Are "Flea Market's" dead?
 

I recently went to a bunch of flea market in the SE Detroit area with my wife and fould a dealer who had a bunch of t206' and 50's Baseball cards. I looked over his card and to my suprise he wanted 2x to 3x auction prices (54 Bowman Mantle $1,000 maby VG). I just dont understand how you would sit in a hole in the wall market charging that much. Does anyone have a good story about finding some cards at a flea market over the last 20 yrs?

-Thanks

my neck of the woods
 

In my neck of the woods most of the antiques are in stores that rent out spaces for folks to sell them. IN the years of looking (maybe the last 10) I have only seen a few beat up T206's for a lot of money. The rest have been 60's and newer cards. Being from near Dallas doesn't bode well for pre-war card hunting. Now, if in the east or west I think folks could have more of a chance of finding something. Maybe someone will chime in... All we have from these parts is the Temple, TX., E105 Mello Mints....(I didn't get this from Texas)

Here in Pennsylvania we have multiple flea markets everyday in the summer and every weekend all year long. Though you can occasionally get lucky at any of them. The best ones are those associated with an antique market or antique coop. Prices range from cheap to multiple times what an item is worth.

Are "Flea Market's" dead?

Another Pennsylvanian here. The answer is "no."

Our local flea market in Mass
 

My Dad, Grandfather and I started setting up in the Grafton, Mass Flea Market in the mid 70's. In those formative years we bought great stuff.
From 1980 onward it was a vehicle for my Dad & Grandfather to sell cards
while I ran shows with Mom and Wife, and my cousin ran my store. My Uncle
started doing another flea market in Lowell, Mass mid 80's.
By the early 90's I had decided to consolodate everything to one effort at my shows. The last 20 years have been just shows for us.
We had bought spectacular collections through the flea market in the 70's/early 80's. Other than that the flea markets were a source of sales.
This summer my Uncle decided to set up at a flea market again. We bought nothing because nothing other than 80's/90's stuff was offered. And as for sales, we found out fast that 50 cent or 3/$1.00 cards are what sells. Today's flea market card enthusiasts here wanted new cards of Boston and New York teams. We also sold a tremendous amount of players with Latin and South American Heritage which was interesting. 75% of our buyers were under 25. Times have changed, but it's still a fun outing.

My family loves flea markets and yard sales. However, finding anything before 1980 is a challenge and when you find it the prices are out of whack. Today, flea markets are still popular but they have changed as far as sports items are concerned. When I'm feeling up to it, I love to go to them.

Who has some good stories of recent finds at Brimfield recently?
Thanks,
Bill

flea
 

not dead here but no baseball cards and lotsa junk.

best,
barry

Barry, I'll second that, ole' buddy! I've given up in Central Florida.

I actually found some T207 cards in NC about 4 years ago. The guy was a regular seller of cards and someone walke3d up and offered them for sale to him the previous week. I can't remember what I paid for them but I got a really good deal.

kirb
 

I picked up a T205 Kirb White at the flea market. I think the lack of shows actually encourages some lower level dealers to set up at the flea market. i live in a very sports-obsessed town (pittburgh) as well so that helps. i also picked up a '58 mantle as (poor) for $2 and almost got a '48 leaf musial for some 70s junk but the deal fell through. so yeah, there is some action at our flea markets. that said, you will see alot of over priced 80s-modern, such as a $5 1990 Daryle Strawberry that I saw and a Cory Snider '87 Topps in some guys display case

.
 

Flea markets are great in the Houston area si buscas cd's, llantas de su coche, o camisetas que representa la Virgen María.

I've noticed that in the last 20 years the prices for cards and sports memorabilia are very high at Chicago area flea markets. Even though I regularly go, I rarely come home with any cards. I definitely find better deals at local card shows.