[vintagerookies51]

For my first ever National, I went all day Friday and Saturday. It was an awesome experience- my first 20 minutes of walking around I saw some incredible cards, especially the '52 Topps/'53 Topps Mantles graded 9 and 10, respectively. Then I figured I should probably get to the PSA line as early as possible. I submitted 4 cards for grading that I should get sometime next week. Spent the rest of the day (about 5 hours or so) just walking around, browsing tables. Wasn't planning on buying anything, but I noticed a lot of the stuff was definitely overpriced, which you can expect at the National I'm sure. did find a few good deals- t206 speaker, Bresnahan EPDG, 1953 Topps Paige, that I would've came back and bought the next day. But in the last few minutes I finally found some Bond Bread Jackies, and bought a cheap one that I needed. I'm now up to 10!

Heritage and Goldin were basically like walking through a museum. Some incredible items- it was awesome to see that Joe Jackson signed ball. I found it a lot more enjoyable to talk to auction house tables that were just displaying rather than having dealers trying to persuade me to buy. Did meet a lot of great people. I even met some guys I've purchased big cards from in the past.

I was surprised but glad to see how much vintage and pre-war there was. And how many guys my age were looking through pre-war. I'd say a majority of cards were older ones, but maybe it's just because I walked right by the new stuff. At the smaller shows I've been to I've seen mostly just the new shiny stuff. On Saturday I went to the Oscar Robertson signing, then walked around some more. Overall a great experience, and hoping I can make the trip to Cleveland next year