Live National Report Thread....
 

Wanted to start a thread where members can give live reports from the show and chime in....

jump in and post if you just scored a great piece.....or report the traffic on the floor.....or any good deals? .....ect.....ect.......


since I'm not there, would love to have a semi live feed:)

Good deals??? At the Nationals??? BAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHA!!!!

Johnny,

Great idea for a thread!!

As in past years, some board members kept the rest of the board in-tune with what was going on at the National.

Hopefully, they will post photos, videos, etc.

We would all appreciate it!!

Tony

Tony....
 

Thanks! since I can't be there...why not?:)


Bobby,

:D

Maybe people can post the worst deals also?? :confused::)

Re: Live National Report Thread....
 

I'm not at the National, but a board member whose at the show sent me an
email last night. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing. Here's a very small
excerpt from his email...

I t was only dealer set-up today but I'd would estimate I saw 60+% of the
inventory. Tomorrow is the day that will either dictate a good show or a waste
of time/effort.

Count of '14 CJ's I saw in the room - 3

Count of guys I either saw/heard, or was told, were looking for them - 8

I certainly could have missed them or was beaten to them. Bottom line,
there just aren't any and the words's out that they are red hot. Hopefully
tomorrow will be better for them.

I'm hoping to get another email from him tonite. A second board member
promised me he'd send me some photos too. If I get any additional, I'll
post.

ErikV

Erik V.....
 

Great report......:).....just what I wanted to see...


keep 'em coming guys! I know everyone is hunting......use those "smart" phones and send some pics.....

pick ups.......ect:D

LOL dont ruin my day Im happy :D;):p

Well, I am showing up Friday with about 5 of them that I will be looking to sell or trade!!

Maybe some attendees could post videos to youtube taken while walking the floor of the convention and show some up close pics of what's available. Someone did this last year and it was nice for those of us unable to attend to get a flavor of what was happening.:)

New SGC labels are here, they look great.

There are some deals to be had. Picked up a Clev Shop PC for a good price.

That's good to hear Jeff!! The other SGC labels were hideous, imho.

Any pics or videos from the National?

Tony

Here's a link to a National video tour I just watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPeR...ature=youtu.be

Greg

This video does not exist.
 

:-(

Let's try again --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqPeR...ature=youtu.be

thanks!
 

deja vu all over again :-) My feet hurt already.........

Pic from Sports Collectors Daily facebook page.
https://scontent-a-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/...76&oe=543AD2C4

That was great!
 

...and, in summation...
what would the National be without a ferris wheel?

Why the plural, like it's an ice skating championship? :D

Work tomorrow is going to be soooooo productive if this thread keeps going in this direction. I'll add some pictures Friday when I get there.

sgc
 

Im anxious to see the new sgc holder. Looks like john goodman behind the gentleman in the red shirt. Very nice fellow.

Man I am gonna be so overwhelmed when I show up Friday...if any of you see a confused kid in a Yankees hat, feel free to point me in the right direction. Haha

Great posts so far.....
 

I love these:)

Me too! I might have to try and go next year!! Keep the posts coming for those of us that can't be there.

What are '14 CJs?
 

Am I too old? Is my mind fried? Prob both! :)

Someone mentioned '14 CJs on the floor with a count of 3 and 8 folks looking for them.......

What is a '14 CJ?

Thanks! mike:eek:

Mike,

They are referring to 1914 Cracker Jack cards.

Polar Bear...check
Southern Leaguer...check
Titus...check
T206 scrap...Sorry Johnny!

All in all a good first day.

The best part of the day though was catching up with friends/members of this board.

Jantz

'14 CJs
 

Damn...... Thanks Tony. All I could think of was 2014 Cebron James Cards ('14 CJs) :) (Lebron's longlost twin!)

I should have known that one! Thanks again! mike

Jantz....
 

glad your having a blast! tell everyone I said hi and happy hunting:)

Good times
 

Running into some board members and buying raw cards...Good times...Sometimes you have to pay to play at the national.

That SCD photo is awesome!

Dealer report. Sales have been very good. I set up Tuesday. Sold a 33 goudey Ruth PSA 2 and t206 Cobb red background PSA 2. Sold many 1952 topps cards. My friend sold 3 baseball sets. 1959. 1961 and 1965. I do have some cracker jacks. But everyone wants 1914. T-3's are hot in high grade. A good crowd so far. Today should be interesting with the collectors coming in. Should be another fun day today. Don Hontz

I sold my only (2) '14 CJs right off the bat. I bought Manos's unknown Cobb, Marquard and Wood pieces. Otherwise haven't had time to walk around yet. I did manage to come up with a great way to price some of my personal collection that I brought, which I don't really want to sell. I marked everything up real, real high, then I doubled it!! I told Leighton that over lots of beers last night and we had good laughs, and isn't that what it's all about ? :)

Had a great Wed. Night, mainly corporate booths, and the kids only case break for my son. Had a great time catching up with Mary and Dave Schroeder of Bagger's Cards. They, as always, had an amazing selection of cards. Really enjoyed his T218s. Today is the day for Dad to shop! I don't think I will be able to top my best pick up so far (see photo).

Thought I would share the Shaq shoe too, he was amazed! Don't worry fellas, today will be prewar stuff, but I love being a dad, his first National!

Nice George must ne fun for both of you

Great photos George...enjoy the time with your son.

Jeff

That is all sorts of awesome in the 89 Upper Deck format. Would love to get one for my daughter.

Tom C

Can someone post a picture of the new and improved SGC flip? Thanks in advance!

Live National Report Thread....
 

+1

Yeah, where's the SGC flip?

I've had a stack of Cracker Jacks that are among the first cards I bought some thrity years ago. Just checked them for the first time in years to discover that 13 of them are 1914.

Greg

lucky you Greg...now would be the time to sell!!!!!

Love the youtube video AMEN!!!!
I never been to a card show before, and amazed what i saw in the video.
I mean, i could literally spend the whole day, even when my money run out, i be pulling up a chair just to drool (dont worry i'll bring my own red solo cup)

Thanks Pete -- I think you may be right!

Greg

Hilarious!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/b6eDjn9JBQE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ask expected...there are lots of crazy, stupid dollar amounts attached to many of the items for sale in the former B-29 assembly plant.

Okay, so I watched the above video and I recognize there's a segment of the hobby I know nothing about. Who is breaking what? Why is there a whole section at the National of people breaking something? And is this a hobby thing, or a gambling one? Is it a new rage, and is it related to the other breaking thread we have going? Just looking for a little education, thank you, as I am out of the loop.

I don't know either Barry, but they appear to have nice couches.

Greg

I've never done one of these, but if you followed the Kreindler raffle, it's something like that. Breaks are typically (but not always) for modern unopened cards. Let's say you have a pack with 30 cards for $300. The group decides on a break and sells each slot for $10 each (w/ slot 1 being the card on top, slot 2 being the second card in the pack and so on.). There are different ways to determine who gets what slot, usually a random number generator is used. Then the group opens the pack together, and divides the cards out. Occasionally someone will get a Hit, which is a valuable card (e.g., Mike Trout autographed rookie). That's pretty much it.

There are other breaks where someone just buys the entire pack themselves and opens the pack in front of a group, and everyone can see if he got anything good.

Edit: Just saw the Vintage Group Set Break thread. Yep, it's just like that.

+100...anyone have a picture?

Thanks Gary, but why is there an entire section of people doing this? It looks like it must be a big moneymaker. And why is gambling encouraged at the National? Can I rent a table and set up a black jack and roulette concession? Look pretty creepy to me.

They do this a lot over at Beckett. They do 'live' breaks. The person would buy a 'case' and most likely keeps the treasure card(s) that usually comes with a case and sell the packs.
This is on the new stuff of course. I watched in on a few. People can buy teams or conferences and when 'break' they get all the ones correlated to their teams.

Nice! ^

New SGC flip looks great! Old school style with new school security. I'll be sending SGC a shipment shortly.

SGC label is perfect!!!

LOL, looks like the cabinet has slipped out of the gasket.

SGC flip looks nice. Are the words in green also? Thought it might be better in black, but should be fine.

To hell with the flip...lets see that Big Ed!

Very exciting indeed.

Any Cali or AZ collectors out there, or did they stay home?

Maybe nex year .... I really want to meet a handful of them.

California collector here but did not go to the National. Have a conference in San Diego starting Monday

I'm in LA...heading out tonight on the red eye!

Neal, Let Them Stay home. :D

Breakers Pavilion
 

At the national today, I was also shocked by the size of the Breakers Pavilion. Guess it is just my lack of understanding of how these work. To the best of my knowledge, you can now buy 'shares' into a box break that they will stream over the internet.

ripkings.com is an example

Probably 8-10 small booths, all streaming box breaks and one main radio/tv announcing the box break. They announce every card... I have pictures on my phone that I'll try to post.

Rich

Los Angeles collector here. I'll be there tomorrow.

Los Angeles based collector here also. Decided to go, to Las Vegas for first weekend of college football instead of Cleveland this year. LOVE THIS THREAD'

LOL

I hear the place hasn't gotten any better, Peter, and those who I have spoken with said it is worse then ever before and now very much divided ....

Spent most of yesterday paying for shiny new stuff (brought my nephew and that's what he is into). Did pick-up 3 more T205s from fellow board member Ed Hahn (Stanage Sovereign, Phelps Cycle, & Crandall crossed T American Beauty), probably going back for more. I bought my 1st T205 from Ed and it was a Crandall crossed T Cycle back, glad to add the American Beauty back from him also. Got to see Leon's museum display. Signed up for a year at PSA, got a set of their new version of Diamond Stars "Cards that Never Were", have no idea what I'm going to do with those. Hopefully will get time today to look for stuff I'm interested in.

Can't wait to get there tomorrow. Anyone see many t210's floating around? Or anyone know of anything fun going on Saturday night? Going solo and don't feel like sitting around the hotel all evening.

I have been disappointed by the T210 selection. So far I think I've seen around 30 total.

ugh, I was hoping there would be a few more than that. Odds aren't good that there are any of my series 4's to be had then.:mad:

Barry....
 

I was confused about that also:confused::)


GREAT POSTS! I FEEL Like I'm THERE:)

Just got back from my first ever National. Son and I drove out from Michigan for the day.

There is one overall impression I just can't shake. I happen to be a deer hunter and a once-a-month guys-night-out poker player, and as I walked around with serious cash (for me) in hand ready to spend, I realized that for many of these guys, this is their deer hunting trip/poker night!!!

The purpose for these dealers isn't to sell anything, it's to chat with each other and tell stories! It was actually pretty funny after a while. Of course, some guys were great and would immediately say hi and ask if you needed a price (which was a rare thing to see indeed!) But I suspect that most of these guys would show up once a year and set up their booths regardless of the number of customers. In fact, I suspect some of these guys would just prefer the customers weren't even there! And I can't really blame them - I'd probably be the same way!

And the prices!! Admittedly, there was so much vintage stuff that there could have been great deals and I wouldn't have known, but I was looking to buy Diamond Stars, 34 Goudeys, and finish my '69 Topps set.

One dealer tried to tell me that his '69 Reggie psa 7 was worth $200 more than the going rate for a psa 7. Okay, maybe...but it wasn't, it was off-centered a little just like all the rest. Another wanted $50 for a raw vg '52 George Kell - readily available for around $15. And the few raw Diamond Stars I saw were averaging about double the price on ebay. Graded ones were also about double. I bought exactly 1.

I got the distinct impression that the dealers assumed average customers like me had no clue about prices and so everything, for the most part, was over-priced compared to card target or ebay sold data.

We had fun and saw some amazing stuff, but I came back with way more money than I intended. I think the Sunday afternoon theory might be the best bet for me next time.

And thanks to David Cycleback who literally crawled under a table with a black light to examine an old Babe Ruth photo of mine just to verify its authenticity. Best $10 I spent all day! Super nice guy as well.

Had to take a picture of this little gem:
http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps519d3e98.jpg

[QUOTE=SAllen2556;1304882

We had fun and saw some amazing stuff, but I came back with way more money than I intended. I think the Sunday afternoon theory might be the best bet for me next time. [\QUOTE]


I am curious about your Sunday afternoon theory. I have been to the last two Chicago Nationals. Both times on Sunday. I have been able to negotiate with some things, but you also run into dealers packing their merchandise around 1pm.

What booth had the Wagner? I missed that

High point: Meeting all the genuine, friendly collectors and hobbyists out there, including the Net54 board members. Lots of nice people and good conversations.

Low point: The food choices in the exhibition center. In other words, having to eat a hot dog for breakfast.

A lot of the industry/money aspects of the hobby are a turn off to me, but there are a lot of good old fashioned collectors out there.

Well, finished day 3, and didn't pick up much. Spent most of the day looking for a 1962 Fleer football Billy Shaw, found 5 but 4 were the typical way off center and the 5th was pretty beat. I did pick up an E135-type blank back for a good price.

Went to the PSA awards luncheon, and met a few NET54 members there. Nice luncheon and nice gifts. Big news there is that PSA will start giving true numeric grades to the freaks, ghosts, 2 names, etc. that are all the rage now days.

I've got to agree with others, I'm not sure how many of the dealers really want to make sales. It's tough to tear them away from their discussions with each other to show you cards in their cases. I also can't see how some of these guys expect to make any money either. Lots of 80s/90s junk boxes everywhere. Quite a few dealers I haven't seen anyone visit them.

Also agree about the food. First thing in the morning and the coffee stand isn't even open. Actually, it's never been open. Good thing is they have Labatt Blue Light on tap, anyone looking for me there's the possibility I'm taking my break there.

Bruce, what were the gifts this year? I'm assuming their "cards that never were" set?

My experience with the National is that it's a great place to sell...I have made several significant sales there. As for buying, you can do pretty well bottom fishing...picking up $3 cards for a dime...but otherwise, be prepared to pay retail. That said, it is well worth going anytime you can.