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

[tedzan]

A little too much "complaining" about the Atlantic City show going on here.

I am happy to say I had a great show Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday. I only set-up three days at the National Shows, because that's when all the action occurs.

This Atlantic City show was as good as my best Chicago show (Chicago shows usually are my best). Either I was lucky, or I brought the right Goodies to this show.
You may ask....what were the "right Goodies" ?
They were a group of T206 cards with the tougher backs listed here. The BL 350 and the COUPON sold immediately. Plus, 16 of the cards in this group of 22 sold.


.

1910 COUPON
AMERICAN BEAUTY 350
BROAD LEAF 350
CYCLE 350
PIEDMONT 460/42
POLAR BEAR
Red HINDU
SOVEREIGN
TOLSTOI

Plus T206 HOFer's, T205's, GOUDEY's, BOWMAN's, and a couple of OLD JUDGE's.

This assortment proved to be the right stuff. At my age, I like to travel light


That was sweet.....and meeting up with Net54 guys was a real pleasure.

See you at the Philly Show in September in Oaks, Pennsylvania.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[ocjack]

Just an off-the-wall question for those that attended: Which dealer(s) slipped into the premium "Mr. Mint" tables located at the front door? I know it's been a few years since he passed away, but I assume some other "special" dealer now gets that spot.

And to those that attended, hope you enjoyed the show. It's a lot of walking and talking, but I always enjoyed the few Nationals I attended.

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by ocjack

Just an off-the-wall question for those that attended: Which dealer(s) slipped into the premium "Mr. Mint" tables located at the front door? I know it's been a few years since he passed away, but I assume some other "special" dealer now gets that spot.

And to those that attended, hope you enjoyed the show. It's a lot of walking and talking, but I always enjoyed the few Nationals I attended.

The two booths that were at the very front where general admission entered were Memory Lane (straight ahead) and Lelands (to the right).

[Jewish-collector]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

The two booths that were at the very front where general admission entered were Memory Lane (straight ahead) and Lelands (to the right).

Did Memory Lane have any young women in referee uniforms handing out catalogs as in previous Nationals ?

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

Ted how does that work only setting up three days at the National, Tuesday-Thursday ? I thought it was part of the contract that you had to stay through Sunday?

Hi Johnny

For many years, I have been sharing the booth at the Nationals with my California buddies, Sal and Mark. Sal is the owner of the booth, and he provides me a 6-foot table.
Therefore, I can come and go at my convenience. Last week was my wife's Birthday on Friday, so I left the Show at the end of Thursday.

Thanks for asking.

Originally Posted by tedzan

A little too much "complaining" about the Atlantic City show going on here.

I am happy to say I had a great show Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday. I only set-up three days at the National Shows, because that's when all the action occurs.

This Atlantic City show was as good as my best Chicago show (Chicago shows usually are my best). Either I was lucky, or I brought the right Goodies to this show.
You may ask....what were the "right Goodies" ?
They were a group of T206 cards with the tougher backs listed here. The BL 350 and the COUPON sold immediately. Plus, 16 of the cards in this group of 22 sold.


.

1910 COUPON
AMERICAN BEAUTY 350
BROAD LEAF 350
CYCLE 350
PIEDMONT 460/42
POLAR BEAR
Red HINDU
SOVEREIGN
TOLSTOI

Plus T206 HOFer's, T205's, GOUDEY's, BOWMAN's, and a couple of OLD JUDGE's.

This assortment proved to be the right stuff. At my age, I like to travel light


That was sweet.....and meeting up with Net54 guys was a real pleasure.

See you at the Philly Show in September in Oaks, Pennsylvania.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Johnny

For many years, I have been sharing the booth at the Nationals with my California buddies, Sal and Mark. Sal is the owner of the booth, and he provides me a 6-foot table.
Therefore, I can come and go at my convenience. Last week was my wife's Birthday on Friday, so I left the Show at the end of Thursday.

Thanks for asking.

That's Awesome thanks Ted.

[Spike]

On one hand, I enjoyed the show and was able to spend four solid days shopping for cards, finishing a few sets, and making progress on several others. The finishing line for my 1956 Topps set of white/grey backs is within sight, once I grit my teeth and buy a second Mantle.

On the other, you could hear many people coughing and gritting out subpar health for the sake of the significant money that changes hands. Had to cut my own show short after testing positive for COVID on Saturday and wish I'd been 100% masked starting Wednesday. Best wishes to anyone recovering from the show in both senses of the word.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

Did Memory Lane have any young women in referee uniforms handing out catalogs as in previous Nationals ?

Think they did. Small amount of eye candy outside of cards. It's not the boat show.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by tedzan

A little too much "complaining" about the Atlantic City show going on here.

I am happy to say I had a great show Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday. I only set-up three days at the National Shows, because that's when all the action occurs.

This Atlantic City show was as good as my best Chicago show (Chicago shows usually are my best). Either I was lucky, or I brought the right Goodies to this show.
You may ask....what were the "right Goodies" ?
They were a group of T206 cards with the tougher backs listed here. The BL 350 and the COUPON sold immediately. Plus, 16 of the cards in this group of 22 sold.


.

1910 COUPON
AMERICAN BEAUTY 350
BROAD LEAF 350
CYCLE 350
PIEDMONT 460/42
POLAR BEAR
Red HINDU
SOVEREIGN
TOLSTOI

Plus T206 HOFer's, T205's, GOUDEY's, BOWMAN's, and a couple of OLD JUDGE's.

This assortment proved to be the right stuff. At my age, I like to travel light


That was sweet.....and meeting up with Net54 guys was a real pleasure.

See you at the Philly Show in September in Oaks, Pennsylvania.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Ted how does that work only setting up three days at the National, Tuesday-Thursday ? I thought it was part of the contract that you had to stay through Sunday?

[Jersey City Giants]

I nabbed a really nice PSA 4 Matty White Cap and a beautiful 1966 Syracuse Chiefs home flannel #14.

[bigred1]

I helped out a friend for the most part. My take is the city seemed cleaner than I remembered from my last visit before the pandemic, however some restaurants and businesses did not make it, Buca Di Beppo, was a disappointment. Also seemed almost vacant in some areas while we looked for a restaurant. Stayed at Harrahs because I could not get into Caesars, drove to caesars and parked there or paid for Convention center garage if available, not a bad walk, never felt uncomfortable. Was surprised by the noise from the corporate booths, and the music volume. Picked up a Gibson rookie, 52 High, 62 Musial and 53 Spahn, overall a great trip for me.

[clamendo]

Originally Posted by bigred1

I helped out a friend for the most part. My take is the city seemed cleaner than I remembered from my last visit before the pandemic, however some restaurants and businesses did not make it, Buca Di Beppo, was a disappointment. Also seemed almost vacant in some areas while we looked for a restaurant. Stayed at Harrahs because I could not get into Caesars, drove to caesars and parked there or paid for Convention center garage if available, not a bad walk, never felt uncomfortable. Was surprised by the noise from the corporate booths, and the music volume. Picked up a Gibson rookie, 52 High, 62 Musial and 53 Spahn, overall a great trip for me.

This was in yesterday’s news. Sad to see this in the US. I had a large submission that why I was concerned walking 1.4M to the convention center from the Hard Rock besides safety, it was heavy. The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-pier/3804505/


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[tedzan]

I had a great show (selling and trading cards) at the National. I hope you guys did, too. Here is a question for you dealers.

I am curious - how friendly were you customers ? I was setup at a booth near the entrance, so I had a huge number of people stop and look at my stuff.
I can say that I was pleasantly surprised that every sale I made was done without a hint of "haggling". Of course, some of the customers pulled out their
I-Phones and did their comps on my prices. However, not a single customer disputed my asking price. They simply pulled out stacks of 100-dollar bills for
the card(s) they wanted....and thanked me with a happy

My prices for the HOFers and the tougher T206 backs were not cheap. I found this experience very unusual. In shows in the past, there always have been
some contentious wheeling-n dealing with some guys.

I'm beginning to think that the hobby is starting to get accustomed to these higher prices. Whatever.....so, tell us of your wheeling-n-dealing experiences
at Atlantic City ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[notfast]

Originally Posted by tedzan

I had a great show (selling and trading cards) at the National. I hope you guys did, too. Here is a question for you dealers.

I am curious - how friendly were you customers ? I was setup at a booth near the entrance, so I had a huge number of people stop and look at my stuff.
I can say that I was pleasantly surprised that every sale I made was done without a hint of "haggling". Of course, some of the customers pulled out their
I-Phones and did their comps on my prices. However, not a single customer disputed my asking price. They simply pulled out stacks of 100-dollar bills for
the card(s) they wanted....and thanked me with a happy

My prices for the HOFers and the tougher T206 backs were not cheap. I found this experience very unusual. In shows in the past, there always have been
some contentious wheeling-n dealing with some guys.

I'm beginning to think that the hobby is starting to get accustomed to these higher prices. Whatever.....so, tell us of your wheeling-n-dealing experiences
at Atlantic City ?


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

We were selling modern stuff but had mainly good interactions. Most of our stuff was priced around the most recent sale price so we knew we had a little room to give. There was a few things we over priced but the majority of people were nice in saying something about it.

Like any show, there are some dumb people who do dumb things but it was minimal.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by clamendo

This was in yesterday’s news. Sad to see this in the US. I had a large submission that why I was concerned walking 1.4M to the convention center from the Hard Rock besides safety, it was heavy. The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-pier/3804505/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The most disturbing element of that story is that Pfish is having a concert

[Ray Van]

Originally Posted by clamendo

The outdoor parking is literally right next to the venue in Cleveland and Chicago has lots of nice hotels. The Toronto show (comparable size) has plenty of space. Why not have less dealers and a smaller venue 2x a year. Like they do in Toronto, That would open it up to more locations …

Because the powers that be simply don't want to take the show to more locations. Maybe the new ownership will change that, but I'm not holding my breath. The National has always been a show for the dealers not the customers. All excuses about not finding suitable venues in other locations - not large enough, tough to deal with unions, not enough hotel space, etc. - are just excuses. There are plenty of suitable venues all around the US, they just don't want to go there.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Ray Van

Because the powers that be simply don't want to take the show to more locations. Maybe the new ownership will change that, but I'm not holding my breath. The National has always been a show for the dealers not the customers. All excuses about not finding suitable venues in other locations - not large enough, tough to deal with unions, not enough hotel space, etc. - are just excuses. There are plenty of suitable venues all around the US, they just don't want to go there.

Yup, because these other venues actually want to get paid for the use of their space. Crazy notion, huh?