Live National Report Thread....

[Exhibitman]

I am on my way home now after four days. Great trip as usual.

I did not see ridiculous prices but I wasn't looking for the hottest prewar sets in high grade slabs either. I bought over 200 cards for my collection. I dug and dug on messy tables, sifted through hundreds of commons looking for the right cards, and worked over every buck negotiating prices. That's how you gotta work the show--relentlessly. And be flexible. I got some great prewar photos of the cubs training on Catalina and a ton of postwar Topps cards. Even got a nice Morrell Koufax and a Koufax rookie. All those were on my list but I could not count on them. They were targets of opportunity. If you approach the show looking for one narrow thing you will probably leave disappointed, especially if you are after a hot set.

[Northviewcats]

I spent two days at the show.

Overwhelming experience. After a few rows of looking the merchandise seemed to blend together, each table seemed to be filled with the same stuff.

Only spent 1/4 of what I intended to spend. Ironically I spent the most on a 1924 Diaz card that I think I was the under-bidder on a few weeks ago on eBay. Impulse buy. Yes, I did pay a lot more for it at the show.

The best part was watching dads and sons shopping together for treasures. The excited kids reminded me of how great collecting cards was when I was little.

I did take advantage of the Net54 SGC special. (Thanks Leon for arranging it.) I also enjoyed meeting Earl from SGC and putting a face to someone that I have dealt with over the phone. He was very helpful.

Thing I disliked the most: Unless they knew you most of the dealers seemed bothered and not interested in selling. I stopped and looked at almost every booth, but only a few dealers even asked what I was collecting. Maybe I have an ugly mug. Today most dealers just looked beat. I'm sure that they were.

The real excitement was at the rear of the room where all of the pack ripping was going on. I still don't understand the glamour of spending $70 hoping to get an autograph of someone who may not be in the Big Leagues in a few years. Gambling is not for me.

I hope everyone that went had a great time and found what they were looking for.

Best regards,

Joe

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by Northviewcats

I spent two days at the show.

Overwhelming experience. After a few rows of looking the merchandise seemed to blend together, each table seemed to be filled with the same stuff.

Only spent 1/4 of what I intended to spend. Ironically I spent the most on a 1924 Diaz card that I think I was the under-bidder on a few weeks ago on eBay. Impulse buy. Yes, I did pay a lot more for it at the show.

The best part was watching dads and sons shopping together for treasures. The excited kids reminded me of how great collecting cards was when I was little.

I did take advantage of the Net54 SGC special. (Thanks Leon for arranging it.) I also enjoyed meeting Earl from SGC and putting a face to someone that I have dealt with over the phone. He was very helpful.

Thing I disliked the most: Unless they knew you most of the dealers seemed bothered and not interested in selling. I stopped and looked at almost every booth, but only a few dealers even asked what I was collecting. Maybe I have an ugly mug. Today most dealers just looked beat. I'm sure that they were.

The real excitement was at the rear of the room where all of the pack ripping was going on. I still don't understand the glamour of spending $70 hoping to get an autograph of someone who may not be in the Big Leagues in a few years. Gambling is not for me.

I hope everyone that went had a great time and found what they were looking for.

Best regards,

Joe

I agree 100% with the lack of friendliness. I walked away several dealer tables that had things I was interested in because they wouldn't acknowledge that I was there.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I am on my way home now after four days. Great trip as usual.

I did not see ridiculous prices but I wasn't looking for the hottest prewar sers on high grade slabs either. I bought over 200 cards for my collection. I dug and dug on messy tables, sifted through hundreds of commons looking for the right cards, and worked over every buck negotiating prices. That's how you gotta work the show--relentlessly. And be flexible. I got some great prewar photos of the cubs training on Catalina and a ton of postwar Topps cards. Even got a nice Morrell Koufax and a Koufax rookie. All those were on my list but I could not count on them. They were targets of opportunity. If you approach the show looking for one narrow thing you will probably leave disappointed, especially if you are after a hot set.

+1

Floating around the show looking at the overpriced eye candy of those with the biggest booths seemed to be what a lot of people were doing. The deals were in the smaller booths where you could strike up a conversation, build a common understanding about an item, and then negotiate a fair price. I got more deals at this Natty than the past two combined. Sometimes I had to walk away and come back the next day to get prices to fall. In general I didn't feel like if I passed up something it would be gone later so I did this consistently as a negotiating tactic.

Also stumbled into a few items that the dealer did not really seem to know what it was and/or it's true rarity. I guess that's the benefit of looking for things that are less mainstream.

jeff

[Exhibitman]

Definitely, Jeff. There are always astounding items hidden in piles of stuff that you just have to dig out and retrieve. I am a bit of a maniac at the show because I know that. I try to save the socializing for the evenings and when I am too tired to keep walking and searching. I will post some 'picks' later this week.