National 2011

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by mjkm90

I returned home about three hours ago from two and a half days at the National in Chicago. While the show was really lacking figural pieces that myself and many others here collect, it did have a lot of quality pieces. I had a great time meeting and chatting with soo many hobby friends that I could fill this page, but spent most of my time with Ryan Sims (sundev151), Mark S. (perezfan), Brett Lowman (Play Ok Antiques), Carlton, and John Kanuit.

Here are my purchases.

First up is a heavy figural bank. While the bank is common, the stands NEVER turn up and I couldn't pass on the opportunity to add this piece to my collection.


I added some much needed rare Cubs pinbacks and a few other miscellaneous pins. These were had a bargain prices from dealers not specializing in pins. No two came from the same table. There were quite a few quality pinbacks at this show, which made me very happy.



I have been after this pennant for three years or more. It is exceeedingly rare. If fact, Mark (Perezfan), D. Bushing, and two prominent pennant dealers I showed it two had never seen another. I LOVE crossed bats. It was also very reasonably priced.


I purchased this rare Zimmerman bat from a fellow collector. More crossed bats on the very heavy 1920s bat. Fair price, but not a bargain.


Here is the find of the show for me and one of the best of my lifetime. This is a trophy I've been after for 10 plus years. This example is dated 1912. Outside the two or three trophies on display in the auction booths, this was by far the best trophy at the show (not bosting, simply offering you show perspective) and it comes with a GREAT story.


Here is the tale of my trophy find. On the SECOND day of the show I was down in a far corner of the convention center digging through the booths of smaller dealers. There were a lot of ball cubes, modern crap, and junk in the area. Anyway, I came out of the rest room and decided to go all the way back to the front entrance and work the room again. I walked around the corner of the of the farthest booth rather than cutting through, which would have been faster and easier. This particular booth I walked around had NOTHING I would have walked within 20 feet of otherwise. As I turned the corner I happened to look down, and on the edge of the table sat this trophy. I about fainted when I saw it. I grabbed it and looked for a tag. There in blue ink was written 1912 and $200! If figured the dealer missed a zero and asked him what the best he could do on this piece was expecting him to say $1,800. Well...he said $175... I took a deep breath, pulled out my cash with shacking hands, completed my purchase, and spent the next four hours bouncing off the ceiling! I still cannot believe this piece wasn't seen by someone else.

For those who aren't familiar with this trophy, it is made by Pairpoint for the Draper Maynard Sporting Goods company, it stands 10" high and is about 9" across, and the bowl is copper. They usually sell in the $1,200 to $1,500 range. Needless to say this made my collecting year.

Wow, Mike!!!
You had quite a National. Congrats on all of your purchases.
Your trophy purchase is off the charts. Truly awesome deal!

One of my close collector friends, Tony Swann has walked the show for two days and still hasn't found anything. His only purchase has been a crappy ice tea from the concession stand. At least one collector had a great show.

I wish I could have made it this year, but I had to reschedule a week of company training to this week at the last minute. The good news is that my 11 year old son's 5th/ 6th grade CYO baseball team went all the way to the regional playoffs and actually won this year!! Their season was pretty incredible- 20 wins and 2 losses overall. I was one of the Warriors team coaches and I'm glad that I was able to change my training schedule so that I could be there for all of the fun!!

[mjkm90]

Wow pieces were in very short supply. There was plenty of paper, cards, programs, pennants, uniforms, bats, and gloves. But few gotta have items. During and after setup on Tuesday, we were very dissapointed. Wednesday was better, as more dealers came in last minute. Overall the show was not great from a memorabilia perspective. Dealers kept saying the good stuff just isn't leaving collections or is going right to major auctions and ebay. On a positive note, there was a lot of foot traffic on Thursday when I was leaving, so I would expect today and the weekend to be strong for dealers.

[jpop43]

the dogs name is Nicodemus...Nick for short.

The show sounds great and I am really looking forward to spending a few days at next year's in Baltimore.

Congrats on the trophy...that has always been one of our favorites and, as of yet, continues to elude us.

Happy continued hunting to all.

Jonathan
www.dugouttreasures.com

[Jay Wolt]

Mike great pickups and thanks for incl the scans

[mjkm90]

On a verrrry negative note...I saw this happen.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/steve-j...185322554.html

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by mjkm90

On a verrrry negative note...I saw this happen.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/steve-j...185322554.html

Yeah, the crack-down also caused a service outage for several internet-based auction sites which use the same platform and service provider as VA. Got this in an e-mail from Legendary last night: "As many of you have observed, the Legendary Auctions website has been offline since early this afternoon. Our system and that of many Companies in our industry including Goodwin, MEARS, MIle High, SCP Auctions and Vintage Authentics all use the same service provider. Due to actions taken against Vintage Authentics today by the Federal Government their servers were taken down in order to respond to a Government subpoena. Unfortunately as a result ALL of our websites are down!"

Legendary is back up now. Not sure about the others. It's good to at least have some idea what they were taken down for. I'm sure more information will come out in the coming days/weeks.

[Tigerden]

Great find Mike!! I am glad the trophy is going to your collection. Heck, with a $200 price tag, it probably would not have lasted more than one hour at a Flea Market let alone the National. Wow. I would have had to pinch myself after that purchase. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[sayhey24]

Mike --

What a great pickup on the D&M trophy, but I think the story is even better.
I also really like that HOF pennant -- I've seen a lot Cooperstown pennants over the years, but never that one.

And finally, I also really like your focus on crossed bats -- they do look great!

Greg

[baseball tourist]

Great stuff Mike! I love a good price story. Keeps me excited about the hunt. So bummed that I couldn't attend the show. Have a buddy there who has his work covering a hotel suite and tix to two MLB games - and I can't go!! Arhhh!

[mjkm90]

Thaks Greg. I simply can't resist them...even the trophy has them

Brock...I still have a way to go to catch up with you in the Brocking department, but this is a good one

Carlton took a ton of pics at the show. If there are any specific questions about what was there lemme know. I looked at every single table at least eight times. If they had cards, I was only looking for pinbacks or memorabilia they may have picked up, but not the cards themselves. In fact, that is where most of my pinbacks came from.

[lefty147]

Awesome trophy Mike !! Better story. Mike

[jessjen2]

I had a great time at this years National. Here are my pickups this year.

These gloves were picked up from a SoCal collector.

[/IMG]

This Spalding flattop trophy helmet was my lone National purchase. It is in really great shape.

[FUBAR]

Great pick-ups... interesting that someone was arrested for fake jerseys but the Roaches idiots still roam free... I will do the happy dance the day i see a picture of Morales being arrested.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by FUBAR

Great pick-ups... interesting that someone was arrested for fake jerseys but the Roaches idiots still roam free... I will do the happy dance the day i see a picture of Morales being arrested.

If The Roaches had a booth at the National maybe they could have done a 2 for 1 deal with the loser from Minnesota. Like shooting fish in a barrel, they both could have been carted off in 'cuffs. Sweet!!

[vintagesportflips]

Sweet flattop Joel. Is that canvas or moleskin? Also, I see what looks like Pen Sem '08 on the front. Possibly used by a Pennington Seminary football player (there was a school by that name in NJ).

[jessjen2]

Thanks Keith. It is moleskin and in really great shape inside and out.

You are correct about Pennington Seminary. Virgil Johnson was the player who wore the helmet. I have added a picture of the back of the helmet that shows scores of a couple of games. It will really help trace the history of this piece.

[jbsports33]

Outstanding D&M trophy!


Jimmy