I went to a card show in Atlanta... (I’m old)

[jimjim]

So I went to my first card show in close to 2 years yesterday in Atlanta. It is a 3 day show so I thought it would be worth dragging myself down there. Boy was I wrong! The show is big and the room was packaged. But it was 99% new and shiny slabbed modern cards. There were maybe 10 vendors with vintage but even those cases were mainly full of modern from the past few years. Not the usual crowd of dealers I have seen pre pandemic at the recurring small monthly show we have here in Atlanta. No autographs, tickets, ephemera. Minimal unopened. Lots of young dealers, so that is good. I saw about 3-4 people walking around professional filming themselves for I assume their YouTube page or Facebook. Lots of people wearing shirts with their catchphrase or ‘breaker name’ on it. One guy had a grab bag bin and I was about to buy one for my son until I realized the grab bag was for unopened packs and the price was $50! Lots and lots of graded cards. Almost no raw. I heard one dealer offering his services (for a fee) to a customer to inspect the customers cards prior to submitting to psa to make sure his cards were 9 and 10 worthy. I guess I am officially old, as I had absolutely no interest in any of this and left without buying a thing. Not sure if money was changing hands that much, as I saw lots of chatter and people showing off their ‘hits’ from the past year but not much cash being thrown around.

[NYYFan63]

Prior to the pandemic, the Philly Show was roughly 75/25 vintage/modern. The most recent show in June it was 50/50…


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[Leon]

The Dallas Card Show, I went to yesterday, had about 93% new to 7% other.

and a random card that isn't new and shiny...

[Johnny630]

I think the new guys are into it for the Gamble/Money Big Hit On a Break/Grade

That’s It.

They don’t build sets or collect type cards from different sets, it’s all about the gamble, rush, flip and cash $$$$$$ Not Collecting.

[Donscards]

I am a Old Timer here--Come to the National next week, I will have 7 showcases of Vintage cards--not 1 new shiny card.

[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by Leon

The Dallas Card Show, I went to yesterday, had about 93% new to 7% other.

I went to the January show in Dallas and it was pretty heavily weighted towards modern and Pokémon. It looks like it has gotten even worse since then. I'm glad I decided not to go.

A seller I usually deal with at the OKC shows told me recently that he is having a hard time finding vintage to buy. He used to have several 5000 count boxes of vintage commons. At the last show, he had one 700 count box. Given that I am getting priced out of the market of vintage star cards, I am pretty much on the sidelines until the bubble pops.

[pawpawdiv9]

to OP(matt)
Where was this card show in ATL??
I live in GA and work in the ATL area...didn't hear about a card show.
Its been a while, but there a card shop near town center/kennesaw i went to, not sure if its still open. Then in the past yr or so, a small shop opened in my town (Rome) in the downtown area, but been unable to visitas it seems closed most time or doesnt open till noon.

The only show i could find was this: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prizm-g...s-151254852335
[B]Prizm Gawds: Culture Collision Card, Comics, Kicks and Collectibles Show[/B]

[notfast]

The Atlanta show (and Dallas) are both brand new. This was the first Atlanta show done by the promoter and widely promoted on social media…hence the heavy lean toward modern.

Dallas has been around for maybe a year? Once again a huge social media following/backing.

Makes sense to me.

[Klrdds]

I'm in Dalton, GA and i never heard about that show yesterday and I'm glad I didn't hear about it because I would probably have driven down only to be disappointed .
I remember the days of Bob Pressley's shows in Atlanta for many years and he did at one time have a shop in Marietta Square but I haven't heard his name mentioned in a while. He did GREAT shows in the day !
If you are near Dalton , GA people may want to visit Dalton Stamp & Coin here .It has been around over 36 years with tons of ungraded raw cards to the 1960s and some older cards also, lots of unopened material from Pre- junk wax and the junk wax era , modern opened and unopened material , sets ( factory and hand collated ) , very very few graded cards and they are not high dollar ones , football and basketball cards as well. They also buy material.
Juan and Derek are good guys and also deal in coins and paper money .
I've done business with them since moving here in 1985 after finishing school.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by notfast

The Atlanta show (and Dallas) are both brand new. This was the first Atlanta show done by the promoter and widely promoted on social media…hence the heavy lean toward modern.

Dallas has been around for maybe a year? Once again a huge social media following/backing.

Makes sense to me.

That does make sense…the established shows are a mix of stuff and long-time dealers, the new shows are the Facebook/Twitter crowd.

I went to the Cranston (RI) show a week or so back and while smaller than in the past (not it’s usual weekend) it was far more ungraded than graded and I’d say vintage outweighed modern. And nobody was filming themselves - not a “selfie stick” to be seen.

Maybe that’s the way it should be…the modern crowd would be just as disappointed at a show the vintage crowd would love. Keep the dusty old cardboard and the plastic and foil separate, and everyone is happy!

[JollyElm]

A couple of months ago there was a show out here at a fairgrounds (inside). While the whole state was shuttered up, there was some technicality involved that allowed a large gathering to take place. We sped over there, and like what everyone else is talking about, it was almost entirely made up of new, shiny stuff. That was a frickin' shock, and there were only two (adjoining) tables of vintage tucked away in the corner (which doesn't make sense, because the layout was an oval, but I digress). That's it. Everything else was modern. It was really disappointing at the time, but in hindsight I starting seeing the glass as half full. Since this was a modern show, 'nobody' cared about the vintage stuff at all, and everyone just passed by those tables without a second thought. Those sellers were forlorn. One of them deserved to be, as he's at every show with his Dean's-esque pricing model, but the other guy was someone new from Arizona. The lack of traffic allowed me to really go through his stuff methodically and shoot the breeze for a long period of time, without the worry of other people beating me to great cards by digging at the same time. There just wasn't any competition, and I used that to my advantage when negotiating prices on a bunch of ungraded stuff. In the end, I got a nice deal on a Lou Brock RC, a 1966 Pete Rose, and a bunch of sharp cornered 1966 high numbers, including a Choo Choo (OC) and Grant Jackson RC. He also had a bunch of ungraded 1952 high numbers, but he wouldn't budge on the prices, around $200 a pop IIRC. The simple fact is, if this was a 'normal' vintage-centric show, someone would've bought up these cards the moment they set their eyes upon them. So, overall it sucked, but I did walk away with a handful of sweet cards at a great price.

I guess my point is, at an overabundance-of-modern-cards-show, sometimes great opportunities will still present themselves.

[jimjim]

Originally Posted by pawpawdiv9

to OP(matt)
Where was this card show in ATL??
I live in GA and work in the ATL area...didn't hear about a card show.
Its been a while, but there a card shop near town center/kennesaw i went to, not sure if its still open. Then in the past yr or so, a small shop opened in my town (Rome) in the downtown area, but been unable to visitas it seems closed most time or doesnt open till noon.

The only show i could find was this: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prizm-g...s-151254852335
[B]Prizm Gawds: Culture Collision Card, Comics, Kicks and Collectibles Show[/B]

It was the culture collision show. It had a nice set up
at a nice hotel.

On a side note, I probably won’t be doing a show again for a while, as my son is not old enough to be vaccinated and nobody was wearing masks. Even kids that clearly weren’t old enough either. It just made him nervous. I guess we had high expectations on that front. We go to places all the time where people don’t wear and it’s usually not an issue, but this was an extremely crowded room with poor ventilation and people on top of each other so he got nervous.

[Leon]

Sign of the times I guess. I saw this on the news last night .. Darned shiny stuff...(and I realize vintage gets stolen also)

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/07/18/...tried-to-sell/

Originally Posted by notfast

The Atlanta show (and Dallas) are both brand new. This was the first Atlanta show done by the promoter and widely promoted on social media…hence the heavy lean toward modern.

Dallas has been around for maybe a year? Once again a huge social media following/backing.

Makes sense to me.

[bigfish]

Originally Posted by Leon

Sign of the times I guess. I saw this on the news last night .. Darned shiny stuff...(and I realize vintage gets stolen also)

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/07/18/...tried-to-sell/

Wow

[BruceinGa]

I've been to the one in Atlanta (marietta) several times in the past. It's every Sunday at the Hilton Garden Inn on Windy Hill near I 75.
About 2 months a 3 day show was held in Marietta. I heard there were plans to have that one on a regular basis.

[troutbum97]

Originally Posted by Leon

Sign of the times I guess. I saw this on the news last night .. Darned shiny stuff...(and I realize vintage gets stolen also)

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/07/18/...tried-to-sell/

No one ever tries to steal my 1987 Topps Pete Incaviglia rookies.

[Flintboy]

Originally Posted by troutbum97

No one ever tries to steal my 1987 Topps Pete Incaviglia rookies.

Take it Chicago, those shows are notoriously bad for theft.

[Steve_NY]

This is kind of what I expected from what I have heard from other shows. Local shows are overwhelmed with modern cards and a handful of vintage dealers.

As Dan said, the National will have many vintage dealers, and 99 percent of my booth display will be from the early 1900s to 1972. I am at booth 1114 eight booths in the front door. Come by and say hello.

But I guess you can't blame the modern card dealers for selling what is considerably hot right now.

I suspect that vintage dealers will do quite well as I have already had contact from many collectors who want to buy vintage at the show. I really feel bad for the collectors who have decided to pass this National. This is probably the one they should not miss, as Dealers have had two years to prepare for this show.

See you all then.

[maniac_73]

I'll have to admit some of the shiny stuff breakers, investors, collectors or whatever you want to call them are quite entertaining to follow on instagram. A good example is the account investacard on instagram. I was watching his stories from the atlanta show this weekend and it was completely ridiculous but I cant stop watching lol
Something different from the usual

[Leon]

No doubt you are correct about the newer shiny collectors. It's sort of a shame that is ONLY about flipping and profit, so it seems. But that is the way the world works. A lot of us on this forum actually enjoy the collecting aspect more than the flipping and investment aspect (money is important but...)

I am not attending this National for personal reasons. Nothing to do with the hobby and I love it as I always have. I might even go to the dreaded AC National next year since I am not going this year.

Originally Posted by Steve_NY

This is kind of what I expected from what I have heard from other shows. Local shows are overwhelmed with modern cards and a handful of vintage dealers.

As Dan said, the National will have many vintage dealers, and 99 percent of my booth display will be from the early 1900s to 1972. I am at booth 1114 eight booths in the front door. Come by and say hello.

But I guess you can't blame the modern card dealers for selling what is considerably hot right now.

I suspect that vintage dealers will do quite well as I have already had contact from many collectors who want to buy vintage at the show. I really feel bad for the collectors who have decided to pass this National. This is probably the one they should not miss, as Dealers have had two years to prepare for this show.

See you all then.

[Exhibitman]

My wife and daughter wanted to go to the jewelry district of downtown LA one Saturday. This is back before the shutdown. I went along reluctantly but hopefully since DTLA has a number of really primo taquerias and I figured I might get lunch at Guisado's or Tacos 1986.



But I digress...

My point is that while walking through seemingly endless displays of jewelry I realized something: none of this stuff is rare. In fact it is abundantly available. The market is entirely driven by impulse and demand, not scarcity. Same is true of modern cards. Once the music stops playing it will flatline and we will be back to seeing lots more vintage at shows.

[vintagewhitesox]

I dont think the membership of this board is the target audience for 90% of the tables at the atlanta or dallas shows.
I like both the modern (80s-90s) shiny stuff and our beloved vintage. the times they are a changing.