Dealers' Pricing at the National

[ocjack]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Well, what the heck else is it for? I've pulled some amazing stuff over the years because I roll up my sleeves and go at it. I get to the show when it opens, stay to the close every day, and spend the whole day each day sifting through stuff until the holder cuts on my fingers need bandaging (and I have bandages and tape in my bag so i can clean up and go right back to it). Then again, I am a picker by nature. The thing I love most about collecting is the pick, spotting the gold in the scrap pile. Reminds me of finding boxes of cards at junk shops or receiving boxes of cards from family friends who were throwing their kids' cards away, like when I was a kid. Sometimes it can seem pretty ridiculous that I sit around sifting through ‘junk’, but it pays off, like the time I was going through a $0.10 box at the National. I got some crap for that from fellow collectors passing by, but that was just fine by me because I was mining a run of high grade 1970s football and hockey in that box, and I was pulling a stack of $1-$50 cards out of there. I spent $10 in half an hour and walked away with hundreds of dollars in resale value. I will take that deal all day, every day, but that never happens if you turn up your nose and refuse to put in the work.

I agree with Adam. I spent years attending and setting up at shows. I would walk around looking for cards on my want list, but I would always go through the dealers 1957 Topps commons. My time was rewarded by finding two Bakep error cards and paying pennies because the dealer classified them as commons. Not every dealer is aware of every possible card of value and if you have the time and the patience, you can take advantage of their lack of knowledge or maybe on a kinder note, their laziness in determing what they really had. And as a side-note as to the scarcity of the Bakep card - probably 15 years of shows and only found 2.