Ungraded vintage at shows?
 

Do you ever see any ungraded vintage at shows anymore? It seems like the shows I go to only have graded vintage. Raw vintage is Almost zero. What about you?

At the Philly Show last weekend, there was plenty of raw vintage. Here are two cards I picked up:

As Eric mentioned, the Philly Show. Table after table after table. Some in boxes. Some in binders. There’s a dealer where if you give him a random request, he’ll whip out multiple copies. I asked for 1952 Topps Feller, and he has 9 of them ranging from ‘barely still a card’ to EX.

If raw vintage is your thing, go to the Philly Show. I’ve heard similar things about Chantilly, but never been there myself.

I went to a 40 table local show yesterday and only 4 tables out of the 40 had pre-80 cards and 2 of those 4 tables were mostly graded. There were rarely patrons in front of these tables, where the tables with modern stuff were always packed.

I agree, the Philly show, Chantilly and many other larger shows such as these do have a glut of ungraded vintage as they attract both sellers and patrons who buy/sell pre-80 cards.

Uncle Dicks sets up at the Philly show. I know he sold but not sure if the new owner changed the name. He only carried vintage all in binders and would have chairs set up for buyers to go through the binders. Great guy!


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Plenty of raw vintage at Greater Boston card shows. On average there’s usually a lot more raw than graded.

The large show held in Burbank, CA last month virtually featured slabbed vintage cards. The only place outside of a card shop where you will find raw vintage cards in the eastern part of Los Angles County is at Frank and Son's in the City of Industry where one dealer has quite a selection, but you will pay above eBay prices for most of what she has.

Phil aka Tere1071

1953 Bowman Color, 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1975 Topps Baseball complete sets undergoing constant revision

1970 and 1973 Topps Baseball sets under construction

I set up yesterday at a 40 table local show with 95% 1950-1985. I had a handful of T206 and Goudeys as well. I set up there two or three times a year. I hardly sold anything, I had a lot of people commenting “wow nice cards”.

The tables with shiny stuff we’re always busy.

I had a few people look at some of the cards but make a comment like I don’t think it’ll grade high enough”.

I’ve set up there a 5-6 times in the past, I’m gonna try again in February and if it’s not doing better I’m done with shows for a while. The last two shows have just been a dud for non-graded

Maybe you missed my table. Almost everything I had was raw and pre-1980. Would have been easy to miss. I was way in the back and the only dealer with any quantity of stuff that wasn't shiny crap, er, modern.

I'm sorry that I missed you. I went looking for Topps Baseball from 1971-75 as I'm generally always upgrading something.

Phil aka Tere1071

Went to the Dallas show last time it was held, and I was mentioning to someone there that most everything was new, shiny, autographed or graded. I don't deal in either. So I didn't buy a whole lot of stuff. Mainly was there to get a couple of photos JSAd (Carlton and Perry). Otherwise, spent maybe $10 on cards.

Most, if not all shows, nowadays are now a lot of shiny stuff in slabs.

518. Pokémonstrosity
The disappointment of walking into a baseball card show to find that 95% of the tables are hawking nothing but modern day items and non-sport cards.

I guess I am lucky and spoiled to only live about an hour from the Philly Show which makes me used to seeing a large amount of raw vintage cards at a show. I didn't realize that other large shows didn't have the same amount of raw cards available.

While shows in California are few and far between, there's always some ungraded vintage around, especially if Mark McRae is set up at the show.

I have the same thoughts reading threads like this. Valley Forge is 20 minutes from work for me, so I just leave work a little early and head down on Friday evening. No expensive lodging. Not a long drive. Just lots and lots of vintage cards.

Couldn't go to the recent show Mark Macrae was a part of, but the shows I go to out here still have a ton of ungraded material. Made some great purchases of nice cards (Yeah, right! They'll all come back in low grade when I inevitably send them off to be graded.) a few months ago when the seller (who has always been very Dean's-esque in pricing) still had the old price tags on his cards from before the pandemic, so they were decent bargains, and I acted quickly. He told me this was his first show in a couple of years.

That was good, but overall, the people who sell the ungraded stuff have them priced in the stratosphere. Basically what you would pay for a high grade version of the same card sitting in a NM or better PSA slab, even though it's only a mid-grade card. Very depressing.

And a mountain of 1975 Topps Mini's

Strongsville show is almost all vintage. One of the best shows in the Midwest.

i see tons of it ?

One of the best people in the hobby. Blessed to know him well. The buyer does still use the name. UD goes to some shows with the new guy and sometimes even sets up a table himself. He just can't help it haha! I visited him at his home last summer ('21) and he had cards in his house haha (nothing that expensive mind you). First class person all around!

Just an FYI -- the dealer who bought out Uncle Dick is one of your 2024 NSCC promoters

Rich

And been around as the longest running continuous vintage and memorabilia show in the country, ever! It has actually been around longer than the National, by a couple of years. Hopefully, following Paul Fusco's passing a few years ago, and the brunt of the pandemic for a couple of years after that, the new promoter of the show will continue with the emphasis on vintage and not have the show start switching over to the modern side.

Now if they could only bring back the days at the Strongsville show when they also used to have a live, cash only, auction every Saturday evening after the show closed for the day, that would be stupendous. And the best part was they held those auctions around the indoor pool of the motel/hotel. You could sit around the pool, bid, hob nob, and get drinks from the bar all at the same time. Now that was an auction!!!