What was your earliest National Convention?

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I went my first "West Coast National" in Anaheim, CA in 1974. The highlight was picking up a handful of mint T206s at $1 each. A couple years later, I attended what was billed as the "National" in Plymouth, MI. Man, those were the days. If only I had time machine. I recall walking up to my first table in Plymouth, and spending all my money on 1953 Bowman stars. There must have been 20 Mantles available, all with razor sharp corners at $11 each. There must be a few other board members who went shows in the 1970s.

I remember being 15 years old and begging my dad to take me on a 2 hour car ride to the Hillside, Illinois Holiday Inn where Bruce and Bonita (i think that was her name) Paynter but on the monthly Chicago area card show on Saturdays. I believe this would have been about 1976 or so and those were still the days of no price guides, condition was of relative importance and the pricing was usually whatever someone wanted to charge versus whatever someone would pay. I remember turning down a BEAUTIFUL '53 Mantle for 20 bucks as I thought the seller was nuts for asking that much.