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#1
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I just arrived in my hotel about 20 mins outside of Atlantic City and thought I might start a thread where members might share their experiences and observations from the show…
I’ll drop my own thoughts here (am a first-timer) when I get back tonight - and just for fun, here are my own targets to bring home, with any luck: - my first Ramley HOF card - my first 1-2 Colgan Chip HOF cards - some vintage items to help adorn my “card cave” like a vintage catchers mask, etc - 1-2 empty wax boxes for display (love 65 and 69) - and perhaps 3-4 other needed HOF cards from coveted sets (33 Delong, 38 Goudey, 1915 Cracker Jack) More on my quest later tonight… hope others have fun here too! Beats working for the next few days! Jeff |
#2
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I thought this is the right thread to share my overall experience as a first timer...
First of all, the event is awesome.. well worth it and there is plenty of everything for everyone. I know many are annoyed the commercialization and crowds but that did not get in my way - it was a great venue to meet people, talk cards, and buy cards. I went Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. - Definitely smart to go the first day. It was the least frantic and got a chance to get a feel for the layout and note the tables I wanted to go back to. I bought a few cards on Day 1 as that was suggested as where to find the best deals... but I was happy with the supply all through Saturday. - Definitely most productive early - I had early access so I found 930-1130 to be the best time to avoid crowds. - Had a chance to sort through piles of T206 commons with my checklist, you just don't get to do that anywhere else. if you like to go through boxes of cards, you can lose track of time and find a lot of really good stuff. - Autos: I got 5 autos over 2 days. The autograph process was time consuming, and the Saturday auto crowds were brutal - I probably would not do more than 1 or 2 in the future. That said, it was exciting to get up close with the players. And, you can even interact with the players you didn't pay to see. Emmitt Smith was 5 feet from me and he was at the tail end of his time with no line, and just sitting there, chatting it up with other fans... At one point, Allen Iverson, Chris Mullin, Ricky Henderson, Paul Pierce were all just a few feet from each other.. - Education: I talked to Al from LOTG for a while about some other tobacco sets, really nice guy and I learned a lot about M116s and Caramels. And spoke to a number of dealers/net54ers.... Just a lot of knowledge floating around, it is nice not to have to type questions. - Tons and tons of cards - One table had 50-100 Mantles. Whatever you need, its there. Maybe I will add some more later, but first, every thread needs some cards:
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Deals Done: GrayGhost, Count76, mybuddyinc, banksfan14, boysblue, Sverteramo, rocuan, rootsearcher60, GoldenAge50s, pt7464, trdcrdkid, T206.org, bnorth, frankrizzo29, David Atkatz, Johnny630, cardsamillion, SPMIDD, esehombre, bbsports, babraham, RhodeyRhode, Nate Adams, OhioCardCollector, ejstel, Golfcollector, Luke, 53toppscollector, benge610, Lunker21, VintageCardCo, jmanners51, T206CollectorVince, wrm, hockeyhockey Collecting: T206 Monster #236 |
#3
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Took my 9’year old. It was his and my first big show and was quite overwhelming. A lot to take in! He had fun but not that much for kids. He enjoyed meeting stars from the Sandlot, The Blind side and Archie Graham from Field of Dreams. He enjoyed talking to Patrick Renna.
His haul is pictured along with a Ruth replica ball. His observations: 1. Babe Ruth signed a lot of stuff! 2. Babe Ruth cards aren’t as rare as I thought 3. How do people afford these prices? 4. Is there a place where we can play baseball? I saw a comic dealer set up who I’ve known for years. My son was in a Yankee Jersey and he was gifted a Topps Sterling Reggie Jackson box. Seeing his eyes light up when he pulled a relic card was priceless! Thanks to Mike Carbonaro of Big Apple Conventions for making his day. My observations (haven’t been buying the last two years) 1. Many prices have come down to earth. Jordan Rc’s, Jeter Rc’s especially 2. Decent number of Star Jordan and 86 Fleer 3. Jordan autograph prices seem very strong 4. It’s not easy for a kid to afford current packs with decent inserts 5. 52 Topps Mantle remains the king of baseball 6. Goudey Ruth prices have jumped the last 3-4 years 7. Ruth auto prices same as above Last edited by AnkurJ; 07-30-2022 at 09:13 PM. |
#4
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Not the Wagner anymore? When did that happen?
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#5
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![]() Too expensive, nobody wants them anymore
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"Trolling Ebay right now" © Always looking for signed 1952 topps as well as variations and errors |
#6
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As Yogi would put it!
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#7
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My observation: Atlantic City a bad location for the National. One of the highest violent crime cities in the US. No where to park.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Last edited by clamendo; 07-31-2022 at 09:57 AM. |
#8
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No where to park? I literally parked at the convention center garage. Can't get more convenient than that. Yeah it was $20, but that's a lot cheaper than the $50 round trip Uber ride the day before.
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R0b G0ul3t Visit www.feltfootball.com the largest pennant gallery on the internet |
#9
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My pick ups… barely touched anything on my want list but still loved all of these pieces!
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#10
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You have to understand that many of the people posting horrible stuff weren’t even there.
Last edited by Snapolit1; 07-31-2022 at 05:03 PM. |
#11
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I parked at Caesars which was a few blocks away for $15. No issues at all.
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#12
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I walked from my hotel. There was a parking garage right near the convention center. Seemed like everything was smooth. The only thing I’d recommend is better wifi. That was bad. This was my first one. A little overwhelming but great stuff.
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#13
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I was there Weds at 3pm. Parking lot full and all the little ones around it. Sent me to the multistory one. Only for VIPs. Went to another lot. Only for dealers vans, I eventually parked at Bass Pro for $10. Maybe it freed up later in the week. I had to book a room at the Hard Rock 1.4 miles away 3 months before. I still drove to Bass Pro as walking didn’t look to safe. There has to be a better place. I liked Chicago, Cleveland, and Baltimore. The facility was nice, but what’s around it isn’t. ![]() Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
#14
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Mmmmm. Were you out looking for crack at 3 am? Or looking for a hooker in the middle of the night? Not sure why you were so concerned with action on the streets.
Baltimore? Serious, this must be satire. Quote:
Last edited by Snapolit1; 07-31-2022 at 05:27 PM. |
#15
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My observations on The National. Some will be very contrary to others post.
Full disclosure: I do not collect cards and have no interest in owning any. When I did TTM and hotel in person in Boston in the 1980’s and early 1990’s I would pick up some cards to get signed but did not buy any to collect. By default I now have about 50 as they were in a group of items I purchased (T218, Ardath Photocards and Sporting Champions, Geoffrey Phillips Olympic Champions of 1928, Senior Service Sporting Stars, Churchman Kings of Speed). I never expect to find much in my area of collecting but I go anyway. It is not just the having, but the hunt. Additionally, there are a few friends that I meet up with who I only see a few times a year. Other than the 5 Spencer Haywood signatures I paid for my total outlay for two days was $40.00. I tried to walk down every aisle except the ‘breakers pavillion’. In my opinion that is wasted space that could be better served by allowing more dealers. When the NSCC has a waiting list of legitimate dealers why on God’s green earth would they give the booths to them. Nothing but a bunch of glorified snake oil salesmen and fluffers. They open a pack and it is a relic card of the third string quarterback of (pick a team) and they act like they just found a 5 ounce gold bar. I call bull on those who said parking as tough. I had pointed out in one of the other threads that there was a website that showed all of the parking along with prices. I parked at The Wave parking garage on Fairmount Ave which is the continuation of Baltic Ave. It is 6 stories and about two blocks from the convention center on the other side of the Sheraton. If you stood on the sidewalk in front of the convention center and looked at 2 o’clock you could see it. I parked from 8:50 am to 8 pm on Friday and it was $12.00. Saturday 8:30 am to about 6 and it was $8.00. I befriended one of the parking attendants and he gave me a prime first floor spot on Saturday while waving everyone else to higher floors. As a bonus, White House Subs is on the other side of the garage. I do agree that internet and cell phone service was crap. Connections were spotty at best. I would suspect that if you set up your own wifi hotspot with a VPN it would have been no better. I called Jonathan Sterling on Friday so that we could meet up and talk old basketball. I found a good spot inside with service and got him on the phone. I could not hear him and could not get back in touch. There were more slabs that Arlington National Cemetery. Many, many, many cards were priced. Even though I don’t collect cards I still tried to look in many display cases to ensure I did not miss anything. All of the youngers and a few olders carrying nuclear footballs looked silly, but that is what they do in the changing landscape. I did see a great percentage of them trying to sell rather than buy. They did have a tendency to gather in packs like lemurs and block the aisles. I saw more than a few groups put their cases down on a dealer’s table and start trading. If I was a dealer, that would not be happening. The only real annoying ones were those with rolling file cabinets. Most of them were oblivious. One person was rolling around one of those music amp size cases with two smaller cases on top. As one other poster stated, the prices were across the spectrum. I saw a lot of $1 items, quite a few booths with 20%, 30% and even 50% off signs. One booth had a large amount of graded cards at $20 each. As for the PAMS (Pissers and Moaners) who complain that everything is overpriced, glad you stayed away, it was crowded enough without you and your attitude. I used more colorful language with all of the Net54 dealers I talked to. I don’t usually buy food inside convention centers. Generally not very good and a bit pricey. If you wanted to walk 10 minutes there were enough options. The lines for food did seem to stretch quite long. Since I did not expect to find much I made a concerted effort to seek out every member who was a dealer and had listed their booths in one of the threads. I wrote my own list to follow. I made sure to say I was Net54 and that I was trying to meet everyone of them. I met the following: Steve Sabow – He had a very nice booth with a wide variety of items. Scott Russell – Mainly auction preview items including one item that fit into my collecting focus. Tony Gordon Glenn and Lisa Mechanick Robert Klevens (Prestige) – impressive display of Japanese baseball. He tried to help me interpret a signature, but it turned out to be Chinese. Chris Bland (Lutfa Sportscards) - We talked about photo collecting. He is getting into it. Justin Burleson – He was subletting from Rhys Yeakley. When I got there on Friday Rhys had already left and gave the rest of his space to another dealer. From what I gathered Rhys did not set up at all. Scott Brockelman - He had traded some t206’s for a Babe Ruth photo. We discussed the possible value of it. Ed Hans - His booth, along with Gary Nuchereno, was an endcap along with Scott’s booth. Bill Broadhead – big display of prewar (WWI) cards. Al Crisafulli (Love of the Game) Don Hontz (Dons Cards) – we got to talk about his city, Portland, Maine. One of my favorite small cities that has changed quite a bit over the years. Andy Aaronstein – He is working for Al at LOTG. I had swung back by that booth as I thought A.J. Johnson, who I never met, was in that area. Andy and I had a long conversation about photography copyright and storage. I tried to find Howard Chasser, but I could not find his booth. The numbers in the row did not seem to go as high as the number he listed. I also got to meet Bob C., Paul P and Tyler. There were one or two others I met but neglected to write down their names. One person, possibly Paul P?, knew my full name. I was very impressed as I introduced myself with my screen name. It was a pleasure to meet all of the members there. If I was a card collector I would have no problem purchasing from any of them. My big $25 purchase: jo-jo.jpg
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'Integrity is what you do when no one is looking' "The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep” Last edited by Michael B; 07-31-2022 at 05:59 PM. |
#16
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Steve here’s one time I agree with you 100%. Of course some complainers are just a pain in the ass that all dealers talk about as cheap and never wanted to spend anything so they will definitely complain. Some Cheap asses probably didn’t want to pay the $20 parking fee. Some people are well known in this hobby as being lucky they got into it before it was as valuable as it is now because they never want to spend any money. Talk to football card dealers ask them if certain people ever buy anything from them or just give them headaches. Ask them if they try to walk away from The table when certain people come up to it because they don’t want to deal with their cheap asses. I know some people even were so cheap they’d try and trade writing an article for a magazine for grading fees. Some people just like to bitch. Hope you had a good show Steve.
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#17
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The show started at 3pm. I’ve been happily married for 43 years, I don’t go looking for hookers in the middle of the night. I don’t do crack, but for you to make a childish comment like that maybe Leon should put you in the timeout chair for a little while. I think your not supposed to personally attack people on this forum? The Atlantic City crime situation is well documented, those aren’t my stats. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
#18
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My first timer observations...Warning LCC*
*Little card content 1) Take away all the corporate space, auction house advertising, box breaks, social media, games, etc and I'm not sure this show is that much bigger than the one at NRG in Houston. Ok...probably a little bigger but not as big as I expected. I was there Wed night and all day Thursday and I felt like I saw everything 5 times over. 2) Not a lot of memorabilia. If you're a card collector, I imagine it's paradise. If you're a memorabilia collector, not as much. If you're a football memorabilia collector, you get three or four guys. 3) Couldn't help noticing that attendance each day was comprised of about 15,000 nerds and maybe 5 hot girlfriends. (PS...I am counting myself among the 15,000 so lets all just relax) 4) Seeing the 4 and 5 digit prices on some PSA 5s and 6s immediately reminded me of a score I had 8-10 years ago. It was only about 20 cards but mostly rookies and all razor sharp. Bill Russell, Jerry West and Bob Cousy rookies. Musial and Koufax rookies. Mantle Red Heart. Unitas rookie. Jim Brown rookie are the ones I remember. I just wasn't into grading and sold them raw shortly after acquiring. Was happy with what I got for them at the time too. But I'd still like a do over. 5) Is there anything worse than a pompous, inflexible dealer? Probably, but they still generally suck. Unfortunately, one of the "three or four" football guys fell into this category. 6) The best part for me, without a doubt, is the people you meet...both at the show and around town. I found myself engaged in conversation with strangers only to realize a couple minutes in that I know this person...I had just never met them live. So that was fun. And then there's Jack Youngblood, my hero since I first discovered football. What a relaxed, no pressure meeting. Nice guy. Listened to my preamble about being a fan since I was "this tall" and very gracious. Thanked me for my story instead of brushing me off. It was a great experience. His wife was nice too. And he gives great autograph. Beautiful signature and inscription. What a relief. It sucks when your heroes turn out to be dicks. And of course my patron saint of pennants, who went out of his way to make my first National experience a great one. Not sure if he wants the attention so I'll leave him nameless but he knows who he is. Thank you! 7) If a clusterf*ck impregnated a birds nest and the birds nest proceeded to drink throughout the entire gestation period, it would give birth to the road/highway system of Atlantic City and the surrounding area. What a mess. Even Siri was like WTF? At one point she told me to do a U turn between a 10 foot gap in Jersey barriers on the highway. Likely would've ended in tragedy. Another time, leaving the convention center, I was driving to the hotel for 5-6 minutes and somehow ended up back at the convention center. And what does Absecon have against left turns? 8). White Horse Pike...the main drag between the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City...which takes you right through Absecon...gives off a bit of zombie apocalypse vibe. Upon exiting the highway, you're immediately greeted by abandoned business after abandoned business. I must've passed five straight boarded up gas stations. Hotels too. A little creepy. It was a meth head Disney World. What happened here? How did this go? A little further down the road, things livened up and my hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, thankfully was still in business. 9) I didn't get as much experience with the food as I would've liked but what I did have was good. Really wanted a White House sub but couldn't make it work. Had a nice dinner with friends at LB One Steakhouse. A nice 1970s style experience replete with salad bar. Enjoyed the place and especially the company. Then I ate at Villa Refici right on White Horse Pike...twice. The first time it was a consolation prize. My Uber driver recommended another place but they had a live band and I just wasn't feeling it so I walked out. I wanted a quiet bar to sit at to contemplate my expenditures...and eat. Villa Refici was right down the street so I went there and I'm glad I did. This may have been Top 5 Italian food for me. I've been to Little Italy in NYC more times than I can count...Arthur Ave too. Franklin Ave in Hartford was practically my back yard... and I love them...but this place is right up there. The sauce was amongst the best I've tasted and the bread was so good I asked for seconds. I can't get bread like this in Houston and Italian food? Forget about it. It was a locals place which I love. Everyone at the bar was talking to each other and the staff and laughing. They were regulars. If I lived in the area, I would be too. 10) So...Atlantic City. It seems like the kind of place if you didn't leave your hotel you'd probably love it. The newer ones look very nice. I'm sure the restaurants and bars within are amazing. But old Atlantic City is still there and it's kind of a bummer. I don't know if I'd go back. Maybe after a little more gentrification. In the mean time, I'd head down a little farther to Cape May and look at the pretty houses. We'll see. Never say never.
__________________
R0b G0ul3t Visit www.feltfootball.com the largest pennant gallery on the internet |
#19
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Nice report though - thank you for that! Last edited by CJinPA; 07-31-2022 at 07:53 PM. |
#20
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was AWESOME!
overwhelming! I wish they had it in AC every year ![]() ![]() |
#21
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A little too much "complaining" about the Atlantic City show going on here.
I am happy to say I had a great show Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday. I only set-up three days at the National Shows, because that's when all the action occurs. This Atlantic City show was as good as my best Chicago show (Chicago shows usually are my best). Either I was lucky, or I brought the right Goodies to this show. You may ask....what were the "right Goodies" ? They were a group of T206 cards with the tougher backs listed here. The BL 350 and the COUPON sold immediately. Plus, 16 of the cards in this group of 22 sold. ![]() ![]() 1910 COUPON AMERICAN BEAUTY 350 BROAD LEAF 350 CYCLE 350 PIEDMONT 460/42 POLAR BEAR Red HINDU SOVEREIGN TOLSTOI Plus T206 HOFer's, T205's, GOUDEY's, BOWMAN's, and a couple of OLD JUDGE's. This assortment proved to be the right stuff. At my age, I like to travel light ![]() That was sweet.....and meeting up with Net54 guys was a real pleasure. See you at the Philly Show in September in Oaks, Pennsylvania. TED Z T206 Reference . |
#22
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Just an off-the-wall question for those that attended: Which dealer(s) slipped into the premium "Mr. Mint" tables located at the front door? I know it's been a few years since he passed away, but I assume some other "special" dealer now gets that spot.
And to those that attended, hope you enjoyed the show. It's a lot of walking and talking, but I always enjoyed the few Nationals I attended. Last edited by ocjack; 08-01-2022 at 09:30 AM. |
#23
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__________________
Current Wantlist: E92 Nadja - Bescher, Chance, Cobb, Donovan, Doolan, Dougherty, Doyle (with bat), Lobert, Mathewson, Miller (fielding), Tinker, Wagner (throwing), Zimmerman E/T Young Backrun - Need E90-1 E92 Red Crofts - Anyone especially Barry and Shean |
#24
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#25
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Hi Johnny For many years, I have been sharing the booth at the Nationals with my California buddies, Sal and Mark. Sal is the owner of the booth, and he provides me a 6-foot table. Therefore, I can come and go at my convenience. Last week was my wife's Birthday on Friday, so I left the Show at the end of Thursday. Thanks for asking. Quote:
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#26
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Think they did. Small amount of eye candy outside of cards. It's not the boat show.
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#27
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Last edited by Johnny630; 08-01-2022 at 09:43 AM. |
#28
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I nabbed a really nice PSA 4 Matty White Cap and a beautiful 1966 Syracuse Chiefs home flannel #14.
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#29
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I helped out a friend for the most part. My take is the city seemed cleaner than I remembered from my last visit before the pandemic, however some restaurants and businesses did not make it, Buca Di Beppo, was a disappointment. Also seemed almost vacant in some areas while we looked for a restaurant. Stayed at Harrahs because I could not get into Caesars, drove to caesars and parked there or paid for Convention center garage if available, not a bad walk, never felt uncomfortable. Was surprised by the noise from the corporate booths, and the music volume. Picked up a Gibson rookie, 52 High, 62 Musial and 53 Spahn, overall a great trip for me.
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#30
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This was in yesterday’s news. Sad to see this in the US. I had a large submission that why I was concerned walking 1.4M to the convention center from the Hard Rock besides safety, it was heavy. The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations … https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-pier/3804505/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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