Hollywood Park Show

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Posted By: Nick

The modern card dealers at the show seemed to be taking a bath - nobody wants most of what modern card dealers had to offer - at any price. When you're finding manufacturer-certified autographed cards in quarter boxes, you know that modern has 2 levels: red hot and ice cold. Very few cards qualify as red hot. Most of the modern card dealers' activity came from deals with other dealers.

Post-war (WWII) vintage seemed to be colder than I ever remember it before, at least for Topps and Bowman cards - not many were buying or even looking beyond specific wantlists (probably because eBay is the way to go there). There was more activity for dealers with pre-war cards, although a lot of it appeared to be window shopping.

I had a couple true vintage pickups - a pair of T218 boxers - as well as some post-war vintage (R423s and '50s/'60s Topps/Bowman/Fleer), but spent most of my time buying shiny stuff cheaply. Interestingly, eBay is often no longer the way to go on these cards - a card with a Beckett High price of $20 that's no longer a hot issue often sells on eBay for $0.99 plus $2 shipping, so it becomes worth a dealer's while to put a price tag in the $2 to $3 range on it at a show - he nets more and the buyer pays less.

I saw some interesting items being submitted to Mastro for consignment, including a group of autographed Goudeys ('33 Mancuso on top) - these were then being sent out for slabbing and authentication.

SCD had a table set up, and were giving out free copies of a couple of their magazines, including a SCD supplement that had a vintage minor league card price guide.

I hope shows do not die altogether. Much of what I go to a show for simply cannot be replicated on eBay, and message boards don't have the personal element.

Nick