Let the people know!

 One great thing about all the card blogs out there is that if you let people know what you collect, they will often find it for you. Really, that's what wantlists and '10 most wanted' widgets are all about.  

Well, the same thing happens in other card collecting areas, be it Twitter, Facebook, Forums, TCDB.com or whatever.  Getting the knowledge of what you want out there is rewarding.  And it happened to me, most recently at a card show.

I have been trying to get to the local card show as often as I can the last few months.  Digging through dime boxes!!  And over the last 4 shows, I have told at least 4-5 fellow collectors and dealers that I will take any Shawn Kemp RCs that I can find.  As long as they are cheap!  And I usually find at least one or two a show.

Well, all that talking really paid off this last show.  On my way in, one friend grabbed me and handed me 4 Kemp RCs, 2 Fleer and 2 Hoops.  Free!  Jackpot!  Then, at the first table (I always go to the same 2 tables as soon as I can), I found 2 more Fleer.  At the second table, the dealer mentioned that he had seen at least a few Kemps in his dime boxes and I should see if I could find them.  OK, I'd rather he had pulled them out for me, but for dimes, hey, that's what I come for.  I ended up finding 12!  Took me quite a while, but worth it.

Another show acquaintance came by and said he saw a few at a table down the way, so I headed that way.  These ended up being quarters, really the most I will usually spend, but I went for it and got 11 more.  While I was there, another guy mentioned that he saw a graded Kemp RC for cheap at another table, so I made my way that direction.  Didn't end up buying that, but I appreciated the help from a fellow collector.

And finally, on my way out, I stopped to talk to a guy I see most shows who was going through a stack.  And of course, there were Kemps in there!  Another 11, wow.  Unfortunately, the guy didn't want to let them go for anything less than 50 cents each, but at this point, I was in a Kemp feeding frenzy, so I bought them.

By now, I assume you either think I am crazy, or just stopped reading a while ago.  But here was my Kemp RC haul for a single day:

27 Fleer, 10 Hoops, 3 Skybox

My current collection totals for each brand:

71 fleer

111 hoops

51 skybox

Total: 233 Shawn Kemp RCs