door, more like Outer Boony Boony Land, but it is still the Hub of the Universe as far as the show is concerned and a swell place to hang out, too.

Jody is correct. Go figure.

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Posted By: paulstratton

I was just messin' with Leon, I figured they wouldn't want to be by the front door anyway.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

thanks...great report so far! i can't wait to walk those aisles...

so, how much cash is Leon holding? the guy behind him looks very sad that he's not holding that wad...haha.

p.s. nice Boston Garter

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Great photos David...keep 'em coming.

I have to ask - who has that Omaha cabinet and what are they asking for it?

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Posted By: DMcD

Dan: Tik & Tik, $950, I believe, but my memory, she no so good. The card has your name all over it.

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Posted By: Leslie Westbrook

...that dinosaurs-eating-baseball-players picture REAL bad.

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Posted By: Alan

Michael -

When will you be here ?

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Posted By: Jimmy

Dan,

some great pictures

Thanks

Jimmy

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

David, nice pictures, much appreciated. Please have Pat wrap up that Alpha Engraving McGraw and send it my way.

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Posted By: DMcD

Jeff: SGC has a showcase entitled "The Patrick Preece Collection" for which you can pick your favorite superlative- stunning, breathtaking, jawdropping, all of the above. Holy Moses! The Alpha Engravings alone were worth traveling 5000 miles for. That AE McGraw is my favorite. I will take some more pictures of PP's cards today and post them this evening. Are you coming to Chicago btw? Hope so.

Guys: Tonight is the social affair of the year, i.e., The Net54 Ball, and therefore my photo site update may not happen until the wee hours. I will alert y'all on this thread when the pictures are up.

National doors open in less then 15 minutes. Gotta rock and roll.

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Posted By: Bryan Long

Now I am jealous. I wish I could have gone. Those cabinets look great! I was able to speak with Patrick Preece last year in Cleveland and his collection is quite amazing. Doe sanyone happen to have Leon's cell number on the board that would be willing to let me know what it is? Brian, do you have it?

.

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Posted By: Alan U

David, nice photos, thank you for posting them. I've never been to a National, but now I really want to go.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

Alan- i'm finishing up some things in the office now, and will be catching a 4pm flight from LaGuardia...i'll be at the Net54 Party tonight...

looking forward to breaking bread with you all...

MS

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Posted By: DMcD

It was a long and satisfying day at the National. Dropped off some cards at SGC and completed my canvassing of the convention floor (which is about the size of friggin' Rhode Island; oh, my aching feet!). Wanted to see everything in general prior to zeroing in on certain dealers which I will do tomorrow. Picked up a number of obscurities which were way far off my want-list radar but for which resistance was futile. Main keepers were a beautiful photograph of Prince Oana fireballing for Aratani and a handful of photos of Honolulu Braves (thirties Hawaii semi-pro brewery league) which need to be seen to be appreciated and a mysterious post card depicting a group of ballplayers in an array of major and minor league uniforms posing on a small town street with no clue as to who what where when other than the dealer's notation "South Dakota 1945". One of the great things about the National is that you can march the card over to someone like Mark Macrae, then lean back and listen to him brainstorm baseball. I'll post the card when I get back home and maybe some of you can help identify the players. I am just about positive however that Joe Jackson isn't in the picture.

This evening was Leon's dinner. Must have been 60 or 70 people there. Prior to dinner we were treated to a series of talks by Phil Garry, Mark Anderson from Beckett, Brian Dwyer from SGC, Josh Evans of Lelands and Doug Allen of Mastro. Subjects ranged from HOFer rookie cards to corporate mission statements to the cost curve of T206 Wagners. Each talk was interesting and each guy knew how to speak to an audience. There were no clinkers. Dinner was followed by the aformentioned convivial jocularity and good fellowship and plenty talk story. No blood was shed.

I've got another 40 or so photos which I will upload tonight. I purchased a mini-computer last week before I came to Chicago. It's about the size of a paperback and I thought it would be perfect for traveling. It is, unfortunamente, a complete piece of junk. It's an Asus; I think it was manufactured in North Korea. Click on a command, it hangs five ten fifteen seconds, an eternity. Long story short. I ain't got enough gas left to fight an axis-of-evil computer. It's 2 a.m. I gotta get some sleep. I will upload the photos and save the editing, captioning etc until later. Apologies for a sloppy site.

Tomorrow is a busy day. More card gawkin' and motor-mouthin'. Mastro's live auction in the evening. Should be fun.
========================
My memory isn't what it ought to be; I have an especially difficult time remembering names. I'll forget a person's name thirty seconds after I shake his hand. This is not a good thing. Apologies to Jay (but sorry, brah, that shirt would get you arrested in Waikiki) and whomever else whose name I got wrong. Thanks for pointing that out, Harry.

Hope I get this edit right and don't bugger the http link. In case I do I think youse guys know how to find the pictures by now.

Vintage cards, scantily-clad Chicago maidens, uku-zillion penguins, authentic Dutch people and more at . .
http://ImageEvent.com/kawika_o_ka_pakipika

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Posted By: barrysloate

David- cool pictures from the dinner...but that's Jay Miller, not Ray.

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Posted By: Rob D.

David,

Your efforts are much appreciated!

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Posted By: paulstratton

edit due to complete lack of sleep...keep up the good work David

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Posted By: Matt Goebel

David,

The updates and pix are great - thanks! It looks like a blast, I wish I could be there.

What a treat to see Patrick's collection in person, truly monumental.

Is that a Billiken P Perez in your cache?

Matt

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Posted By: Aaron Seefeldt

I was at the national all day and evening on Wednesday...

Lots of HIGH sticker prices on items... there is material there and excellent material to be found but the prices seem to be on high retail side.

Cards available for sale of note: n175 Large Gypsy Queen King Kelly, d304 complete set for lower price than the Cobb alone sold for in last Goodwin auction, saw a Wolverine PC Cobb, several Balt. Newsboys, couple of Big Heads, several small n175s, Pinkerton cabinet Wagner, e300 Plow's Plank (only one known), e92 Wrong Back (Menagerie) Wagner batting, t206 Sovereign Cobb Red port (now mine! thanks DK), W. Johnson throwing Sovereign back, several e99s and e100s, t206 Cobb Bat. Uzit, e107 Cy Young PSA 5... and of course several nice dealer tables (Including Leon's!).

Spoke with Friend who spent all day there yesterday (net54 member) and he said nothing happening much there for dealers yesterday... lack of action being either trades or purchases.

I'm heading back this afternoon (I live 20 mins. from convention) and will post another update by Saturday.

Personally, I had a blast as there is some excellent auction material to view and lots of cheaper oddball issues to scour through...

- Aaron Seefeldt

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Posted By: Bryan Long

I have heard from a few people as well that the sticker prices on many cards are way above market value. I guess they have to make their money somehow

.

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Posted By: DMcD

Thanks for all the positive comments, people. The National experience is too huge to capture with a two-bit digital camera but I am doing my best. I wish you all could be here for the real deal. I am having a terrific time and my guess is alot of the other guys would echo the same sentiment.

Matt: That is indeed a Billiken Perez. Those little guys can really grow on you. Liked it the best of Ryan's Billikens. The photo "pops" pretty nice. Had a chance to hang around the Cuban Baseball table and admire Mistah Christoff's interesting array of tropical cardboard, and to talk story with da kine and with the amazing young Mr. Rice (who sends his greetings to Max btw). Wish you were here, buddy. P.S. Thanks for those cool "Hawaii" cards!

Aaron: Thanks for your great post. I think your observations bring this thread to a better level than my newby musings. (I feel a lot like Gomer Pyle around some of you guys). It was a real pleasure to meet you at the B-L table the other day. Wish more guys that are here in Chicago would chime in; this thread would benefit from additional pairs of eyes and ears.

(Edited for spelling)

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Posted By: Bob

David- I'd be interested to know what the general consensus was regarding attendance. It looks a little on the lean side but I guess you'll know more after today (Friday) and Saturday. Also, there hasn't been any word yet on caramel cards (E93s, E94s, etc) Just wondering if there are any available and what they are going for vs. what they sell for on ebay etc.
Keep up the good work, my friend, your thread and pictures are great. I wish I were there.
TBob

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Thanks for making the time for us folks who couldn't be there David. You have a very desercning eye...I especially enjoyed this photo of Joe Jackson taking some time out of his schedule for some Net54ers.

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Posted By: DMcD

TBob: Compared to the other National I was at in Anaheim the crowds appear to me to be way more sparse. I would venture that the dealers are hoping that the weekend crowd will pick up. I am not a caramel guy, yet anyway. I just nod my head when somebody mentions E-Ninety-whatevers and pretend like I know what they are talking about. I hope someone else can weigh in and answer your question. Hope those ribs have stopped giving you grief.

Dan: Bingo!

Heading across the street now. Gotta go spend some money.

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Posted By: samuel

I hope I'm not out-of-line, since I don't know anyone here, to say that I'm really enjoying this thread. thank you for letting me in on something I wasn't able to experience.

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Posted By: Bryan Long

Seeing all the pictures - it is really killing me that I was not able to attend this year. I hear there are some really great items there as usual - most of which I would not be able to buy. I missed not attending the net54 dinner. It is a great event that all should try and attend at some point. Meeting the people we talk to all the time on here is the best part, besides seeing a crap load of cards that I will never be able to buy Everyone there is very lucky and I will see you all next year!

.

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Posted By: Bob

See Bryan, if you hadn't spent all that money in Vegas buying future book tickets that the Indians were going to win the World Series in 2008 you'd have had a ton of money to spend on cards in Chicago. Just kiddin'
Looking forward to seeing you and Jimi in Indiantown next year for the National. Hopefully you guys can get us some more great tickets for the game!
tbob

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

Please tell me that the price sticker isn't stuck directly on the slab of the King Kelly! (Photo 52)

Rick

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Posted By: Bob

C'mon guys, you are leaving the rest of us hanging!

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Posted By: 1880nonsports

must give you my thanks for all the pix! Super! I was there for only a couple of days and no time to see anything. You made me feel like I was there..........

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Posted By: DMcD

Got a late start today. Arrived at the show around noon. First off, stumbled across a vendor that had really cheap fifties Topps cards so did a bit of upgrading to my '53 and '57 sets. Then wandered over to Tony E-Trade to shoot the bull and admire his Zeenuts and D304s, but didn't buy anything. Next went over to Terry Knouse to look over the amazing array of cabinet cards he has this year. Ended up buying a couple; an Arlie Latham Player League cabinet and one of Hank O'Day. (I've got some shots of the cards on the picture site). These cards are going to be my big keepers from this National; the rest is gravy. Also had the opportunity to get some education from Terry about 19th century cabinets. Terry knows alot and he is generous in sharing his knowledge. Next wandered over to Leon and Scott's table to do some consigning of some of my dupes. Picked up some neat postcards along the way. Never saw any FBI agents, but did get some stink eye off a CTA crossing guard. Before I knew it the afternoon was pau and it was time to head to the Mastro auction. It was to be held at the ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago. They had buses for us; Friday pm traffic was hellacious but we still managed to get there on time. They had a great turkey dinner buffet waiting for us. Not just generic "great" but like, Holy Moses! this place is just a Chucky Cheese for grown-ups why is this turkey better than anything my mom ever cooked? But I digress. Auction started at 9. The venue wasn't quite what I expected. I had envisioned James Mason and David Niven types in a formal theatre setting but it was just a bunch of us pudgy white guys in a sports bar. Nevertheless, the auction proceeded at a quick pace. A lot of stuff seemed to underperform the "minimum estimate". I thought the BG Speaker was a good deal at 13K and the W600 lot at $22K seemed low. I had my sight set on the 1912 NY Giants portrait. Went bid for bid with a phone bidder but eventually had to fold my hand. The photo in real life was stunning in a way that the catalog barely suggested. It was much larger than you would think and the contrast and, above all, the clarity made it so vivid. The phone guy is going to be very happy once he peels away that yellow Mastro tape. The big drama of the evening, of course, was the T206 Wagner. It got to a million in no time, and a phone bidder and a proxy mysteriously duked it out until it topped at $1.35 million. It was a bit of a thrill, by the way, to be allowed to touch the Holy Grail earlier in the day. Some guys might think it's no big deal but I thought it was cool.

(Edited for spelling)

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Posted By: Cy

Hi David,

I also want to thank you for taking the time to take pictures and upload them for the members who could not attend the National. The pictures are quite nice.

Sincerely,

Cy

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

David,

Is Terry K. "Tik n' Tik"? If so, I saw the cabinets to which you refer. Did he give you any insight as to where all of those were obtained? There were a couple I thought of picking up, but I didn't. I may give them a call later on.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

David, your posts made me laugh twice: the 'axis of evil' computer you purchased and the 'stink eye' you received in Chicago. Thanks for the effort and pictures; you're a good guy.

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Posted By: DMcD

Jodi: Terry Knouse = TIK Sr. Terry gave me a about three-quarters-of-an-hour worth of insight into these cards and 19th century cabinets in general and it was like a freshman sitting in on a graduate seminar. I will count it as one of the best if not the very penultimate [ ] experiences I have had in Chicago which includes being born here some six decades ago but that is another story. As for your specific question as to where did he find them I misplaced that factoid in my addled memory. Since you are at the show I would encourage you to return to TIK & TIK and talk some story with Terry and maybe pick up one of these babies if you are into it. Prices were in the ballpark of a decent T3, not exorbitant.

You know you are addicted to Net54 when you have Cubs tickets behind home plate, kickoff is two hours and about twenty hard miles away and you are drinking motel coffee in your boxers whilst chatting on the internet. Gotta jam.