Wilmington Mass Show (Shriners) - anyone setting up or attending?

[talkinbaseball]

We just got back from the show, I was able to hang out with Bob Thing, Dave & Meri Schrader, met Kevin Savage & met Ed Hans who I was able to make a Fair Deal on a Mello Mint.
John

[Belfast1933]

I spent about 5 hours at the Wilmington Mass show yesterday - a great collection of vintage… 2nd only to the national over the summer.

But my takeaway was that dealers looked uneasy and I hear quite a few say buying was down, especially for higher end cards. At least one dealer said they were not coming back next year. I saw some fairly prominent dealers with some heavily discounted offers for graded cards from the 50’s and 60’s (though, I didn’t see a ton of stated discounts for pre-war. But not a ton of sales either)

It surely feels to me that the top of the crazy card run up has come and gone and I’m not sure we’re near the bottom yet.

(I’m not at all complaining! Would love to be able to stretch my hobby budget further in the next year or so. But I might be more nervous if I “invested” in higher end modern cards, based on what I saw yesterday)

[BabyRuth]

Was there yesterday too. I second was Jeff said - many dealers told me the same thing, buying is definitely down a bit. I've been attending for 20+ yrs and the crowd seemed less than prior years. Still a great show with many deals to be had.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

I spent about 5 hours at the Wilmington Mass show yesterday - a great collection of vintage… 2nd only to the national over the summer.

But my takeaway was that dealers looked uneasy and I hear quite a few say buying was down, especially for higher end cards. At least one dealer said they were not coming back next year. I saw some fairly prominent dealers with some heavily discounted offers for graded cards from the 50’s and 60’s (though, I didn’t see a ton of stated discounts for pre-war. But not a ton of sales either)

It surely feels to me that the top of the crazy card run up has come and gone and I’m not sure we’re near the bottom yet.

(I’m not at all complaining! Would love to be able to stretch my hobby budget further in the next year or so. But I might be more nervous if I “invested” in higher end modern cards, based on what I saw yesterday)

I wonder if it was the same vibe from dealers set up this weekend in Dallas.

[Kutcher55]

Was at the show for three hours yesterday morning. Seemed reasonably crowded although I agree the energy was down a bit from recent prior years and there was some apprehension in the air. I would imagine there will be some bargains today but I can’t make it. Overall observations:

1. It’s a set builders paradise. This is the only local show that has guys with binders packed full of cards by set going back to 1951. My personal favorite is JP’s Sports Collectables. Great dealer to work with, very fair on pricing.

2. The amount of merch both pre and post war is staggering. Hard to estimate the retail value of the cards in the room but I will take a stab and say $30-50m. Lots of T2xx stuff, Goudeys and Play Ball. It does seem there’s a little less heads up than the other stuff. I was looking for a 38 Foxx and saw a low and mid grade one but neither one had the “XX” and the pricing was significantly above what I’ll eventually grab on line.

3. Great specialty stuff. I’m a Yaz collector and got to know the guy with the top Yaz set in the registry. He didn’t have the 64 stand up I wanted but I did grab a nice PSA 7 1971 Greatest Moments from him and that was my grab of the show.

4. Good 75 Topps minis are hard to find. Plenty of guys had stacks of minis but finding true 7+ cards is tough and there was very few if any high end graded minis in the room. If there was, I couldn’t find it though I did manage to upgrade some commons and secondary cards.

5. Raw Tom Seaver RCs are hard to find. Didn’t see a single one although I saw several overpriced graded examples.

Overall I stuck with my game plan and avoided any impulse buys. I found zero arbitrage opportunities which isn’t usually the case and most stuff there is overpriced, some of it laughably so. You really need to choose your spots at a show like this. Also I met Howard C and he was a nice guy. Wish I had more time though.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I wonder if it was the same vibe from dealers set up this weekend in Dallas.

I wonder how many card doctors were walking the floor passing out consignments to auction houses.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I wonder how many card doctors were walking the floor passing out consignments to auction houses.

I don’t know I continue to get emails from them every day lol

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I don’t know I continue to get emails from them every day lol

Not much has changed, unfortunately, and my perception is that people care even less.

[hcv123]

1) There Was a pretty good crowd all 3 days. Many more lookers than buyers at my table. That said I still had what I would call a good show though down from "the Covid" shows. I heard mixed reviews from other dealers. More "slower sales than usual", but some (like the dealer next to me - who I saw was very busy the whole show) who said they had a great show.

2) The bottom appears to be falling out of the ultra modern market with some rare exceptions, but still seem to be many buyers and sellers at lower levels. While there is some price weakening and a need to negotiate a bit more than the past 2 years on more common vintage cards, the low supply, high eye appeal and generally higher grade stuff is holding its own so far.

There is a lot of low and middle end stuff being offered - very little really great quality stuff.


Great to meet, Jim, Jason, Alan, Ed and a couple of other Net 54 folks whose names elude me right now. Great to be set up across the aisle from Ed and Dan!