Views and observations from AC - share your experience at the National!

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by Michael B

My observations on The National. Some will be very contrary to others post.
Full disclosure: I do not collect cards and have no interest in owning any. When I did TTM and hotel in person in Boston in the 1980’s and early 1990’s I would pick up some cards to get signed but did not buy any to collect. By default I now have about 50 as they were in a group of items I purchased (T218, Ardath Photocards and Sporting Champions, Geoffrey Phillips Olympic Champions of 1928, Senior Service Sporting Stars, Churchman Kings of Speed).

I never expect to find much in my area of collecting but I go anyway. It is not just the having, but the hunt. Additionally, there are a few friends that I meet up with who I only see a few times a year. Other than the 5 Spencer Haywood signatures I paid for my total outlay for two days was $40.00.

I tried to walk down every aisle except the ‘breakers pavillion’. In my opinion that is wasted space that could be better served by allowing more dealers. When the NSCC has a waiting list of legitimate dealers why on God’s green earth would they give the booths to them. Nothing but a bunch of glorified snake oil salesmen and fluffers. They open a pack and it is a relic card of the third string quarterback of (pick a team) and they act like they just found a 5 ounce gold bar.

I call bull on those who said parking as tough. I had pointed out in one of the other threads that there was a website that showed all of the parking along with prices. I parked at The Wave parking garage on Fairmount Ave which is the continuation of Baltic Ave. It is 6 stories and about two blocks from the convention center on the other side of the Sheraton. If you stood on the sidewalk in front of the convention center and looked at 2 o’clock you could see it. I parked from 8:50 am to 8 pm on Friday and it was $12.00. Saturday 8:30 am to about 6 and it was $8.00. I befriended one of the parking attendants and he gave me a prime first floor spot on Saturday while waving everyone else to higher floors. As a bonus, White House Subs is on the other side of the garage.

I do agree that internet and cell phone service was crap. Connections were spotty at best. I would suspect that if you set up your own wifi hotspot with a VPN it would have been no better. I called Jonathan Sterling on Friday so that we could meet up and talk old basketball. I found a good spot inside with service and got him on the phone. I could not hear him and could not get back in touch.

There were more slabs that Arlington National Cemetery.

Many, many, many cards were priced. Even though I don’t collect cards I still tried to look in many display cases to ensure I did not miss anything.

All of the youngers and a few olders carrying nuclear footballs looked silly, but that is what they do in the changing landscape. I did see a great percentage of them trying to sell rather than buy. They did have a tendency to gather in packs like lemurs and block the aisles. I saw more than a few groups put their cases down on a dealer’s table and start trading. If I was a dealer, that would not be happening. The only real annoying ones were those with rolling file cabinets. Most of them were oblivious. One person was rolling around one of those music amp size cases with two smaller cases on top.

As one other poster stated, the prices were across the spectrum. I saw a lot of $1 items, quite a few booths with 20%, 30% and even 50% off signs. One booth had a large amount of graded cards at $20 each.

As for the PAMS (Pissers and Moaners) who complain that everything is overpriced, glad you stayed away, it was crowded enough without you and your attitude. I used more colorful language with all of the Net54 dealers I talked to.

I don’t usually buy food inside convention centers. Generally not very good and a bit pricey. If you wanted to walk 10 minutes there were enough options. The lines for food did seem to stretch quite long.

Since I did not expect to find much I made a concerted effort to seek out every member who was a dealer and had listed their booths in one of the threads. I wrote my own list to follow. I made sure to say I was Net54 and that I was trying to meet everyone of them. I met the following:

Steve Sabow – He had a very nice booth with a wide variety of items.

Scott Russell – Mainly auction preview items including one item that fit into my collecting focus.

Tony Gordon

Glenn and Lisa Mechanick

Robert Klevens (Prestige) – impressive display of Japanese baseball. He tried to help me interpret a signature, but it turned out to be Chinese.

Chris Bland (Lutfa Sportscards) - We talked about photo collecting. He is getting into it.

Justin Burleson – He was subletting from Rhys Yeakley. When I got there on Friday Rhys had already left and gave the rest of his space to another dealer. From what I gathered Rhys did not set up at all.

Scott Brockelman - He had traded some t206’s for a Babe Ruth photo. We discussed the possible value of it.

Ed Hans - His booth, along with Gary Nuchereno, was an endcap along with Scott’s booth.

Bill Broadhead – big display of prewar (WWI) cards.

Al Crisafulli (Love of the Game)

Don Hontz (Dons Cards) – we got to talk about his city, Portland, Maine. One of my favorite small cities that has changed quite a bit over the years.

Andy Aaronstein – He is working for Al at LOTG. I had swung back by that booth as I thought A.J. Johnson, who I never met, was in that area. Andy and I had a long conversation about photography copyright and storage.

I tried to find Howard Chasser, but I could not find his booth. The numbers in the row did not seem to go as high as the number he listed.

I also got to meet Bob C., Paul P and Tyler. There were one or two others I met but neglected to write down their names. One person, possibly Paul P?, knew my full name. I was very impressed as I introduced myself with my screen name.

It was a pleasure to meet all of the members there. If I was a card collector I would have no problem purchasing from any of them.

My big $25 purchase:

Attachment 527529

Well maybe if you weren't there on Thursday when the convention center lot was full at 10:15 am or tell it to the Atlantic City police directing traffic outside the convention center or the parking lot attendants in every lot we went in that was full or the taxi drivers and casino valets who all said the parking was an absolute mess on Thursday.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Well maybe if you weren't there on Thursday when the convention center lot was full at 10:15 am or tell it to the Atlantic City police directing traffic outside the convention center or the parking lot attendants in every lot we went in that was full or the taxi drivers and casino valets who all said the parking was an absolute mess on Thursday.

When I left on Friday at about 12p. It looked like the parking lot was blocked off because it was full already!

[notfast]

Had a good time, like always but Atlantic City is an absolute shit hole. I guess if you stay at Harrahs/Borgota and Uber to convention center, you’d think otherwise but anyone defending the town is either clueless or blind.

We walked from Ballys/Claridge multiple times and even at 8am we ran in to panhandlers and people doing the dope fiend lean. Had to deal with dirt bike riders and squeegee guys during ubers to an airbnb less than 1 mile away from hotel.

Our group is from the Baltimore area and we all said that AC is basically Baltimore with a beach.

I didn’t talk to a single person who had anything to say about AC that wasn’t overwhelmingly negative…except for people from NJ/NY. The only positives anyone had were that it was a close drive, myself included.

[sportscardpete]

I thought it was a great National. There was definitely a good buzz. Not a lot of vintage stuff (because Jeff took all the Ruths). I spent a good deal of time meeting folks (like Jeff), which was probably the highlight.

One thing that amazed me was the wide range of ages present. I think that is great for the hobby.

[notfast]

As for the show itself, I thought it was great. I was helping out a dealer for Wed-Fri with mainly modern even though I dabble in both modern and vintage.

Prices were high across the board but there were deals to be found. EVERYONE who came to the booth was selling. Modern vintage TCG etc. People’s prices weren’t great either, much like majority of the dealers.

Overall, the hobby is beyond strong IMO. People are just changing their focuses.

Edit - forgot about some of the best convos I had in the PSA lines. Met and talked to so many diverse people. From guy grading 51 Mantle to a PMG Kobe. The last line you had me picking up a 2022 card, talking to guy from this group who was a t206 expert picking up a 51 mantle mixing it up with woman behind us with a $50k Luka card.

[Johnny630]

100 Hundred Dollar Bills Everywhere from 14 year old's to 70's. On dealer had a bank counting machine on his backup table. Wow. The wealth in this hobby is broad reaching.

[hcv123]

I had an INCREDIBLE show - literally didn't have time to use a rest room from Wed-Sat. Sold a very broad range of material. As mentioned a very broad range of ages - also saw a lot more women than I usually see at shows. Great to meet a few and see a few other Net 54 members. Anyone who said the show sucked, clearly was at a different show.

That said a few well deserved criticisms - The reliance on union personnel was horrific - I was unable to set up Tuesday despite arriving at 10AM because it took the union 3.5 hours to deliver 4 tables I had ordered and paid for 3 months earlier (that were supposed to be waiting at my booth)!!

Lack of internet connectivity!! How they operate a "Convention center", a place which by definition is in large part about attracting and doing business with a signal that sucks so bad that you almost cannot conduct business is disgraceful. I spoke to 1 customer who got separated from his son and was unable to get through to him on his cell phone because there was no signal strength! I lost a few transactions (buy and sell) because I was unable to do due diligence on the net. Utterly ridiculous. I know there was the option for dealers to pay $80 per day for a locked WIFI signal - That would have been +30% of the booth cost - ridiculous and still doesn't resolve the issue for people walking the show. Didn't speak to anyone who chose that option, so I don't know the quality of that signal.

It wasn't an issue for dealers, but I heard from many customers about the parking nightmare.

All in all my takeaway - the hobby is VERY healthy!

Howard

[mrreality68]

just a few last things related to AC

1. The wifi/cellular issues might have been done on purpose but not sure. I spoke to many dealers and they said that the Show wanted them to pay $350 each for Wifi access for the 5 day show. most did not but a few supposedly paid.

Regarding parking. The convention center Wed thru Friday seem to have issues on those days and on Thur and Frid I did see signs saying parking lot full. But another member said it well. There were plenty of options if you used the Parking finder website or if you parked at the Casinos and walked.

Regarding prices. That depends on dealers. We can all expect prices at the National Show to be higher do to the dealers overhead. However, if you really take a look around, take notes of what you find and where you can find deals/prices that you are comfortable with. I did find some dealers that were way way over even the National Show prices and I found others I was comfortable with and bought from them. I do believe some dealers had some cards that were just display cards and they did nto intend to sell and thus priced those really high.

Overall meeting the members on the Forum and others was the best part.

Regarding the Crime and other issue like that I did not see any problems since the event is during the day and if you stayed on the main paths (like the street the tanger oultet was on) and you walk in or near groups issues can be avoided.

I would and will go to the National Show again if they do it in AC.