Will anyone be giving a blow-by-blow account from the National this year?

[uyu906]

My son (12 yrs old) and I went all day on Thursday. I have been collecting since 1976, but this was only the 2nd National I have ever attended and my son's first.

When we entered the hall at 10AM we walked right past Joe Orlando of PSA chatting with some guy in an aisle near the PSA booth.

Things I noticed - I asked at a number of dealers' tables that had pre-war for York Caramels (E210) but found none! Very strange, I thought.

I was also looking for a 1934 Goudey Jimmie Foxx in PSA 3 and could not find one. In fact I only saw a few in any condition, most were not graded or PSA 1's or 2's. Most of the raw were in similar condition. I also saw at least 1 high grade.

I was also looking for Old Judge Baltimore players and John Tener cards. I saw a bunch of Old Judges - but not one Baltimore or John Tener Old Judge. Nada -

Saw lots of high & low grade card stars and RC's from 1950s and 1960s. But less in mid grade - PSA-4-6. PSA 6's I saw in these were priced significantly higher than normal prices for these. I tried to buy a 1951 Bowman Nellie Foxx RC in PSA 6 and found only 1, but could not come to an agreement with the dealer. He wanted $175, but it was OC top to bottom and I just could not pull the trigger.

My most successful buys were 3 graded T206 Baltimore players I needed: Adkins, Dessau, and Dunn (Old Mill).

I met one guy in his 30's at a dealer's table who specialized in high grade 1950s stars and RC's. He dropped 9K on a couple of high grade RC's. The dealer asked him what he did for a living and he said he was an investment broker. I guess those guys really are driving the market now.

Bitter sweet thing, my son bought mostly Pokemon cards (of which there was a fairly large supply) - but we still had fun hanging out all day and he liked looking at the pre-war stuff I was checking out. I was kind of secretly hoping some collector or dealer would verbally encourage him to collect sports cards but no one said anything to him (possibly because he is already 5'10"), except one dealer who rudely told him to get out of a chair at his booth because they were for customers (not realizing I was on the other side of the booth trying to purchase some cards from his partner).

I though the show had plenty of room in the aisles and in the hall in general. Seemed like a bigger space than what was at the last Baltimore National. Easy parking for $15 right next to the convention center.

White House Subs did not disappoint after the show was over.

I will anxiously look forward to the next National on the East Coast!

[ValKehl]

Rich, I did see some E210s at the show on Thursday & Friday, but not all that many. I do specifically recall seeing a couple of York Caramel WaJos.

[Snapolit1]

Did not notice any valuable Shoeless Joe cards.

[uyu906]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Rich, I did see some E210s at the show on Thursday & Friday, but not all that many. I do specifically recall seeing a couple of York Caramel WaJos.

Rats! I still need a Johnson. Oh, well. . . .

[kkkkandp]

Originally Posted by uyu906

I was also looking for Old Judge Baltimore players and John Tener cards. I saw a bunch of Old Judges - but not one Baltimore or John Tener Old Judge. Nada -

I have been away on vacation and will not be able to attend the show at all this year.

I have been scanning the posts in this thread and this is the first mention I have seen about 19th century material, specifically Old Judges. How was the "bunch" you saw distributed - one dealer with lots of them, a handful of dealers with quite a few of them, many dealers with five or less of them?

[david_l]

Assuming anyone pays attention, did you see a selection of oddball pre-WW1 sports/Olympic cards (T218, T221, E229, etc.)? There's probably not much demand but I'd love to go somewhere and be able to browse these sort of sets.

[uyu906]

Originally Posted by david_l

Assuming anyone pays attention, did you see a selection of oddball pre-WW1 sports/Olympic cards (T218, T221, E229, etc.)? There's probably not much demand but I'd love to go somewhere and be able to browse these sort of sets.

I did notice one dealer who had a at least one display case with pre - WWI sports cards, and 1 case of pre-WWII sports cards. Saw at least 3 dealers with the pre-WWII Olympic sports cards.

[david_l]

Originally Posted by uyu906

I did notice one dealer who had a at least one display case with pre - WWI sports cards, and 1 case of pre-WWII sports cards. Saw at least 3 dealers with the pre-WWII Olympic sports cards.

Neat. I'm glad to hear people are displaying and selling them. Thanks for letting me know.

[Steve D]

Here are some pictures a CU member posted on their boards, showing BBCE's recent "Arizona Find" of Old Judges:






Steve

[Steve D]

Here's more from the CU boards:






Steve

[uyu906]

Originally Posted by kkkkandp

I have been away on vacation and will not be able to attend the show at all this year.

I have been scanning the posts in this thread and this is the first mention I have seen about 19th century material, specifically Old Judges. How was the "bunch" you saw distributed - one dealer with lots of them, a handful of dealers with quite a few of them, many dealers with five or less of them?

I saw about 5 dealers with Old Judges. I believe the dealer that had the most had about 25 total. The other four had about 10 each.

[basesareempty]

Originally Posted by uyu906

I saw about 5 dealers with Old Judges. I believe the dealer that had the most had about 25 total. The other four had about 10 each.

Steve and Reed from Baseball card Exchange had a nice grouping of 25-30 OJ's from a recent find in Arizona in PSA 4-6 range that were really nice. If you just wrote off that entire area because he was located in the unopened/corporate area you missed them.

[packs]

I found a lot of the prices to be out of control. I tried to work with some dealers but they were often only willing to budge $100 or so on their cards. Trying to sell was a nightmare as well. For some reason their cards always seemed to be worth more and my cards always seemed to be worth less by virtue of who owned them.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by packs

I found a lot of the prices to be out of control. I tried to work with some dealers but they were often only willing to budge $100 or so on their cards. Trying to sell was a nightmare as well. For some reason their cards always seemed to be worth more and my cards always seemed to be worth less by virtue of who owned them.

Yea....I thought used car salesmen were bad!