Cleveland's IX Center to Close - Home to the National

[Exhibitman]

Varies by location, Conor, which is one reason to rotate the show across the whole USA. As I said above, one of the better things with the show when it moved around were the locals who turned up. There are definitely fewer card dealer tables offered than in the past. More corporate space and manufactured memorabilia/souvenir people.

As for what's at the show, yeah, definitely you will tend to see the same inventory from the more veteran dealers but there is also a ton of other stuff if you dig. I can only think of two shows (Chicago in 2008 and AC the last time) where I found nothing of note worth buying. Plus even the common stuff is available at such great volume and pricing that you can fill out mainstream sets and runs for a lot less than via eBay or otherwise. I know the last time out I ran across a big stack of cards from a vintage basketball set I was working and knocked off all but two of the cards I needed for a tiny fraction of what I would have paid online. It happens. And just so as not to keep anyone in suspense:



It was the 1971 Fleer Cocoa Puffs Harlem Globetrotters set, which I finished earlier this year.