[kailes2872]

I was thinking about doing a new a new post but didn't want to muddy the waters. I made the decision on Wednesday to take the day off today and travel over to the National. I had low expectations and event though I took about a grand, I really didn't expect to find anything worth buying - since my want list was pretty short and the prices tend to be high.

The toll on 76/80 keeps going up. It was $7.45 to get back into Pennsylvania. plus the I-80 tolls. Couple that with $3.09 per gallon and it was probably $20 bucks just getting there and back.

The $10 parking seems to be over the top. I know that admission ($22) is paying a promoter versus paying the IX center but $32 before walking in the door was kind of a bummer.

But I digress... on with the show.

I have been to Cleveland in 2014 and AC in 2016. Both prior times I took the boys. Unfortunately today the 19 year old had to work and the 16 year old had band camp so it was a solo trip. I didn't think I would miss them as much as I did. They go for me, but, it is our thing and deep down, I think that they enjoy it. Without them, I went table to table very quickly without a plan or purpose.

My original intent was to just look at tables and make a note of anything that stood out. I then decided that my want list would consist of a '64 Topps Giant Set - even though they are readily available, I wanted to pull the trigger and get it into the collection. I was also looking at 74/75 and 73/74 Topps basketball. Again, a couple of low dollar sets that would continue to round out the collection. I was also hoping to find a '76 Topps Traded baseball - as I really need to get it to put it in the binder and I keep forgetting (If anyone has one, let me know).

I found a '64 Giant Set. It was $250. I looked at completed sales and it seemed high but I at least wanted to engage with the dealer. I stood there for about 5 minutes but the guy did not even look at me, despite no other customers. After a while, I just left the table and figured that I would make a note of the table and come back if it was the best that I found. I went to another table and they had an ungraded Giant set... for $1400. I passed.

I then went to a table where they had a bunch of sets listed. They had the Topps Giants listed for $185. I asked if I could see it. The lady, as she handed it to me, immediately said, we have some room in that if you like it. It looked nice, mid grade and she offered it for $170 so that was where we settled.

On the 14th or 15th row, I found a guy, Mike McKee, I believe. He had a going out of business sign and a sign that said make an offer on the entire table. He had both 74/75 and 73/74. Both were sharp. He had the older one for $175 and the newer one for $160. I asked if he would take $320 for both and he said yes. Of course, after he said yes, I wondered if he would take $300... such is life.

So, I was about 90 minutes in and only missing the '76 traded set which I couldn't find.

I spent the next 3-4 hours going to different tables. I met Evan at his table but Sean was already gone. I saw Kevin & Pat from Kevin Savage Cards. I saw Uncle Dick and Wayne from Shoebox Cards. I got the chance to meet Don from Don's Cards and saw all of those beautiful CJ's (oh...my...goodness...). I met Adam at the LOTG table and told him that my neighbor got food poisoning last week and immediately thought of his act (my buddy lost about 20 pounds - Adam's routine had that joke in it)...

At 3:30 Leighton from Just Collect did a break on a 20ct cello pack from '55 Bowman. In the break was a really nice Ernie Banks. Then, card 19 was the Mickey Mantle - pack fresh and 60/40 centered. It was really cool seeing that happen.

I was back in the car by 4:30 heading back home - happy that I made the decision to go. I have attached some of the picture highlights over the next couple of posts.

It was great meeting Net54 friends in person.

As my set run has gotten closer to complete, I have realized just what a large % of the material is 50's and 60's topps. Since I have almost all of it, I would scan quickly to the next table. Modern is not my thing, so I would natually be pulled to pre-war. I am still a couple years away from 52 Topps and 51 Bowman being finished so I won't be full on into pre-war until probably 2021 or 2022 - but I am getting excited about the prospect! I love looking at those '38 big head Goudey's. The CJs are so bright red. My favorite table had 3 complete Goudey sets, a 34, a 35, and a 36. Of all the prewar, I am probably the least interested in T206 (blasphemy, I know), but it is still nice to look at those familiar cards. For the folks that are all pre-war, all the time, I would guess that maybe 10% of the tables would have had your material. For those looking at thinly traded stuff - beyond the big pre-war sets, you might have had a half dozen tables that would interest you.

Pricing was such a wide swath. I could usually look at the price of a commonly traded card - a 33 Ruth, a Red Cobb, etc., and know right away if they had any interest in selling anything. A lot of times that answer was no - but a few tables had strong prices and were even willing to negotiate on top of that.

I probably won't be in Chicago next year, but AC is definitely a possibility in 2020.

Edit - I have about 10 more pictures but every time that I attempt to upload, it says upload failed. I even tried to rename them to a generic name to see if that was the reason. I would be happy to add more if anyone can coach me through it. Otherwise, I only have these 4 posted.