As usual, a fantastic time.
On the card front, a great mix of stuff. A few dealers had newer material but the majority was vintage. Lots of stuff from 19th century including Old Judges, cabinets, and trade cards. A ton of early tobacco and candy cards ...for the person asking about 1920s material, Mark and Marty hasd a ton and some other dealers had a bunch. There was one interesting guy shopping around some e-121 Ruths and an e126 Ruth but did not get any takers after a few hours. 1930s were well represented by Ted, Mark, Marty and others from graded nrmt to beaters. A good amount of '50s-'70s as well from several dealers. Non-sport was surprisingly strong as well. I saw several transactions for '30s-'60s non-sport at a few tables.
On the people front, which is becoming my favorite aspect of this show, it was wonderful. I want to thank Mark for the great conversations again. I circled around to Patrick's table a few times as well. Ted Z. and I spent a bit of time chatting t-cards as well. Jay and I spoke Old Judges and was able to confirm that one of the Hamiltons listed on my list was not a Phillie (it is always nice to knock off a N-172 Hall of Famer but it is nicer when it costs nothing!). Jason and I spoke on and off and had a great time. Jason also took the time out of his day to speak to an older gentleman and his granddaughter who thought they had a fortune in cards but had an 80s reprint Plank and a bunch of g-vg '50s-2000s cards. He handled it like a gentleman (as opposed to several other dealers in the past that would have dismissed him in a minute and crushed his dreams). Jason took 30 minutes to sit with him and as a result, the gentleman walked away happy about his hobby and I later saw him with a few new cards that he bought at one of the dealers tables and a huge grin on his face. This is what the show is all about. Got to catch up with Bill, Adam, Anthony, John, and Paul as well. Saw Bruce Babcock for a moment too but did not have chance to speak much. Met a few new people too. I would like to thank Adam for taking time to talk to my friend Peter and his cousin who just signed a book deal that is heavily influenced by baseball cards. Peter has been working on this book for nearly 2 decades and it is a great piece of fiction (the excerpts I have had the pleasure of reading over the years have been wonderful). Adam gave them ideas and encouragement for the upcoming publication.
The kids too...several fairly knowledgeable kids were at the show too which was nice.
On the card front, I was gifted an Obak (thanks John!) and a 56 Yanks team card (thanks Patrick!). I picked up a Tobin Baby Anson trade card, 11 T205s, 5 '55 Bowman, 1 '53 Topps, 1 autographed photo postcard of an obscure Phillie, 1 Vintage Card Collector Magazine (of course the t205 issue with the article that really started it all for me by Kevin Struss!), 1 e-102, and cut in half 4-on-1 exhibit from the '30s.
If you missed these shows, you really are missing a great time. The hobby knowledge in the show was sort of scary when one of my friends pointed out that when Jay and Ted walked over to Mark's table. He pointed and mentioned that some of the leading experts in many of the sets we love were in the room just chatting...t206, Old Judge, PCL, Boxing, Cuban cards and T205. I was sort of surprised to realize this and glad that I had the opportunity to speak to some of these people at length outside of a National or Net54 dinner.
Thanks again to Jason, Anthony, and Adam for this show.
Joshua
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