reports from the 2017 National

[Yoda]

Arrived safely home worn and weary but, I think, happier after Thurs. thru Sat. at the National. A couple of quick, personal sound bites:
1, I thought crowd levels were good if not overwhelming.
2. PSA was beyond frantic, with collectors with foaming mouths throwing their money and their cards at terrified processors. SGC, by contrast, had far fewer submitters
3. I was pleased that Levi was sporting a new, silly hat.
4. I just wonder if the '52 Topps Mantle craze may have hit its' peak. After so many have been sold lately and still tons on show at the National, I wonder if supply has finally outstripped demand and prices will retreat from current lofty levels.
5. Maybe it was me looking in the wrong places, but I spotted little 19th century stuff just a few mangled OJ's.
6. Sadly, could not make the New54 function. Just ran out of gas after 2 days on the run. But did run into and old pal, and fellow '54er, Aaron Seefield. We hadn't seen each other in 15 or so years and laughed about setting up side by side at Ft.Washington shows and the havoc the ex wives caused with our collections.
7. I was happy to see fearless leader Leon manning a case at Mile High's booth. And there it was, Leon's signature card, the E90-1 Cy Young PSA 7 for sale at a breathtaking price. But he has promised never to sell the football helmet variation card. Thank God!
8. I brought about 6 high-value, high-graded PSA cards, all with o/c qualifiers on them to SGC for crossovers, and accepted for one full grade reduction, paying $30 a card for the privilege. None would crossover; yet all were very close to o/c grading standards and all had wonderful eye appeal. Does that matter any more? To add insult to injury, the one raw card I brought in for grading, a rare PC of Scottish golfing icon Tom Morris, which graded fine. I had asked them to put "Old "Tom" on the flip, which they graciously did; however, Tom Morris had been mislabeled Tom Miller. Must have slipped by quality control. And so it goes.