The National Friday to Sunday updates of a first timer

[UKCardGuy]

It's my first national. I thought I'd add to the threads with updates and recaps with a newbies perspective.

I arrived in Chicago late on Wed but had to work on Thursday and Friday so I finally made it to Rosemont on Fri at about 430pm. After quickly checking into the Loewes, I ran over to the convention center to get my pass and the enter the National.

I really like the Loews. The rooms are comfy and in nice condition.

It was great to meet Fred McKie there. (Thanks for taking the time to show me round a bit Fred). By arriving an jour before closing time, i avoided crowds. I got my early access pass with no problem and dropped of some cards with SGC that i had prebooked. It took me all of 5 minutes at SGC. I then explored as many of the booths that i coud in the hour I had left.

I picked up a 58-62 Hartland Tag, a nice 70T Bench and a bunch of 61T High numbers. (I only need 34 more to complete the set and I'm hoping to get those today).

After I left the show, I made my way across the street to the Net54 dinner. It great to meet sine Net54ers and listed to the presentations. (Thanks Leon for putting on the dinner.)

As I'm still on UK time, I didn't stay too late. Early to bed means ill be up bright and early for Saturday admission.

When i got back to the Loews, the lobby was rammed with people trading cards but it was all modern. It's not
my scene but it was good to see so many kids involves in the hobby.

Saturday morning, I was up at 6am and at the convention center at 730am. (Jetlag has its advantages) The dealers were all lining up outside the VIP lounge to get their spots for next years national. (Next time somebody asks me my priority, I need to remember to say 35. I was "this close" to a UKcardguy booth in 2024.)

I spoke to a few other collectors and managed to find the VIP entrance to the National. As I didn't have anything better to do, I took a seat next to a few other people there. I'm glad I did. I should be person 10 through the doors today. I suspect there will.be more than 1,000 people behind me by 930am.

I'll send some updates later with photos.

[UKCardGuy]

Today was my first full day at the National and I went straight into my quest to complete a number of sets. I made it just 1 table in and found myself chatting with the guys at John Rumierz but I managed to pick up loads of 1970T and 1975 Topps Minis plus a few other bits and pieces.

I'm glad that I got in early. I had a good laugh at the autograph and PSA dash that I was told about.

I was able to trade for some pins along the way. By noon I managed to make it as far as the Sterling Auction booth. Got a free cap from Lee and picked up lots of 1961T high numbers near by. I knew I needed to up my pace. (It's so easy to get distracted at the National. I did stop for a $7 hot dog. (Could they make it any smaller?). Stopping gave me a chance to update my checklists, ready for the afternoon push.

I managed to cover a lot of the floor area but I quickly realized where the modern stuff was so I could walk past quickly. I found a number of great booths with vintage binders and a broad selection. I picked up a nice 1970T Bench and 61T high numbers amongst others at Heckathorn/Johnson.

By the time closing time rolled around, I managed to complete my 73T set. I'm. just 1 card away from completing 1970T and 2 cards away from finishing 1961T. I also made good headway on my 1956T set and a number of others.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find some last minute bargains and to find more of the booths of Net54 members.

[Fballguy]

Great report Gary but what about the pennants?

[UKCardGuy]

Thanks Rob. There were some nice pennants for sale but they seemed to be priced at the high end of retail. I try to buy pennants at the low end of fire sale, desperately low prices.

Besides, getting a pennant in my hand luggage would be interesting.

[IndyDave]

Congrats on completing the 1973 set and good luck on getting 1970 and 1961 done tomorrow

Not surprised at all to see that JD Heckathorn had a lot of what you needed. He’s a great table for set builders.

Have fun tomorrow

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by UKCardGuy

Thanks Rob. There were some nice pennants for sale but they seemed to be priced at the high end of retail. I try to buy pennants at the low end of fire sale, desperately low prices.

Besides, getting a pennant in my hand luggage would be interesting.

Yes...Definite challenge. Last year on the flight from CT to TX after the National, I had them in rigid holders, wrapped in bubble wrap. They let me carry them on without question.

This year, I had them curved into a "U" in my carry on bag (they were the only things in it aside from a couple articles of clothing used to maintain the integrity of the "U") and it worked out fine.

Not as easy as cards though.

Rob

[Golfcollector]

Nice haul! Goid luck tomorrow!

[UKCardGuy]

One final update covering Sunday at the National

Still benefiting from jetlag, I was at the convention center at 7:55am and parked myself on a chair near the entrance for the 95 minute wait. A few other collectors arrived and it was fun listening to their opinions of the autograph pavilion and the signers.

The crowds didn't seem as large today and many of the dealers were still putting our their cards when the doors opened at 930am.

I tried to find some of the dealers from Net54. Even though I knew the booth numbers, i struggled to find them. Hopefully the National committee can find a way to make navigating the event a hit easier.

I.did.manage to complete my 1970T and 1974T sets and I found all but 1 card for my 1979 football sets. I found a good price on a really sharp 59T Frank Robinson and a few pins and some 64 Topps coins too.

I was targeting super rare stuff this week, but i found it pretty easy to get some good deals on commons and oddball cards. What surprisedme was some dealers thst were unwilling to negotiate on key cards. I sawndealee after dealer with 5, 8 or 10 1959T Mantles and they priced them above market comps and were unwillingto negotiate with any sort of realism. Thats OK and i thanked them for showing the cards and moved on.
It just struck me that there is either an abundance of buyerswithmore money than sense or.many dealers are simply deluded. Maybe a bit of both. Your mileage may vary.

For the things, I was buying, if I bought a number of things, dealers would round the figure down to the nearest round number. 128 became 120, etc. But I was able to negotiate 20 - 30% off much of the time without too much bother.

There were some sets that i was hoping to find but struggled. For example I only found 2 dealers with 1967 Dexter Press and their selection was VERY limited. I only found 1 deal with Star-Cal Decals. But I might have missed those items if they were bought up on Thu and Fri.

I left the show at 1145am to go check out of my hotel and I have another 4 hours at the airport until my flight.

What a great event! I've enjoyed it massively. I'm unlikely to get to Cleveland next year unless I have an unexpected reason to fly from London to Ohio. But I was able to process my set building mpre in the past 2 days than I've been able to do in the past 2 years