Thank you to Leon and supporters: Jim Thorpe Show TOMORROW

[rjackson44]

Good luck scott octavio

[pherbener]

Good luck with the show Scott. The kid's got a hockey game in Mechanichsburg at 11:00. If I get done in time, I'll stop on the way home.

[tennisguy]

Any reports on how the show went this weekend?

[Cobra Kai]

Did anyone attend the show?

[philliesfan]

I was set up at booth # 33..........Well things kind of did not go the way I thought. I did fine selling but my son did not come with me so I did not get a chance to look or shop around. I will not leave my booth completely unattended, so I am not sure what to say as far as what other dealers had.

As I stated, I was at booth #33 and I had small selection of PSA graded 1950's to the mid 1990's, other star cards, some nice raw 1960's hockey, and a nice stack of 1975 Topps baseball commons from rack packs. I also had some oddball items like a set of 1972 baseball batting helmet cards which are very difficult to find, and both quarter and dollar boxes. I covered my table fee with the sales from both the dollar and quarter boxes.

I met a few people from the PSA message boards and some from these net54 boards. It was nice to actually meet a few members and nice conversation.

From the little I did wander, I saw some BBCExchange wrapped boxes form about 1980 to 1986 in baseball and football, some other graded and raw cards, and a couple of hockey jerseys.

The crowd started slow as a half hour went by with me seeing only a couple of customers but it did pick up nicely. It seemed to me that the crowd was small but they came to spend. I wish I could report the results from the auction but I was distracted talking to customers most of the time.

I am looking forward to next years show if Scott decides to continue.

Thanks,
Robert

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

OK I needed a few days to unwind and reflect. Here's my thoughts. We had some AMAZING dealers. Glen Mechanick from these boards has SICK stuff. Glyn Parson is always a welcome addition, Dave Czuba had his usual big stuff including a '52 Topps Mantle, my partner Aaldert Oosting had a fantastic selection of Caramel and T206 cards (some of which are up in the BST section of this site now) and I had my usual run of vintage stuff. This is just the tip of the iceberg and mainly the guys who were located near me, I'm sure the other dealers were great as well but I didn't have much time to browse.

The attendance was poor, but as intended the $5 admission insured that those who came, came to buy. We had a number of issues with the venue which either need to be solved, or we need to relocate, some of these issues may well have impacted turnout to some degree.

The autographs were an unmitigated disaster. The guests themselves couldn't have been nicer, and the little bit of time I got to spend with them was probably the highlight of my day. They could see how things were going so they accommodated any and all requests and were more than happy to tell stories and just meet with people and shake hands etc... Unfortunately we lost thousands of dollars not just in fees, but in all the materials needed to do autographs. If we do move forward it will probably be years before we bring in autograph guests again.

In all with the low attendance I was excited by how positive the dealers were in general and their attitude was what made me consider how we might proceed. If you had asked me right after the show I would've (and did) say NEVER AGAIN!

Thanks again to all those who showed me support and encouragement!

[basesareempty]

Sorry to see your show was less than expected. I wanted to do your show but had committed to a local event. I ran a local monthly show for a little over a year and it's a lot of work. Unfortunately I also had issues with the venue and we couldn't come to an agreement that worked for both of us so I decided to end the show. Bringing in players is a tricky thing. We do signings all the time and almost never make our money back from tickets sold the day of the signing. When we do its a pleasant surprise. The stuff we get signed for our inventory is where the profit is made, over time. So unless your an autograph dealer bringing in players is a loss leader in hopes of getting people to come to the show who otherwise wouldn't. If you decide to do another show next year and the schedule works out I would probably be interested.

[Leon]

Anyone currently involved with doing smaller and localized shows is having the same issues with attendance. My guess is that the smaller shows I set up at locally have 100-200 customer-collectors per day come through....and probably on the lower side of that. If I make 3-6 different sales I am happy. The key is to do it with as few expenses as is humanly possible while having it be well (as well) attended as is possible. That way you have limited the downside. It sounds like a lot of dealers are still with you and that is about 1/3 of the equation. If it were me I would just give it some time for thought and see how I would want to proceed. BTW, if you do it for the love of doing it it won't matter, if you do it for a profit there are probably better ways to do it in the hobby. Heck, maybe just be a spectattor and dealer at other shows? Good luck with whatever way you go. Hopefully these posts will give you more of a perspective ......Happy collecting!!

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

OK I needed a few days to unwind and reflect. Here's my thoughts. We had some AMAZING dealers. Glen Mechanick from these boards has SICK stuff. Glyn Parson is always a welcome addition, Dave Czuba had his usual big stuff including a '52 Topps Mantle, my partner Aaldert Oosting had a fantastic selection of Caramel and T206 cards (some of which are up in the BST section of this site now) and I had my usual run of vintage stuff. This is just the tip of the iceberg and mainly the guys who were located near me, I'm sure the other dealers were great as well but I didn't have much time to browse.

The attendance was poor, but as intended the $5 admission insured that those who came, came to buy. We had a number of issues with the venue which either need to be solved, or we need to relocate, some of these issues may well have impacted turnout to some degree.

The autographs were an unmitigated disaster. The guests themselves couldn't have been nicer, and the little bit of time I got to spend with them was probably the highlight of my day. They could see how things were going so they accommodated any and all requests and were more than happy to tell stories and just meet with people and shake hands etc... Unfortunately we lost thousands of dollars not just in fees, but in all the materials needed to do autographs. If we do move forward it will probably be years before we bring in autograph guests again.

In all with the low attendance I was excited by how positive the dealers were in general and their attitude was what made me consider how we might proceed. If you had asked me right after the show I would've (and did) say NEVER AGAIN!

Thanks again to all those who showed me support and encouragement!