2018 Cleveland National Report - Sneak Peak, Round 2 and Round 3 is LIVE

[bounce]

Most of you know Jeff and the Card Country crew, as well as Brady who sets up in their same pod. If you know them, you don't need me to tell you how nice they are or how great their cards are, so I'm not going to do that. I will share one photo form their pod, just because I think the Lajoie Goudey is a super cool card.
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Couple of other interesting cases that I saw. The first is full of turn of the century tobacco cards of various people. I don't know much about the issue, etc. but there were all kinds of subjects like Mark Twain, various Presidents and other famous people from the era. I had not seen a lot of these types of cards before, and considering many were from 1901 or so, it was just impressive they were still around in decent condition like this. The old tobacco packs were also pretty cool.
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And finally, some pretty impressive cardboard and a turn of the century Cracker Jack box. According to this dealer, this box slightly pre-dates the cards, but again just not something you see very often and it caught my eye.
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Before I comment on what seemed like the overall tone of the "market" today...I did actually get on the board today with a purchase. As some of you know, I collect almost everything - modern and vintage cards, autographs and memorabilia, I have a little bit of everything. I do have a list of what I'm primarily looking for, and didn't see much of it today, but because I hit a lot of different areas there's always something for me to find. Last year it took me almost two days to finally get on the board, but today it only took about 90 minutes. This is a Calvin Coolidge autographed White House card. I've always liked his signature, and this one is pretty clean. Nice addition to my Presidents autograph collection.

[bounce]

Brief comment on tone of the market and pricing. I personally did NOT see a lot of buying action today, but when I did it was more of the modern cards. Rare Trout RCs were selling pretty well, things like the 2011 Update parallels (especially the red border), and lot of people were asking about the Chrome refractors and base autos.

In terms of pricing, in general I would say I was pretty disappointed today. Every single dealer that bothered to price their cards (so many of them still don't even bother) had them priced IN MY OPINION at least 20% or more over current market. Many of the dealers price them on the back, so you have to ask to find out but at least in those cases there is a price they can quote you. There are still plenty of dealers who can't even do that, which is a huge turnoff to me now. However, except for a couple of Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax rookies I asked about, virtually every other price quote was so high it almost couldn't even be countered. Couple of specific examples, I've been looking for a nice 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson. I saw a couple of nice looking 5s today, they weren't perfect centering by any means but they were nice looking cards. VCP is $4,360 on a 5, highest price in 2 years is right at $6,000 - two asks today were $7,000 and $6,750. Again, these cards did not qualify as high end by any stretch. When you're more than $2,000 above a normal selling price, which is around 50% higher than that average price, you're just not inviting a counter - you're basically saying I'm not here to sell, I'm just here to show.

There is also another 10-15% of the booths that I honestly have no idea how they even cover the cost of their booths. I don't collect everything, obviously, but I collect enough different things that it's really tough to not have even something I might be interested in. But there are booths like this. Again, honestly no idea how they make any money and wondering if they just setup to have something to do because they certainly aren't busy selling much if anything.

Finally, I will wrap today with probably the dumbest three things I heard. I'm hoping this gives folks at least a small chuckle.

1) Gentleman at a booth as me and another customer start to ask for prices on some vintage graded cards:
"This isn't my booth. Let me call him, I'm just sitting here." - NOTE TO BOOTH OWNER, if you aren't available and you don't price your cards, you probably can't sell them. This happened less than 20 minutes into the show opening.

2) Couple of young-ish guys who were sharing part of a pod. This pair was definitely past college age, but reminded me of this newer generation and how much I just don't understand them. I could have never done this, despite however much economic sense it may make. And their cases were full of modern basketball cards priced anywhere from $100 to $5,000 each.
Dude 1 - "I'm back with my parents."
Dude 2 - "Do you pay rent?"
Dude 1 - "No, so I can just stash away."
Dude 2 - "Yeah man, why not? Just have to obey a few rules?"
Dude 1 - "Yeah, it's not a big hassle and they cook for me to, so why not?"

3) Young guy showing off an impressive Stockton autograph card, and discussing prices with one of the dealers. The dealer is a guy I've seen each year, and he has some really nice stuff but it's always overpriced. I didn't get a good look at the card but I really think it was a 2003-04 Exquisite Number Pieces autograph numbered out of /12 - you can find it on eBay, it was listed for $12k but didn't sell.
Stockton Owner - "Yeah, the prices are really crazy on some of this stuff."
Dealer - "Yes, sometimes I price things and I think it's high and I come back in the morning and it's already been bought now."
Stockton Owner - "I know what you mean. I listed the card for like $10,000 and was scared to death someone might actually buy it."
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING RIGHT NOW - unless John Stockton is the one who is trying to give you ONLY $10,000 for that card, you should take that money from literally anyone else who would give it to you and run immediately to the bank and deposit it before they change their minds.

Okay gang - that's it from me today. I will be at it again first thing tomorrow, and will get you the BBCE pics that I know so many of you are longing to see. They have some 1957 football I may need for my set. :smile:

[CW]

Fantastic recap, David. Thank you!

[BruceinGa]

Thanks for the report and great pics! Maybe I'll make it there in the future.

[ullmandds]

sounds like a typical national!!!! this year...like most...i have little expectation of finding/buying much of anything...it will be a social trip while viewing showcases of museum pieces!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

sounds like a typical national!!!! this year...like most...i have little expectation of finding/buying much of anything...it will be a social trip while viewing showcases of museum pieces!

+1 the way it's been for me for around the last 5-8 yrs.

Great write up, Bounce. Thanks so much!!

[insidethewrapper]

Should just call it "The Traveling Sports Card Hall of Fame" and take it to various cities. Most dealers are not their to sell anything. No prices, not at table, no greeting etc. I stopped going .
Note: Report on attendance as the week progresses. I don't believe the show will give that information.