Card Show Results: The Cheap Stuff

Last weekend was one of the now twice a year super mega card shows in Nashville, and of course I was in attendance, which means I have purchases to share.

I saw from reading his post that Tony was there as well, and since he did a pretty good job describing it, I won't go into any great detail describing the setup. My only minor nitpick with his post, was with the picture he took inside the show, as I don't think it quite captured the sheer size of the event, but since I forgot to take a picture on the way out (as usual)--it will have to suffice. I was very glad to see that he had such a good time though, especially since he had to drive considerably further to get there. As for me, I don't know if it was because I wasn't feeling so great, or because I'm starting to get used to these big shows, but I would have rated this one as just average... or, maybe slightly above.

The day before (Friday), I really started feeling pretty sucky. I should probably say that it wasn't a cold/flu type of thing, lest anyone think I am the sort to go somewhere while knowingly sick and potentially infecting everyone I come into contact with, because I am certainly not that sort. No, instead was just a semi normal problem that had conveniently decided to kick into overdrive on that particular day. As bad as I was feeling come nighttime, I really didn't think I was going to be able to go. It also didn't help that Friday was close to 80 degrees, and Saturday was projected to be only slightly above 40° for the high, which here inevitably means, thunderstorms (usually very violent) when that approaching cold air meets up with the already here hot air... and it didn't disappoint. So between feeling lousy and having the whole house shaking (thunder) at regular intervals, I didn't fall asleep until after midnight, and in what seemed like mere seconds later, my alarm was going off at the set time of 3:30 am, so I could get up and be gone by 5 in order to get there a little before 7 am.

So I ended up making it there, I don't know how, but I did. I felt, and probably looked, like the proverbial walking dead, but a large percentage of the other attendees always do too, so thankfully no one probably even noticed.

Even though I referred to this particular show as average, I still got plenty of neat things, which will make for three posts. Starting with the dime box stuff first, of which for the first and (probably) only time ever, I can actually show all of in a single post. That would have been my only real complaint, that the couple of people that can usually be counted on for their dime boxes, opted to bring some pricier things in lieu of the cheaper stuff. I certainly don't begrudge them for doing so,  I just missed searching through the ten cent boxes that's all.

This Gretzky took a few minutes of research after I got home, as I had no clue what it's origins were. Apparently, National Sports Cards (a Broder-esque company from what I gather), made and released this card sometime in the 90's. I don't know if it was their intention or not, for people to think it was a pre rookie card, but since it's release a lot of unscrupulous sellers have marketed it as such. I was a bit surprised to see that this card sells anywhere from $6-$20 on a semi regular basis on eBay... I just hope the folks buying it aren't thinking it's actually from 1978. Even if it is a Broder type card, I think it's still pretty cool, especially for a dime.

 Two more for my burgeoning 2001 Archives Reserve set. I'm starting to think it might actually be possible to build this set through dime boxes alone.

The two biggest names from the 1998-99 UD Choice Preview set are now gone from my wantlist.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

2011 Topps Lineage -- Bad scan!

1998-99 Upper Deck Ovation - Superstars of the Court #C8

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game - Retrospection Collection x2

Five more 2010 Topps Magic minis. I'm starting to think that I might be able to build a large percentage of this set through dime boxes as well.

Sorry for the bad angle on this 1997-98 Fleer Kobe Rookie Rewind, I originally went the scan route for this post, but some of them came out so poorly I decided switch a few out for pictures instead.

While looking at Ty Cobb sitting in his his Model 30, I couldn't help but wonder if I'm, or rather we, are looking at the originator of road rage.

Every time I find one of these Diamond Platinum parallels in a box, I get really excited, thinking that I'm about to hit the mother lode... but, as usual it was just the one. Oh well, one is better than none.

Here is another card that was initially a mystery to me. I thought for sure it was going to be a parallel of some sort, but nope, just a regular old base card from the 1996 Topps Laser set. These must have been on the more expensive side when they were released, because at the age I was in '96, I couldn't afford to the expensive stuff... which usually meant I didn't pay any attention to it. That being said, I still can't imagine how I've gone all this time without seeing a single card from this set before. Now that I have seen them, I certainly wouldn't mind finding more in the future.

Ending with a real treat, a buyback for only ten cents? That is truly a rarity for me to find one at that price, especially one that is of a vintage-y nature.

I still can't believe that I was able to get all the dime box purchases in a single post! Fingers crossed that that never happens again.

On a completely unrelated note, I encountered my first black snake of the season last week:

Hopefully everyone can see him there in the middle to the top of the photo. At a little over three feet in length, this guy (or gal) was just a baby. These are pretty common here, but since I come from an area where the biggest serpent you are likely to encounter is a foot long garter snake, after two years I'm always still amazed when I come across a 3-6 foot long snake.

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.