The 2006 National

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I would also prefer a single site for the show; San Diego sounds good to me!

For all the criticism of the show, there was a ton of great stuff there, provided you could ferret it out of the piles of shiny crap.

The vintage dealers I spoke to nearly all said that they were having great shows. Some even left early because they'd sold so much already.

The best part of the show was the socializing, turning virtual relationships into face to face ones. For that reason alone the National is worth attending. There were times at dinner I laughed so hard I nearly passed out.

I acquired a bunch of interesting items, many of which will go onto my web site and BST once my scanner is back up.

I had one really funny incident on Saturday. I was looking at a major dealer's big booth of autographed manufactured memorabilia (crap) for the umpteenth time while passing by and I saw what I instantly recognized as a very rare and very valuable 19th century silk (real silk) of a boxer. The item had been removed from its vintage mount; they were mounted like cabinet cards originally. I asked to see it and the lady (who I learned was the dealer's wife) showed it to me. I asked "where's the rest of it?" She glowered and said that her husband pulled it out of the mount and, as she understands it, left $2000 on the table that way. I agreed and said more, which made her even madder. She said "Make us an offer; maybe he'll take it to get this out of my sight". I offered $200. She went to him and started chewing him out; I got it for $250.

The L.A. Times ran a very unflattering article on the hobby on Saturday, focusing on the difference between 100,000 at the show in 1991 and 35,000 today (a difference they completely misunderstood) and the 75% decline in the new card market (which as we all know merely represents rational decisionmaking). Vintage was given only a passing reference as still popular. It is probably on line.

Edited to Add: I also had a nice last-minute buy. I was on the way out Sunday and found a smallish group of T206's at a nondescript table. I picked up a Steinfeldt orange bg (really orange), an EPDG common in vg-ex, a Piedmont common with the red Sweet Caporal back design printed over the front sort of sideways, an Evers blue BG (Cubs; finally the last Evers I needed) and a front miscut. Must've been the last unpicked T206 lot in the place.