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Posted By: tbob

Since my other post dealt more with personalities, this will be strictly cards. The one common complaint was that there were way too many buyers and not enough cards. I bought a nice graded M116 Vic Willis from Tom Witek and a tough, tough graded M116 Rebel Oakes from him which wasn't at the show. Tom's prices were reasonable. I picked up a PSA 2 Honus Wagner blue background from Scott B. which looked much better than a 2, nice eye appeal. That was it for Sporting Life cards. Scott was the only dealer who had more than a handful and most had none. Sporting Lifes, alas, are starting to dry up just like everything else. Caramels were almost non-existent. I bought an SGC 60 Evers and 60 Wiltse from the E95 set and a handful of E97s in 20s and 30s for decent prices from Gary N. The E98s were simply not there. A few, mostly trimmed or overpriced. E94s? Fuggetaboutit! 4 cards in the whole frigging hall. A trimmed red Evers, an SGC 40 Turner which sold for $475, a high grade red Wagner which I didn't see and an authentic trimmed olive Lord which will be in an auction. That's it. You can say all you want about the scarcity of the other caramel card sets but the E94s have dried up. Period. Good luck bidding on Nagy's. I talked to Doug Allen and the E94s will be graded. Cobb (gold) will probably be an 84 or better. The rest of the group of 23 may be sold in one lot. (Horrors!) The Wagner and Young may be sold separately if they grade high enough but look for most in one lot. That will kill the average collector. We can only look for someone to buy it, break it up and sell them individually on ebay, card by card.
On the E97s, there was a Rossman in PSA 2 which sold for $500. No I didn't misplace a decimal place. Low to mid grade caramels flew out of the dealer's display cases at much higher than current book or ebay prices. E90-1s were relatively scarce also.
As far as the tobacco cards go, T210s are getting ridiculous. Commons in vg to vgex in Series 1 and 2 were going for $75 to 85 each. There were no scarce back T207s to be found. Of the 60-70 toughies, I didn't didn't see a single one. I saw some commons though in mixed condition. Going for more than they do on ebay. Tons of T206s. I disagree on the T205s. I thought there were a lot of them, especially in very low or very high grade. Not much in the way of vgex to exmt, either F to G/VG or NRMT. Both were overpriced in my mind.
There were some E93s and I was able to buy some at decent prices. I bought a Chance in PSA 4 for $300, a G/VG Jones for $30. I thought the E93s of all the caramels were the most plentiful and best bargains.
Lots of Old Judges. Some priced out of sight but some priced about what they sell in auctions but generally more than they sell for on ebay.
It was a seller's market, pure and simple. Dealers are having a tough time replenishing their stock and so are raising their prices. Although I received a nice profit on the E98s I sold on ebay, had I taken them to National I really could have made a killing.