Monday, January 30, 2012

Super Scores at a Trade Only show!

If you only want to see the loot, it's at the bottom, but I think the read is worth it!

I was perusing craigslist last week in the collectibles section as I am known to do.  Actually, this was the first time ever.  There was a lot of stuff for sale, but absolutely nothing that looked worth my time.  I was about to abandon my craigslist experiment to the dark depths of the sea, when an ad for a 'Trading Only Get Together' caught my eye.

Wow!!

Now I love trading with other bloggers and over the internet.  You can find stuff not available in your area and the people are GREAT.  That's right, give yourselves a hand.  Bloggers are awesome people!  But the one thing I have missed more than anything since I came back to the hobby is in-person trading.  I just can't find anyone around here to trade with.

So I made the 30 minute drive to the basement of a church in order to scratch my trading itch!  I had no idea what to expect.  The ad said 'absolutely no selling allowed', but I was still worried that the stereotypical stuffy card show guy would be the norm and that nobody would want my junky stuff.  Spoiler alert, I was pleasantly surprised.

There ended up being six tables set up including me.  They set it up like a card show where everyone had a table and you wandered around trying to make deals.  The guys there ranged all over the map as far as trading personalities.  

The organizer had his teenage son there.  They were easy to deal with.  He got some good stuff from me, but I got plenty back.  Nice guy.

Then there was the slightly greasy twenty-something.  He definitely wanted to get the most out of every trade.  He told you what he wanted to trade you instead of letting you decide what you wanted.  He wasn't as abrasive as it sounds though, and we made a couple of trades.

There was the 2 man team that had some interesting stuff, but didn't want much of mine.  They were very nice though, and fun to talk to.

There was another guy who spent the whole time looking stuff up on Beckett Online.  He was very concerned about price.  I made a trade with him, but it wasn't super fun.  At one point, he said, "It's all about having fun", and the guy next to me snickered and whispered that he was the only guy in the place who didn't look like he was having fun.  The Beckett guy had his 10 year old son with him though, and I made a few trades with him, stressing the fun aspect.  Good kid.

The last guy was great.  We both grabbed stacks from each others tables and made easy trades.  Great guy, seemed like a blogger almost!  He mentioned that his girlfriend was totally into the card thing with him.  That'd be sweet.

Anyway, I totally scored some sweet cards!  Check out the stuff I'm keeping:
The Gossage is cool because of the red stripe, but even more because he's pitching in shorts.  I love it!  Also, the McGwire in the upper right with the $5 price tag, I traded thinking it would be in the $5 range.  But I was curious, so I looked it up in my year old Beckett and it looks like it is the Artists Proof version of a $2 card.  However, the multiplier for artists proofs is x25!  So it's a $50 card!?!?!?  Maybe there was supposed to be a decimal in x25.  Like it should have been x2.5?  Anyone got a new price guide that can check that?

Freaking sweet retired guys!  The Mays/Musial is two of my all time favorites on one card.  It's beat up, but I don't care.  The Dawson is right up my alley with its design.  Very nice looking card, just the kind of Expos stuff I like.  The only thing that would have made it better is if the jersey piece was baby blue to match the jersey the Hawk is wearing.  And the Robinson was just too cool to pass up.  I wonder if he curses the standard sized stickers they send him for autographs.  Loong signature.

Dodgers??  I'm not a Dodgers fan!  But I am definitely a fan of these Dodger cards!  Again, the design of the Parker jersey is perfect.

Rick face!!  I have several of the 'black square' version of this card, but now I have the version that started it all!  Shield your eyes if you are under 18.  Ha ha!
Woah!  1911 T205 Gold Border Ty Cobb!  Books for $4000!  Best find ever!  OK, I know its gotta be a reprint, so there goes the biggest hit of my life, but it still looks cool.  If anyone can help me find out when it was reprinted, that'd be awesome.  It is very obviously old and even has the 'old card smell'.  Anyone??

OK, this one I know is real because Beckett says so.  They're God right?  But it IS a cool old card.  1912 Hassan Triple Folders if you can't read the sticker.  It's only 1/3 of the original triple card, but its 100 years old and while Chief Meyers isn't a HOF'er, he was a pretty good player!  Here's his wikipedia entry.

The great thing is that this Trade Only show will be every month!  I traded away all my good stuff, but I still welcome the chance for face to face trading.

6 comments:

  1. That is so cool to find a trad show through craigslist. You were able to pick up a wide variety of good cards. My LCS is hosting a trade night in a couple weeks. It is the first one that they are hosting. I hope it goes as well as yours did.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice scores! Some awesome stuff there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like you had a blast! Must have been a good time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. THat is one of the coolest things I've heard of in a long while. Congrats on the great pickups!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the billy ripken card, i thought it was myth all the years without actually seeing it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome trades. You must have put up some pretty great cards. I want one of these in my neighborhood.

    ReplyDelete