The National

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Posted By: Mike H

Hello all. I had a great time at the Cleveland National this year. I attended the Wednesday evening premier and most of Thursday with my good friend Ryan S. We were strategizing, comparing notes, and talking each other up the entire show. It's great having someone to share in the excitement of the show and to talk you off the ledge when you miss an opportunity or question a big purchase you are about to make. The only other collectors we met were Carlton Hendricks (Sportsantiques.com),Brett Lowman from the glove discussion board and his brother. We had dinner with Carlton Wednesday evening after he made some nice purchases. During the day, he was snapping photos with reckless abandon and writting details feverishly in his note book. His write up will be terrific I'm sure. Carlton is deffinately one of the hardest working web site managers in the business and real asset to our hobby. Here are a few thoughts, observations, and acquisitions from the show.

After an initial quick fly through the show I was a bit dissapointed by the apparent lack of WOW items available or booths with that Hall of Fame feel and appearance. There were some to be sure, but not like in years past. It wasn't until I slowed down and dug in that I began to appreciate the quality of what was available. There weren't a lot of trophies, high end pennants, or pinbacks. Pinbacks were VEEERY week at this show. I wasn't able to add one Cubs, Tigers, or Dimaggio pin to my collection. Despite the overall lack of high end pennants, one of the best pieces from the show was a pennant purchased by Ryan S. but I won't steal his thunder. There were quite a few great cabinets, panoramas, silks, tobacco advertising, and paper. Pretty good bat selection, not many nice gloves, nice balls but few in the box, alot of 50s and newer pennants (I like pre 1950), an ubelievable trophy bat with a pill box cap from that team, few pre-war unis, and tons of programs. This was one of those shows that had quite a few items I appreciated the beauty and scarcity of, but not as many I was prepared to purchase.

There were bargains to be had, and dealers were flexing on prices. I flipped one item quickly for a $200 profit and saw many opportunities to do so. However, time and funds began working against me...ha ha. The dealers overall were quite freindly. Dave Bushing was terrific. His enthusiasm, eagerness to chat, insights regarding memorabilia, and overall attitude about the hobby were just terrific.

OK Mike, shut up and tell us what you purchased. First up was a dandy 1930's Cubs pennant. I don't know how the dealers missed this during set up, but thankfully they didn't look at the bottom of a stack of 1970s garbage pennants. It's in perfect condition, with no holes, sharp tip, and a cool dancing cub on the players uni ($275).
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Next was this D&M box. No ball, but the box is in great shape. ($20)
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This is an item I've been after quite a while. I know Babe Ruth underwear boxes aren't super rare, but they are cool. This is an item I flipped another piece to acquire, so when it was done I payed $400 total.
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Next up is this ad piece. It stands about 10" and has a nice look to it. Schrafft's was a restaurant and candy store chain in New York. In fact one store sat where Macy's now sits. This was a real bargain as the dealer had no idea what he had ($125).
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I did add one neat pinback for $20.
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So, overall it was a very good, not spectacular show from a memorabilia perspective, but one of the best from an enjoyment perspective. As always, the people in the hobby are what makes it great.