Who's going to Chantilly?
 

The next Chantilly show is April 5-7.

I managed to get a day's layover in DC from a business trip, so I'll be able to attend the Chantilly show on Sat Apr 6th. I'm wondering if there'll be any other net54ers around?

I got zippo responses to this but I thought I'd try again since the show is today.

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I'm at Chantilly today. If anyone's around it'd be great to say hi.

Don’t take it personally. I don’t be there (out of town), but as one who almost always goes, I promise there will be plenty of eye candy and many Net54 peeps walking the floor

If I didn’t get stuck at work today, I would’ve been there

I was there for a couple hours yesterday, and found it to be a ton of fun and very exciting. It's been four years since I've been there and eight since I set up, and it struck me as almost a completely different show now. In 20 years of doing the Chantilly show, I never remember a Friday with this kind of crowd and buzz. There are also more dealers, with entire sections of the floor that never had tables before. As for vintage, I saw a fair amount in the limited time I spent checking out the room. But mostly it seemed as though the generational shift underway is almost complete, with a new definition of "vintage" cards, autographs, etc., sought after by younger cohorts than me and my fellow dinosaurs. And that's great, just as it should be. From now on the really old stuff will be found almost entirely in auctions and premier shows like the National and Philly, I think. It was great to run into one of the small group of fellow Senators/Nationals collectors from the good old days of the 90s, Charlie Descalzi, and we spent an hour or so alternating between laughing at our antics from the wonderful times we had to reminiscing and grieving over the many dear friends we've lost. So it goes. For some specifics that grabbed my attention, stalwart Net54er Howard Chasser is keeping the prewar and postwar vintage lamp lit with several tables of terrific early stuff of all kinds, including some really beautiful old cards. He had the nicest WaJo "1" I've ever seen, with beautiful deep rich colors and perfect registration in the image, everything I'd want in a card with a very reasonable price tag. If I wasn't downsizing, that card would have been going home with me! Tom Spiker from Baltimore, one of the reliably great dealers doing the Chantilly show for decades had the prettiest Walter Johnson For Congress primary pin I've ever seen--it would grade a 9 or 10, I'll bet--at a ridiculously fair price, which is how Tom has always rolled. His gorgeous Baltimore Bullets dishware set made me wish I was a fan of that franchise so I could put those on display in my "office." Sooner than I would have liked, my Winchester buddy reminded me it was time to test out what I had been telling him about Willard's B-B-Q and we were off to have what he described later as "The best sandwich I've ever had in my life." He had the brisket, and I had the open turkey, the best of that kind I've ever eaten. What a great day, then it was back into the mountains until the next show.

Thanks for the report, Hank. Our good friend Howard Chasser is doing a little work for me, so I'm happy with his shout out. Glad you had a great time, and food as well.

Gary, I couldn't make it in from northern Indiana, but I sure would have wanted to meet you! Have a great time, and I hope God blesses you with some marvelous finds. Make a lot of nice memories, sir.:D --- Brian Powell

Good event with a variety of cards and several booths/tables with vintage, incl non-sport cards. I went early this morning and there was still a long line to get in late morning/midday when I headed out.


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Was packed today.

Good seeing plenty of Net54ers in person

I managed to bump into a few Net54ers at the show. (I think my bright orange Net54 t-shirt helped). It was a great show. I flew in last night and with jetlag still working in my favor, I was waiting in the expo lobby at 8am. It was getting crowded in there until they opened the doors at 9am
Not 858am....not 859am...it was exactly 9am. :)

I made my way to the PSA stand first to get 3 autos certified. But they weren't doing encapsulations on site so I had to settle for a take away submission. Hopefully my nerves will hold out until my Jimmie Foxx auto shows up in the PSA tracking.

There was a good mix of vintage (pre and post war), memorabilia and shiny modern. I saw a food smattering of goudeys, t205s, T3s, t206s. I mostly picked up post war vintage as well as a bunch of 1934 diamond matchbooks and some 1940 playball.as well.as this Ted Williams pennant.

Most of all it was great getting to chat with collector's and dealers.

Gorgeous!

Chantilly
 

I was there on Friday from 3-7. I wouldn't say it was crazy busy for a Friday, but there was a steady stream of traffic that picked up once people got out of work.

Around 3:30 or so I stood in the middle and took a photo in all four directions. EDIT: not sure why the 4th photo is not showing up. Maybe a limit of some sort on Net54???

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...hSbm5MdzQweHJn

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jeff

Fourth photo.

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jeff

Jeff thanks for posting the photos, looks like a great show

I went Friday. It was fun and there was a good selection, but I am struggling to get my head around the new pricing. Everything seemed insanely priced...but it could be me. I think I spent about $50.

I’m right there with you, Todd. You spent $50 more than I did. I might need to win Powerball before handling recent pricing.

Met my son (he lives in Bethesda) there on Saturday around 11:00 and we stayed until closing. The crowd on Saturday was bigger than any I'd seen before as we had to park at the Walmart. Didn't make any big purchases, but did add quite a few 196Xs Reds for my team collection and made progress on the 53T set I'm working. Lots and lots of new, shiny cards in flips and guys walking around with metal cases. But still enough pre and post war vintage to make it a good show.

I did drop off 17 cards at the SGC booth including a Koufax RC and a Nolan RC - fingers crossed on the return.

Lots of folks there just for autos as they had quite the football lineup present.

Speaking of the autographs, the promoters had a loud PA system where they kept calling out announcements about the autos. "ViP ticket holders can now have their photo taken with Barry Sanders." "VIP and regular ticket holders can ger their photo taken with Barry Sanders." "Anyone wh wants their photo taken with Barry Sanders come forwardnow" and on and on it went. It was like living under an airport flypath. Near constant noise that made it hard to speak to people in the main show area. I love Barry Sanders but after the 15th announcement, they can just f*** off.<sigh>

I spoke to a few dealers about it and it seemed like it llthe near constant PA announcements were universally hated but they were resigned to it as a part of life.

Does that happen at all large shows? It would be good for promoters to find a better way.

Yes every major show is like for the most part. Dealer's would love a solution but I can't come up with one.

At the few Nationals I have attended, if you were not near the Tri-Star autograph area, nothing much was heard. Granted, the National is massive and has substantial crowd noise. Frankly, as one who collects autographs, I like a good PA system. I have attended a few shows were the PA system sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. At Chantilly, I can walk the floor and not have to stand in the autograph area waiting for my number to be called. It is interesting that a collector with a ticket number in the 300's will wait at the autograph entrance for fear of missing out on the player.

I have heard this more than once - "Chantilly is an autograph show with the added bonus of dealers selling cards". Thoughts?

I have heard this quite often. The main draw at this show is autographs.

No doubt and much to my chagrin baseball guests are thin. Have a look see behind the curtain where the mail order and bulk sales get signed. The amount of material in the back is unbelievable. That is where the $$$ is made.

Did anyone take issue with the $20 entrance fee? Granted prices are up all over the board, but $20 to gain entrance to a card, err autograph show? Yeah, yeah, the pre-show price was $15, but still. Whew.

If you think that is bad, take a look at dealer fees. Yikes!

I sent in my John Elway Oneonta Yankees card for this show. I seriously can't wait to get it back in the mail. I've been waiting quite a while for Elway to do another signing and was thrilled to see him at this one.

Just wish I could have been there in person.

My toxic trait, thinks I could drop the $500 or $650 for the entry level tables and over three days make some money. :)

OMG! Far cry from the old days when Marco would let you take extra tables for free, extra passes for your buddies, configure your setup for tons of space, etc. Supply and demand, I guess. Total cost would be around $225 for early payment. Great show then, great show now, just different. Hobby has changed a lot, and shows with it.

Did anyone see photos of Tyson who was there signing autos? For some reason, he decided to go shirtless while meeting folks and signing.

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I usually find nothing that interests me at that show as I do not collect the major 4 sports. This was the first time I went to that show and paid for autographs. I got a 1976 Olympic gold medal match ticket signed by Sugar Ray Leonard and a 1988 Olympic gold medal match ticket signed by Lennox Lewis which was already signed by Roy Jones, Jr. As Ray was signing the ticket there was this person standing there saying he wanted a photo of the ticket and I was saying to myself 'My property you cannot have a photo'. After it was signed he asked if he could take a picture of it so I said 'Ten bucks!'. It was only then that they explained that he worked for Ray. I guess there is a photo of Ray and ugly me holding the ticket on his social media. I don't do so-meds so I am not sure. Ray recognized me from the Boxing Hall of Fame as I had given him a photo he had never seen before of him with 4 other Maryland Olympians after the 1976 games.

Marco was a great guy. I just wish the new crew would bring in some baseball guests. I understand that football is king, but reruns of Cowboys and Steelers grows tiresome.