Monday, December 7, 2009

Card Show Results

I went to a local show on Saturday. It was -26 out, but I had to go anyways to pick up a christmas gift, so I thought what the heck.
It's a smaller show that happens every month during the hockey season. Usually 10-15 different sellers with 2-4 tables each. No goody bags, no advertising... either you know about it or you don't.
As soon as I walked in I was greeted by a fellow behind two tables. He was very friendly, but didn't have anything I wanted. too bad, he was the kind of guy you wanted to spend money with.
I casually walked to, and browsed every table from every seller.
As far as the eye could see... hockey singles. And very few autos... almost exclusively jersey cards of various value. All overpriced. And I do mean, overpriced. At every table.
Only one seller had wax. Her "show specials" were last years Upper Deck Series 2 hockey at $65 a box and this years Upper Deck series 1 hockey at $85 a box. I can get these from the shop I usually buy at for $55 and $65 respectively. Not surprisingly, she also had around 40-50 of the latest Beckett Hockey laid out prominently at the front of her area. So I left her behind, and onto the next guy.
Boxes of modern hockey singles, with some '70's OPC hockey singles in grade VG at best. Nothing is priced. Great. Okay, here we go..." How much are these?" I ask. He says "the 'OPC are 3/4 Beckett, and the rest is 60% Beckett. Just for the show only, after that, they go back up." Should I explain to him how Beckett lists NearMint value? Nah... lost cause.
Only one hope left. This table, manned by a different dude every time, always has things besides cards. Sometimes books, pennants, figures, lunch boxes, whatever he can scrounge.
No dice here either. Although he has a sign saying to ask to see cards of other sports. Cool. Show me.
He proudly brings out his baseball box. 3 for $2 during the show. ExMt '89 Donruss and '91 Score. Um... no thanks. He also has a set. A 1991 Pacific Nolan Ryan Texas Express hand collated set, missing only three cards, for half price. $25 and it's mine. It's rare you know, he tells me... Ryan will be in the Hall of Fame one day.
Really?
Fascinating.
I have 17 of these sets, will you buy them for $15 each? No? How about $15 for all of them? They're rare you know.
Still no. Maybe I should've offered to take out three cards from each set....


I left with nothing. First time ever. I need to go visit Sportslots for awhile.....

5 comments:

thehamiltonian said...

You win some, you lose some. I`ve been to shows like that. Generally, I come away with something, but its not always pleasant.

night owl said...

OK, I've been known to be gullible periodically:

He really said, "Ryan will be in the Hall of Fame someday"????

Aside from that: how on earth are there still dealers who don't put prices on things?

The Big Kahuna said...

It's sad to see....really sad. There has to be some kind of retirement home for these people who still swear by beckett.

Motherscratcher said...

The biggest problem I have at shows is I have no idea if something is overpriced or not. With boxes I'm at the point where I kind of know what's in the ballpark, but not with singles.

Field of Cards said...

Wow that sounds like deal collusion. What did they all do, huddle together before the show and decide to overprice everything and hold firm?