Cleveland National: Thumbs Up or Thumbs down?

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Posted By: Aaron M.

Thumbs up, definitely.

This was the third straight National I'd traveled to, and the fourth in five years I'd attended. With more than enough items of interest in August's Hunt and Mastronet auctions to blow my entire collecting budget for the 2nd half of the year and with last year's bust in Atlantic City in mind (I left empty-handed), my expectations were pretty low. But I was pleasantly surprised by the low-key tone (trading card company, obnoxious modern junk and manufactured collectibles dealers, and grading services presences were noticeably scaled back) and I'd rank it as a "solid" show along with Chicago a couple years ago and a huge improvement over Atlantic City last year. (Good organization, nice layout, friendly service, good food, etc.)

My wife and I flew in to Cleveland from Los Angeles on Friday and checked into our hotel with enough time to systematically cover about 2/3 of the convention floor in three hours before closing. (The airport, IX Center, and Airport Sheraton were all basically interconnected and a quick, convenient shuttle away from each other.)

Within the first hour I found a dealer with a high-quality vintage sports memorabilia display anchored by, among other things, a 1910 Philadelphia Athletics composite team pin (not on my list, but impressive to see in person nonetheless). I ended up buying beautiful examples of the 1935 Rogers Hornsby "Browns' Boys Club" and 1940's Jimmy Foxx "Yours For Life" pinbacks and a very attractive 1942 St. Louis Cardinals pocket schedule for a good price. None of the items were particularly valuable or something I couldn't readily find on E-Bay, but you just can't beat the experience of spotting something you're looking for and/or connect with while perusing dealer display cases in person.

All the major auction houses (Mastro, Hunt, Lelands, Grey Flannel, etc.) were there with museum-quality displays previewing their upcoming auctions (seeing this stuff in person is almost worth making the trip by itself). Mastro actually had two seperate displays, with one featuring at least nine examples of the T206 Wagner side-by-side and the other devoted to their August auction. Among the mind-blowing items were a heretofore unknown 1910 Frank Baker "A Fan for a Fan," a beautifully framed 1903 Boston Pilgrims "Royal Rooters" pin, and the original artwork for a never produced 1936 Diamond Stars Rogers Hornsby and Jim Bottomley card (this was simply one of the most magnificent pieces of sports cards or memorabilia I have ever seen in person--stunning).

I then tried to purchase the 1926 Golden Jubilee baseball that Steve Venkman had offered in his June Clean Sweep auction. I have to give him credit--I gave him a hard time about errors in the listing on this board, but after the item went unsold in his auction (it failed to draw the $1,500 minimum bid over the course of the six-week listing) he was very courteous and responsive when I asked him to bring the ball to the National and hold it for me to see if we could work out a deal. Unfortunately, he wouldn't budge from the $1,500 price (I offered $1,200), and even tried to raise the price on me to $2,000, so I had to pass.

I ended up picking up some old Leland and Hunt's auction catalogs (along with Mastro's, the best hobby reference books around) to add to my library before we headed back to the hotel (again, great service and great value for your dollar) as the dealers were closing up for the night.

On Saturday, my wife and I arrived bright and early and were inline to cover the last 1/3 of the floor as the doors opened. The line was extremely short compared to previous Nationals--which was good for me but probably not so good for dealers. Attendance on Saturday actually seemed lower than Friday.

I quickly picked up what appears to be a 5" by 7" reproduction of the 1932 New York Yankees American League Champions composite team print that for some reason was stuck to the backside of an early 20th century framed portrait photo of a woman (the matting says "Otto Sarney Co., 1177 Broadway Near 26th Street, New York" if anyone has any info on this, otherwise, it's getting tossed). It's the prefect "space-holder" to be reframed for a particular spot in my display until I get my hands on the 1907 Cubs composite team postcard.

Then pay-dirt: a vintage memorabilia dealer from Georgia who had a spectacular display last year (I watched as a representative from an auction house used high-pressure tactics to buy all his choice material in one shot), had a stunning 1923 McDonald Church League trophy presented by Honus Wagner complete with a seperate beautifully ornate base piece I'd never seen before. I had tried unsuccessfully to win one of these trophies at auction from Leland and SportsCards Plus over the last three years, but both times came up short. I quickly plunked down $1,500 (which I felt was a very fair price) and happily walked away with my best ever in-person purchase.

I made one last attempt to get Venkman to lower his price on the Golden Jubilee ball (no dice) and got a subscription to the new Old Judge magazine and then my wife and I left the show with enough time to hit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before catching our return flight and arriving home last night. Overall, a great couple of days.

The trophy purchase aside, I would say that with E-Bay and the various sports collectibles auction houses, there's really no need to attend shows like the National in person in terms of adding to your collection (most of the "good stuff" is either held back for the major auctions or ridiculously overpriced ), but it does greatly enrich your collecting experience. Being so completely immersed in the hobby and all its varied aspects and having the opportunity to kind of get an in-person "status check" on its pulse, IMO, is integral to enjoying our collecting.