[braves_43]

I made the trek there from PA yesterday because I needed to get a bunch of signed baseballs authenticated and I saw that Mike Root's new company CAS was going to be doing on-site authentication. I wanted to use them because their authentication prices are half of what the other companies charge and I am familiar with him from his days with SGC. The show was very small, but I am used to the Valley Forge show and have never really attended a smaller show. It was fine with me though because it made it less crowded and it allowed me to talk to Mr. Root for quite some time and get to know him, his career, and his new business before he got to work on my submission. My buddy and fellow board member Scott Russell (Aquarian Sports Cards) was set-up there and I raided his bargain bins as usual and he gave me a great deal on about 30 graded 1953 Topps cards. There was another dealer there I spent some time at, he was very personable and he was telling me about a massive card purchase he just made and how the cards he had displayed at the show weren't even a dent in what he purchased. I bought some stuff from him. Other than that, there weren't any other tables that had anything that interested me, mostly shiny modern stuff or out-of-my-price-range high-end material. Looked like the majority of customers were older, probably retired guys, but I did see a few guys there with their sons. It was definitely worth the trip for me as all my signed baseballs came back authentic and I purchased some new card inventory. I probably won't make anymore trips unless I absolutely need to as it is about a 2 hour drive for me, if it was closer to home I'd definitely go again.