Going to card shows in the 1970s

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set

..........By the mid 1970s I was going to shows (with my parents of course) Usually I would go to a show at the District 65th Center in lower Manhattan - a few blocks where my father worked. They had a show there every second Friday of the month. How many others on this forum went to shows back then. How was it like for you?

Tom -

I'm not sure if this is the same show or not; but around 1975 or so (when I was 13 years-old), I used to go to a monthly mini-show at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. I believe that it was run by the Gallagher brothers (Paul & ?). I bought a ton of vintage cards at dirt cheap prices back then. Unless the card was in really bad shape, I really didn't pay much attention to the condition of a card back then. (Who knew?)

I remember always being very happy on my subway ride home to Brooklyn. I couldn't wait to get home to ogle the latest additions to my collection. Although those memories are from nearly 45 years ago, they're as fresh as if they happened last week.

[1963Topps Set]

Originally Posted by The Cardfather

Tom -

I'm not sure if this is the same show or not; but around 1975 or so (when I was 13 years-old), I used to go to a monthly mini-show at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. I believe that it was run by the Gallagher brothers (Paul & ?). I bought a ton of vintage cards at dirt cheap prices back then. Unless the card was in really bad shape, I really didn't pay much attention to the condition of a card back then. (Who knew?)

I remember always being very happy on my subway ride home to Brooklyn. I couldn't wait to get home to ogle the latest additions to my collection. Although those memories are from nearly 45 years ago, they're as fresh as if they happened last week.

I think you are correct. I recall the show being on Astor Place. I don't recall who ran it or the dealers themselves, I was just a kid at the time and just looking for cards. I picked up Roberto Clemente 1958, 1959, 1961, etc.. VERY cheaply. I lived in Queens and also enjoyed the ride home on the subway. Plus it was way before 9/11 when going into the city was exciting too!

P. S. Love your name cardfather!

[Exhibitman]

My first show:



I recall that the admission tickets were stamped Yankees playoff phantoms. I used that show to finish my Willie Mays Topps run, with a 1952 and 1953 that cost me $45. I had to borrow most of the money from my father because my savings had run out. My mother just about killed him for indulging me.

Once I got to LA in 1977 it was card shows in abundance as the card clubs started up. I was in the West Coast Card Club and set up at the monthly shows for a few bucks. I might make a whole $75 in a night. It was great. I got these cards in a live auction at one of the shows:


I also ended up the winner of a 1952 Bowman Mantle for $3.25.

I remember turning down Cobb signed checks for $50. Passing by tables stacked with Zeenuts and Home Run Kisses, I mean hundreds of them. Most of my time was spent at the $1 or $2 boxes fishing out cards like this:



Had it signed years later.

I was a kid. I got a meager allowance that went mostly for Topps packs and the occasional birthday or Hanukkah money that went to save for cards. I started dealing to make enough to pay for more cards. My costs were nil; those were the days when my parents' friends would hear I was a collector and simply handed me shoeboxes of cards from their adult kids. It was toys, junk.

By the time I was 12 or 13 my parents would take me to the show, drop me off, and come back whenever. There was a big show in Anaheim every year that Mike Berkus ran, usually on Thanksgiving and Memorial Day weekends. My parents would take my sister to Disneyland for the day and drop me at the show.