Bay Area Vintage Card Shops

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Does anybody know of any vintage card shops in the San Francisco Bay Area?

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Posted By: Richard

The best shop around the Bay Area is Stevens Creek Sports Cards on Stevens Creek Blvd in San Jose. It is across from Valley Fair mall. Kevin, who works there, is just about the nicest and most knowledgable there is.

Moderate to good selection of vintage and pre-war.

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Posted By: Chad

It's still there? I used to go there when I was a teenager. Glad to see it's still going and I may ahve to pop in next time I visit home.

--Chad

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Posted By: Richard

Stevens Creek Sports Cards is now under the ownership of Peninsula Sports Cards in Belmont which also has a 3rd store in Sunnyvale - South Bay Sports Cards. I think that wax is what keeps them going as well as the core of loyal customers - like me

Kevin still keeps Stevens Creek well stocked and he pretty much runs that store. Anson could probably speak more about Kevin and his outstanding knowledge.

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Posted By: Cobby33

All of the Peninsula-owned stores are awesome. As stated, Stevens Creek has the best selection/knowledge of vintage in the Bay Area and Belmont has by far the best selection of wax in the Bay Area (for those of us who are into the current stuff as well). They're great guys too-very helpful and friendly. They usually set up at the bigger shows in the Bay Area as well.

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Posted By: nbbrazil

the above mentioned south bay-peninsula card shops are probably your best best for vintage and pre war cards. there is a shop in fremont that i visited once that had a decent selection. forgot the name, though. not much in the city, surprisingly.

like any dealer, stevens creek sports cards overgrade their cards...but not too grossly. they are in the grading game (check their ebay seller id stevens_creek_sports_cards), so the stuff they sell raw will be slightly overgraded (bought from them when i wasnt too familiar with grading. i graded some of their cards. they either graded at exactly what they stated or were one or two grades below. not bad. dont expect to come into these shops looking for raw stuff that will give you a huge profit when graded). Kevin is sharp...he knows his vintage and knows what is gradeable and not.

just google stevens creek sports cards and you'll get their website and online auction links.

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Posted By: Richard

I would disagree that Kevin overgrades his cards. In my experience, Kevin is just about the most accurate grader out there as far as dealers go. Everything that I have purchased raw from him has graded right on or +/- 1 grade. I would say that 90% of what he has is right on. That is pretty darn good.

I believe that he slabs the majority of the stuff that he puts up for auction, while the majority of what he has in the store is raw. That only makes sense as what is on ebay will always do better slabbed, and people who can inspect the cards in person at his store don't need them to be graded.

I also think that he asks an acceptable price for a vg-ex card, whether or not it is slabbed vg-ex. To him, it doesn't matter if the card has a piece of plastic around it or not. It is the same vg-ex card and the same price. Almost sounds too logical, doesn't it?

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Thanks for the info. I live about an hour's drive south of San Jose, and most of the local shops just carry the new stuff ...

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Posted By: Anson

I worked for Kevin for a while. I still feel he's one of the few folks who is honest and has integrity in dealing with cards. His grading is consistent and, in many cases, more accurate than the 3-party folks. I've submitted raw material from SCSC and had some grade well above his posted grades too. As with any grading company, you will have variances depending on who grades the cards and what mood they're in.

As Richard pointed out, Kevin does have a wealth of knowledge about vintage material. In addition to many of his long-standing, established relationships with some of the best in the business, he's been involved with cards for most of his life.

I still frequent the shop and never think twice about buyin raw prewar cards.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

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Posted By: Brian C Daniels

and can tell you I would give him cards in a second to tell me what PSA will grade them and have done just that!He is very good with the eyes even without my lighted loups!In fact Richard,next time you and I have one of those money for card exchanges I am going to give Kevin one! Kevin is completely honest and helpful. You guys didn't mention Frank's store on Kooser? I know Frank because he married Dave Cadalinia's sister and Dave has sold tons of cards and built and sold several shops as well in malls et. Dave built and just sold the competition for the "sports fan" that is in Valley Fair. Paul Knaack of Collectors Choice now only sells on E-bay.He is a great guy and can grade as well but nothing like Kevin. There is a bunch of other guys around the bay area that have inventory like Mark but would never need a store front to do card dealing.

Richard,Anson,Happy new Year to you two and Richard thank you for selling me the E-102 Wagner

Kevin was looking out the window of his store when we exchanged money for the M-116 blue Crawford and was wondering what the heck we were doing-lol

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Posted By: Anson

Brian is right, Frank and Paul were also great guys to deal with. Frank has also been around for a long time and has well-rounded knowledge with hockey and basketball too. I don't believe he has too much in the way of vintage in his cases but, nevertheless, he is still a very classy guy.

The old Collectors Corner in Los Gatos also used to have a real nice selection of stuff. The owner, Mike Wasserman, was another outstanding person to deal with (now the town mayor). However, the development of online trading and Ebay have made it tough for many of these guys to compete. As Richard pointed out, the new wax is what tends to keep these places alive, not the vintage stuff. It's too bad but that's the market.

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Posted By: jason

Although I live in England now, and I am sure they are no longer there, but some of my fondest childhood memories and finest vintage card purchases came from the The Dugout in The Old Mill (Mountain View) and Papa's in Menlo Park. Does anyone else remember these sports card stores from the early 80's? Are they still there?

- Jason (earlybball)

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Posted By: Brian C Daniels

you are referring to Larry Vosovic,owner of the Dug Out in the Old Mill who is a top notch and complete ******* having the knowledge of a gnat~.

Anson,I sold a card to Mike just a week ago and went to his house on Broadway~
Mike is NO longer the mayor of Los Gatos~

Anson-look at Mike's ANSON! (I always wanted to say that!) PSA 9**

http://www.psacard.com/set%5Fregistry/display_cards.chtml?rsetid=31932&alltime=yes&rank=1&tied=0&requesttimeout=9999

Did you know this was Mike's?

http://www.mikewasserman.com/

Anson,have you gone over and talked to the Fire captain of LG???

It is HAL CHASE THE THIRD*** Go talk to him and you'll enjoy his stories.
Mike is a top notch guy who has a great AG set~

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Posted By: Richard

If Papa's was that shop on El Camino, I seem to remember that guy being a jerk.

My memories of card shops back in the late 80's early 90's:

DJ's Dugout in downtown San Mateo. Brian, the owner, was one of the nicest guys around and did a lot to prod my collecting interests.

What's on 2nd in downtown San Mateo. Owners were two old ladies who were a couple of the meanest around. But I did get 2 '87 fleer basketball sets and some '69 tall boys from there.

Peninsula in Belmont. Steve and Walt are two of the best around and their three stores are the standard in the Bay Area.

Some guy with a shop in Emeryville when I was in Berkeley. Got me though my college days by supplying shiny.

Shop on University Ave. in Berkeley. My wife (girlfriend at the time) pulled a sportsflix artist proof arod from a pack. For those who do not know much about modern baseball cards, this card is considered just about the top modern card today next to the Pujols bowman chrome.

Great memories.

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Posted By: Brian C Daniels

" The Dug Out" in Mountain View Old Mill shopping center.
The guy you refer to in Emeryville is Julie's pal Dennis King.
I bought my first vintage card from Dennis is 72 when my cousins lived in Emeryville. Dennis and Mark MaCrae are good buds I think.Mark has his first show in 74.Julie and I were both there as was Dennis.

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Posted By: David McDonald

Papa's used to be in Menlo Park on El Camino just next to the Guild Theatre. The store has been gone for many years now. I bought my first vintage card from him, a '33 Goudey Dean. Totally overpaid but I don't blame Papa. He was a businessman and I was a domsheet. To my recollection he was an allright guy but I don't know how well he knew baseball. I remember once him explaining how Babe Ruth played "just up the road" at St. Mary's College. Close but no cigar.

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Posted By: Cobby33

There used to be a place (maybe it's still there) in Berkeley called "King's." Not sure if they have vintage.