OAKS Philly Show this weekend....FREE admission FRI & SUNDAY

[wonkaticket]

Moose to a point I agree with you on eBay, but card shows are not dead just run in a very poor manner. Also you don’t have half of the inventory in pre-war on eBay. Just our little circle between Dan, Leon, Jim R and myself had more Pre-War goods than I could find on eBay in a 6 month period.

Then toss in Levi, Ken C, Willam C, Ted Z, Bagger, Joe T and you have quite a selection to choose from. Then there’s also the visuals to boot, you will get to hold and see stuff you never could afford or own etc. toss in the story swaps and getting to know folks beyond a screen name and I think shows still have a future independent of eBay.

John

[dog*dirt]

I wish that I had more time to spend at the show. I thought there was a number of great cards, photos and oddball stuff. I managed to pick up a few cards I had been searching for which was nice. Enjoyed meeting and talking to Leon and John.

As far as the pricing at the show it was just like any other show to me, if you have a fair price I would much rather buy from a dealer at a show in hopes that it would keep card shows alive and well. However, most of us on here are aware of what prices are reasonable, so who in their right mind is going to pay $300 for a card that they can get for $150 here or on ebay? This is not just a comment on the Oaks show but a general statement on most card shows I go to.

I thank all you guys who set up at the show

Andrew

[Dave1943]

Got to meet Jim Rivera and John McDaniel, and visit with Bagger, Ken C, Leon, Ted Z, and Dan M. I was fortunate enough to gather several nice MLers for my T206 set at what I considered good prices.

I do not have the experience or knowledge of any of the above mentioned persons; but I truely hope someone will find a way to keeps shows in or near the area. I can see and do not disagree with Dan's point from a dealer's perspective. It is a 300+ mile trip for me as a fairly new collector, but I find the experience well worth my time and travel - I reside in an area where 1980 is considered vintage.

Respectfully,

Dave

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Dave1943

Got to meet Jim Rivera and John McDaniel, and visit with Bagger, Ken C, Leon, Ted Z, and Dan M. I was fortunate enough to gather several nice MLers for my T206 set at what I considered good prices.

I do not have the experience or knowledge of any of the above mentioned persons; but I truely hope someone will find a way to keeps shows in or near the area. I can see and do not disagree with Dan's point from a dealer's perspective. It is a 300+ mile trip for me as a fairly new collector, but I find the experience well worth my time and travel - I reside in an area where 1980 is considered vintage.

Respectfully,

Dave

Hey Dave,
I had only mentioned guys I was set up with before but it was certainly nice speaking with you again too, as well as Andrew, Mike and a few others I know I am forgetting. I agree with you too. If I could drive for a hundred or so miles to a decent show, as a collector or even a dealer, I would do it in a heartbeat. My very first post today was more about having to spend 1k+ to attend a show as a business and not having any traffic. Our board here is fine but there is no substitute for hootin' and hollerin' in person. Thanks for the shirt sale too!! take care

[kcohen]

Hey Dave. Great seeing you again, as always. I guess the bottom line regarding
cards shows is that it's one of the last places, if not the last, where we old guys can get our freak on.

[Hankphenom]

How do all the overpriced dealers stay in business? Are there that many "greater fools" out there that keep them going and make their seemingly untenable business model work? Their deep-pocket customers go to shows but can't be bothered checking eBay or auctions or price guides? Really? You're telling me there's enough of these "fools" around to make it worthwhile for the dealers to keep doing show after show? Really? I hate dragging the same inventory around for more than a few shows. I will lower the price or blow things out in the little auctions rather than have to look at them for more than three or four shows, unless it's such a great piece that I know it's just a matter of time before the right collector comes along to will pay my price. Some dealers seem to feel that way about everything in their booth. How do they do it? It seems to me they're the ones killing shows. In the good old days, you could go to shows and come back with a bunch of stuff and feel good about what you paid for it. Now dealers seem scared to death that they might have given somebody a good deal. God forbid. Sorry to miss the show--I signed up but events precluded. And from what Dan said, I guess there'll never be another one. Oaks will forever be known as the show that flushed Leon and John M. and other elusive hobby legends out from their man-caves. Fun while it lasted.
Hank Thomas

[wonkaticket]

Hank sitting and talking with you was one of the best things that ever came out of me rolling to these shows.

Cheers,

John

[kcohen]

Hey Hank. Isn't the "greater fool" what the hobby has been built on for the last 30 years or so?

[Hankphenom]

Same here, John, hope we can continue our conversation somewhere down the road. Baltimore, maybe? Dan, Ken, myself, and others will carry on in Chantilly, perhaps we can entice other vintage nuts to make that their regular show fix and help turn it into the must-go show Ft. Washington used to be. Sorry about your unfortunate situation, Leon. Having done his shows for 15 years, I have nothing but good things to say about Marco and Angie and their staff, so many favors they've done me, not once any kind of uncooperative attitude. Can't imagine what went wrong, but I hate to hear about it.
Hank

[Tony Gordon]

I'm sorry to hear this show was so poorly attended. There was definitely an impressive dealer line-up.

I disagree with the folks writing the obituary for card shows. Shows are NOT dead. I attend shows in the Midwest every single weekend. I was set up at the Gonzaga show yesterday in Milwaukee where at least 250 people came through the door and am very pleased with my sales. The previous weekend I was set up at the Two Hearts show in St. Louis where at least 300 people came through the door. These are one-day shows.

In respect to the Oaks show, I've noticed over the past 10 years or so that new shows NEVER do well. It doesn't matter who is set up or who is signing, new shows seem to always bomb. The days where customers will attend any show listed in Beckett is long gone. As several people have mentioned, card shows are much more social today than they used to be. As a result, customers will generally attend the established shows where they have known the dealers and other customers for years. I've also observed that attendance always goes down during football season. Regardless, I do believe there is room for new shows but it takes a lot of patience from dealers and promoters to have some success.

In the meantime, there are plenty of great shows out there. I read about many of them regularly on this board. Sounds like the Shriner's show in Boston is a great show. I'd like to attend that one sometime. I'm looking forward to the Sun-Times show in Rosemont, IL, this weekend. Over Thanksgiving weekend I'm going to attend two shows, one, a terrific show in Orland Park, IL, then back up to Milwaukee for the Serb Hall show. There are terrific shows every weekend in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio that I regularly attend. Shows aren't going away any time soon.

[Runscott]

yet more wasted keystrokes