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Posted By: DMcD

Got a late start today. Arrived at the show around noon. First off, stumbled across a vendor that had really cheap fifties Topps cards so did a bit of upgrading to my '53 and '57 sets. Then wandered over to Tony E-Trade to shoot the bull and admire his Zeenuts and D304s, but didn't buy anything. Next went over to Terry Knouse to look over the amazing array of cabinet cards he has this year. Ended up buying a couple; an Arlie Latham Player League cabinet and one of Hank O'Day. (I've got some shots of the cards on the picture site). These cards are going to be my big keepers from this National; the rest is gravy. Also had the opportunity to get some education from Terry about 19th century cabinets. Terry knows alot and he is generous in sharing his knowledge. Next wandered over to Leon and Scott's table to do some consigning of some of my dupes. Picked up some neat postcards along the way. Never saw any FBI agents, but did get some stink eye off a CTA crossing guard. Before I knew it the afternoon was pau and it was time to head to the Mastro auction. It was to be held at the ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago. They had buses for us; Friday pm traffic was hellacious but we still managed to get there on time. They had a great turkey dinner buffet waiting for us. Not just generic "great" but like, Holy Moses! this place is just a Chucky Cheese for grown-ups why is this turkey better than anything my mom ever cooked? But I digress. Auction started at 9. The venue wasn't quite what I expected. I had envisioned James Mason and David Niven types in a formal theatre setting but it was just a bunch of us pudgy white guys in a sports bar. Nevertheless, the auction proceeded at a quick pace. A lot of stuff seemed to underperform the "minimum estimate". I thought the BG Speaker was a good deal at 13K and the W600 lot at $22K seemed low. I had my sight set on the 1912 NY Giants portrait. Went bid for bid with a phone bidder but eventually had to fold my hand. The photo in real life was stunning in a way that the catalog barely suggested. It was much larger than you would think and the contrast and, above all, the clarity made it so vivid. The phone guy is going to be very happy once he peels away that yellow Mastro tape. The big drama of the evening, of course, was the T206 Wagner. It got to a million in no time, and a phone bidder and a proxy mysteriously duked it out until it topped at $1.35 million. It was a bit of a thrill, by the way, to be allowed to touch the Holy Grail earlier in the day. Some guys might think it's no big deal but I thought it was cool.

(Edited for spelling)