More on 1969 and the dawn of card conventions

[Griffins]

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim. At that point there was probably 75 tables and several hundred people, so it had definitely outgrown Jim's house considerably.

[stlcardsfan]

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

Doesn't sound familar to me. The main ones back then for complete sets were Larry Fritsch and Stan Martucci. A year or so later Renata Galasso started aggressively marketing, and was a bit cheaper. Merv Willams was a local LA dealer that occasionally had complete sets, but didn't do nearly the volume of the ones mentioned above.

[eddie]

Read with interest the stores and comments about the first get together in
Fullerton back in 1969.

I am still alive and well in Las Vegas.

Edward A. Broder
pclbaseball@gmail.com

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by eddie

Read with interest the stores and comments about the first get together in
Fullerton back in 1969.

I am still alive and well in Las Vegas.

Edward A. Broder
pclbaseball@gmail.com

Nice to see you here! Here is another post I wrote about that first convention at Jim Nowell's house, including detailed accounts by Nowell and Dennis Graye:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=221671

And here's Lionel Carter's account of the second convention at Nowell's house, in 1970:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=221637

And Nowell's account of the 1971 convention:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=218371

[Leon]

Originally Posted by eddie

Read with interest the stores and comments about the first get together in
Fullerton back in 1969.

I am still alive and well in Las Vegas.

Edward A. Broder
pclbaseball@gmail.com

Nice to see you here....

[BruceinGa]

My first was a show at The Galleria in Marietta, Ga about 1988. I took my younger son, 13 at the time. I remember seeing a 52 Mantle, that looked great, selling for about $5000. I told my son that we should but that card. Needless to say we didn't buy it.

[cardsnstuff]

Good read; Do you have any info on the history of the Philly Show; the earliest I recall was at the George Washington Motor Lodge; where I met "Mr. Mint" as a 10/11 year old and thought man that guy talks fast and he has a lot of cards.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by cardsnstuff

Good read; Do you have any info on the history of the Philly Show; the earliest I recall was at the George Washington Motor Lodge; where I met "Mr. Mint" as a 10/11 year old and thought man that guy talks fast and he has a lot of cards.

Here’s the program from the first Philly show in 1975:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=241369

[SteveMitchell]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

Walter was one of the first out-of-state dealers to set up at the Washington State Sports Collectors Association convention. I'm guessing the year would have been sometime around 1975 or '76 - possibly later but definitely pre-1980. He did bring a number of smaller complete card sets. Unfortunately, I do not recall anything about him after about 1980 as we left the Pacific Northwest for 6 years before returning in late 1986.

[oaks1912]

Walter Abe is still around, in fact owns three stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attends the National most years and occasionally will make cameo appearances at the Bay Area shows. Another major asset to the Bay Area's collecting community.... and beyond.

[talkinbaseball]

If you want to meet one of those fella's in that article(Bob Thing) take a ride up to the Shriner's show in the Fall, he is one of the nicest gentlemen you'll ever want to meet.Talk about history, you'll learn a lot from him.

John

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Griffins

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim. At that point there was probably 75 tables and several hundred people, so it had definitely outgrown Jim's house considerably.

The first three West Coast conventions (1969, 1970, 1971) were in Nowell's house, so you weren't that far removed from those days. The early to mid 1970s were a time of exponential growth in shows.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Griffins

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim.

Then again, my first show was this one: