Dealer Report on the National
 

Well I am back from Chicago---Wow what a great show---Big crowds and they were buying---The 50's --60's big stars and rookies (that are well centered) sold very fast---It is going to hard replacing those cards---I sold 4 1933 Goudey Babes (graded 2 to 4) 3 1910 T206 Cobbs (low grade) My T206 and T205's were good sellers and the pre 1900 that I had went well---The Big Names are selling---Babe --Cobb-Gehrig--Mantle-Mays-Aaron-Clemente-Koufax----I did sell my Psa 7 1951 Mantle and Mays--and 3 1954 Aarons (psa 3-5---All the dealers I talked to had a fantastic show--The Net 54 party was a good time as usual--Great speakers and Yummy Chicago Pizza and snacks--and the open bar was well needed--Nice to meet net 54 members in person--Leon did a great job.-----The only thing at the National that drove me crazy was the Topps give aways with their loud speakers which made hearing a person impossible --Anyway a quick report and I am looking forward to Atlantic City next year. Don

Nice to hear your report Don. Thank you for sharing thoughts from the other side of the table. I am glad you had a good show and that you enjoy what you do. Good luck with replacing your inventory!

Man was looking for a nice centered red or yellow ruth psa 4-5 range...didn't see any at the show

Are '50s cards in general making a "comeback" in value or just a few elite HOFer cards?

I would say more so the big names in the 50's and the rookies---The commons are selling for the Register PSA people.

Thanks for the informative report Don!

I'm curious, did you notice an increase in interest for Pete Rose cards (Rookie Card or others)? With all the discussion concerning his reinstatement I thought there might be an uptick in interest.

There is a huge amount of hobby interest in high grade, highly desirable post war rookies. It seems most are getting a good bump in value lately. I am pretty sure Rose's have risen nicely too.

Rose rc
 

I did sell 2 rose rookies. PSA 8 3500 and a PSA 5 $900

Nice! Those are pretty strong prices. Congrats!

Don, when I left on Friday morning you still had the 4 Ruth cards, so it appears that the last three days were very strong as well. Aaron and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with you and Paul. Recapping our day at the the show, sharing some entertaining stories, and enjoying a couple of cold beers was a great way to end the day on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm glad to hear that you had such a successful National!

Thanks Ronnie. It was great seeing u and Aaron. Had a great time with u guys. The beer was good! I sold 2 Ruth's to one collector. Fri afternoon. I would say this was my best national It was great seeing all the collectors and dealers. A real fun time

I saw Don's 7 Mantle, incredible card. I am glad it sold.

I'm not surprised you had a good National Don.

Don is a very friendly dealer and seems to really enjoy his time and what he does at the show. A pleasure to deal with.

This Polar Bear came from Don's table and I'm thrilled to have added it to my set.


Jantz

Great Show
 

This was the best show for me since 1991 in Anaheim. Tuesday morning, dealers were waiting for me and my nephew to put more items out. We had pennants, boxing posters, programs and cards. We had 30's and 40's non-sports cards, and early sports equipment. Think we had a couple of things that were a one of a kind items in the room! A 1900 tennis ball cleaner in original box and a basketball program for the first basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke). I met a few Net.54 members for the first time. I flew back to Atlanta Sat. morning and left the booth with my 2 nephews. They had a blast. I didn't get around much so I'm hoping Carlton will post some pictures.

From a collector's viewpoint I can say that the National was pretty much devoid of 19th century material. Walking around (aside from the table I was at)I probably saw 100 Old Judges in the room (not many considering there were 800-1000 tables). None of these were scarce players. I saw 3 Philadelphia Kalamazoo Bats, 1 Gypsy Queen, a few cabinets, and very few N162s. As for the scarcer 19th century photographic cards, there was none. This material has always been scarce, but this is the least I have ever seen available at a National.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but how that Johnson escaped the "ST" qualifier shows the flaws in 3rd party grading.

And knowing that a Pete Rose rookie PSA 5 sold for $900 makes me wish I had mine back!!!! Glad everyone had a great time!

National
 

My son and I attended our first National. To us, we thought it was a great show. We found several of the cards we were searching for, and we are closer to finishing the sets we are working on.
We met Leon for the first time and had a nice conversation with him about the hobby in general.
As Don mentioned the Topps guy was very loud and kind of annoying. It kept us away from that section of the show for the most part.
For this being our first National Show we had a great time. The conversation with the dealers was informative and a lot of fun. We look forward to going to another National Show in the future.

Glad you were at the show Jay or there would have been a lot less in the way of 19th century material. Happy to have picked this one up from you...

That's amazing. Very glad I spend the last two weeks running in the North Carolina mountains, and will definitely do the same thing next year.

Glad to hear Don had a good show, as well as most of the other dealers here. We'll see you at the 2017 show probably.

I second this comment Chris. Some impressive 19th century between Richard Masson & Jay Miller. Jay was responsible for my lone pick-up which came by way of trade (a very nice item :), thank you Jay! ). Enjoyed spending time with many of the folks behind the tables including Toby Peterson (albeit brief), Tony Arnold, Glenn Mechanick, Knouse family, Dan McKee, Scott Brockelman, and many more.

Another highlight for me was catching up with Zach Rice, an impressive young scholar in the hobby, and visiting other new and old friends. This was the first National I was able to enjoy with long time collecting friend Keith Thompson, what a treat!

Jantz---It was great meeting you at the show---You do love your Polar Bears----I am glad I could help you with one---and a pleasure talking with u at the Net 54 get together--You did a great job getting everybody in the place. Hope to see you next year. Don

The show was good enough to get me commit to the trip to Atlantic City next year. Booth 153 opened up and I was able to snag that one close to my good friend Ron Estes who will be at booth 109.

I sold my inventory on the second day and spent the last several days buying from walk ups and chatting with OBC members and a few Net 54 members.

People were friendly and engaging in conversation. I met three young men who were Mets fans and they were fired up about their team and baseball cards. They came by again on the last day and I was able to compliment the father of the boys about what gentlemen they are. The future of the hobby is going to be fine with these and other young men and women I saw at the show.

A couple of down notes: A man trying to peddle a pack fresh counterfeit that would have graded a 10+ Henry Aaron rookie. I told him to take it to one of th auction houses and get it authenticated and put it in their auction to make some big money. He said he wanted to sell it to me. I told him I couldn't afford it. He came back later and said he had sold it. He then tried to sell me a Kaline Rookie in horrible condition. At least it was real. I didn't buy that one either.

I saw a fake Rose Rookie in a global holder that was graded 10. He bought it at the show, never found out if he got his refund, but hope that worked out for him.

I had a great time, great food in Chicago, only problem is the concorete floors are telling me I am not young anymore. Legs are still a little sore and swollen.

I had never set up at a National before, so I opted to subcontract a single showcase from a friend's booth and see how it went. I did far better than I feared I would. I was genuinely busy at my showcase all afternoon Thursday. Friday was good, though not as good. Saturday was a bit slow. Sunday was dead. Only had one walk-in seller and he had an overly optimistic idea of his own items, not to mention quite a few that were not genuine, but I did manage to pick up a group of vintage Jack Dempsey PCs from him.

Four days of standing on those concrete floors are very tough on the legs.

Question....
 

Bob,

Is this standard for you selling everything? Just curious but did you not bring a lot of stuff or was your stuff that good that a smart buyer offered you enough? I find that fascinating that you paid for the entire show and you were "out" on day 2!
Very cool indeed and very liberating. Did you wish you had maybe brought more?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions.

Mike

That staining is very common for Polar Bear-backed T206s. Also, the card looks like it would've graded a 5 without the staining; making it either a 5(ST), or a straight 3.

Steve

No, I brought enough. It was a lot of fun to see what I could buy from walk ups. A couple of cards that I got were a Tom Landry Rookie and a Bob Gibson rookie perfectly centered and 7.5. Picked up some nice commons as well, and most of the stuff I bought was very nice and in the mid fifties, Koufax, Jackie, Aaron, Snider, Berra, Mantle, Maris, Clemente, Mays, and many others.

I get tired of my inventory at times and have done this six times, four at the national or Sun Times Fanatics show. There is plenty of new stuff to pick up, and my customers are always waiting to see what I pick up next. Old inventory is dead inventory as far as I am concerned.

and I helped you sell the 8 lol!!
 

Yup, my sales pitch to the couple was what ultimately sealed the deal. Although even with the two fish eyes it was still a gorgeous card--what corners!! It would be an easy 8.5 if it was graded today.

Don, it was great seeing you and paul as always. I look forward to seeing you again at the gbscc in november but I will of course be in touch before that!!

David--it was nice having you as my right hand man---and great seeing you again---you will have to be behind the table in Boston---

Thanks
 

Thanks Bob, hope to see you in AC next summer.

Mike

Same here Mike, I've already paid so I am committed to doing the show. Hope to pick up a lot of stuff for this one, and most likely won't sell out again till I decide to hang it up for good. My legs tell me that time is not far off.

Polar Bear
 

Polar Bears are almost always tobacco stained due to being packaged/inserted directly with the tobacco.

my understanding is that the grading companies are committed to universally applying the same standards of grading regardless of the way the cards were packaged - that card has some serious staining and the grading should reflect that..............

Hilarious!! Thanks my friend--whatever it takes to help you sell a card (not that you need my help!!) I am always happy to oblige!! :)

Qualifiers
 

Are only used if it would lower the grade below described. They are stating a card in that grade may have staining so it does not need the qualifier. I agree with them in this case by the way.

Glynn- it was great spending some time with you again. Thanks!!

OH yeah, I sold a few mid grade goudeys and picked up a miscut Yeungling.....from a table partner.