I attended Wednesday night, all day Thursday and until about 3 p.m. on Friday.
I'm not really a high dollar purchaser - I've only spent more than $300 on two cards. Most of my higher value cards were acquired in the early 1980's. My 1950's Mantles, Mays and Aarons that I've had graded are generally in the PSA 3 or 4 range. A good chunk of my baseball want list is down to cards that I'm going to have to spend more than that on - 63 Rose, 54B Williams, 52T Mays along with a handful of first series 1950 Bowman stars and semi-stars that won't run that high but are still more than $20 cards. I looked at those cards at the show, but my heart (and mind) were never in to spending that kind of coin.
My show consisted primarily of $5 to $10 cards, mostly filling in holes in 1950's and 1960's football. Did a lot of $1 - $3 Post baseball and filled in some upgrades on 1954 through 1956 Topps commons. I'm in the process of moving my cards out of 40 year old plastic sheets in to new sheets and noting several cards I would like to upgrade and most of that was accomplished for $5 or less per card. Also picked up a handful of War Bulletin cards for my set and enjoyed flipping through the various non-sports cards at the show.
My 'big" purchases were a 52T Pafko in PSA 2.5 in a combo trade/cash deal with my local card shop, Indy Card Exchange. I spent $50 on a 1964 Kahns Arlen Bockhorn in a PSA 5.5 to finish off that sent and a little less than that on a 1954 Bowman George Blanda rookie raw to finish off that set (I acquired the last 23 cards at the show). Other than that, I don't think I spent more than $20 on a card. I managed to finish off the 1971 Topps coins set as well. Bought some supplies, including several used binders that will replace my 1970's recycled binders.
I enjoyed catching up with old friends JD and Stacy Heckathorn, hung out with the Indy Card Exchange guys. Had a nice conversation with Kevin Savage and the guys at this booth on Wednesday night about Kahn's basketball cards. Had a great conversation with another collector in line Friday morning. The social aspect was great.
I exhausted my mid three figures budget by the end of the day Thursday and made a ATM run Friday night to get a bit more out. I didn't spend that much more on Friday morning and by after lunch I noticed I was aimlessly wandering the floor. I figured my time would be better served getting an early start home. Drive took too long due to a crash related detour on I-65, followed by me deciding to explore the old road most of the way back to Indy.
I think they did a great job queueing people up on Thursday and Friday morning to keep the lobby open. Taking tickets instead of scanning them on Wednesday night speeded things up. Everything seemed to be focused on getting people in quickly - which is a huge plus. Concession were what should be expected at a convention - mediocre and overpriced. I ended up at the coffee shop in the Hyatt for a late lunch Thursday and bought a sandwich at Trader Joe's near my hotel for Friday.
As someone else noted, the corporate area in the middle of the floor made it hard to try to orderly walk and see each tables. The rows on the tables in the back on the red carpet were offset from the rest. I think I saw every table at least once, but I probably missed a few.
As always, tables that had nothing priced got a drive by from me, although I did stop to admire some of the stuff.
Just about every dealer that I spent $20 or more on gave me a discount of some kind without prompting. Whether it was down to the nearest $5 level or sometimes more.
No real negative experiences from me - other than my aching back and neck from the concrete and the backpack (that I often carried like a briefcase).
I won't make it to Atlantic City, but looking forward to the upcoming shows in Chicago and Cleveland.
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