National Trip Report?

Would love to hear some feedback from the people that are there walking the show tomorrow. The sight/sound, the crowd, the prices...what seems to be high/low, hot/cold. Any cool cards? Cool stories, cool people etc etc etc juicy gossips ??? mastro live auction coming up, who got smashed? did i miss anything...oh yea the scantily dress girls shilling some products??? those are always nice!

Quan -
Weds night was very busy but I thought Thursday and Friday was just okay as far as crowds go with Friday being slightly busier than Thursday. Iv'e seen it much busier in the past. I don't know, maybe it was just me. Prices really seemed to be inflated to me to. Other than finding a nice raw batch of E90-1's I wasn't very active. To rich for my blood. Maybe most of these guys plan on lowering their prices on Saturday and Sunday, who knows??? Selection was definitely there but you were going to pay for it if you wanted it. Met some wonderful people though. Peter Thomas, Gary Nuchereno, Ed Hans & Dan Mckee just to name a few. Tried finding King but everytime I'd ask someone where he was, seems I just missed him. Really would have liked to have met Mr. Yao.

Tony

nice tony...sounds like the sticker prices were higher than ebay dump day. you're not attending the mastro live auction? that's where all the big players are, best chance for you to catch king wes rman etc...

No Mastro Live Auction for me Quan. Not my type of gig..........
Decided to stay in my room and watch Baywatch re-runs instead.
It's a much cheaper evening.

Tony

cccc wrote:nice tony...sounds like the sticker prices were higher than ebay dump day.

What gave you that silly idea Quan?



Wish I could have been there...

The sticker goo that will be left on the holder after you feel the sticker off should lower the value by at least $10-20,000

Jay

I didn't go to Cleveland last year, but thought the foot traffic this year was much, much sparser than any of the previous ones I've attended ('01 and '04-06). Definitely lighter than the much maligned Anaheim show in '06.
Prices indeed were much like ebay dump days, and with some exceptions I thought the offerings were pretty standard. I talked to a few people that said they'd prefer to just consign things rather than sell them.
Tuesday and Wednesday set ups usually have some serious buying but this year it seemed more social. At least they had the AC on.
A lot less kids this time (even during the hour I was there on Saturday) and the corporate booths were downsized, with some large empty areas. I think there is more volume of stuff in Cleveland, and more quality in Anaheim (due to shipping cross country for many). Perhaps having Sports Fest and the PCCE show in the same town took a bit away.
King was all over the place on Friday but Thursday he was hammering out a big trade and basically in one spot, so you might have missed him. In the last month I've had dinner with him in LA, Boston and Chicago so you definitely have work to keep up with him.
Friday was abuzz with the Feds sweeping down on the show, and the police walking away with a dealer (not arrested). And a mega trade (not the one King was part of) involving a Wagner and a large amount of E107's.
Overall it was great to see friends and make some contacts for deals later in the year, but for me it was a bust as far as card buying goes. I think a lot of sellers would rather take a shot at landing a whale in an auction rather than leaving money on the table by setting a price, and that seems to be taking a lot of the unique items literally off the table at shows.

I was crushed when my bankbook told me I could not go to Chicago's National this year. I was convinced it would be far better attended than Anaheim and Cleveland, and that the offerings would surpass those Nationals as well. After all, that city has so much to offer and is so well located that I thought for sure I was going to miss a show of shows, to borrow from Sid Caeser. Now from what I gather it was no better and possibly not as good as those last two. Anyone care to offer opinions as to why?

This National was much bigger than the LA one or even the previous Chicago one from 4(?) years ago. I didn't pay attention to the crowd, but if it appeared smaller, maybe it was because they were spread out more at the additional tables.

The corporate booths were weak and there was pratically nothing for kids. Although kids were free and there was a kids area, Topps was the only table there. They said other groups were expected to show up, but nobody else did (at least on Thursday).

Many prices were high - some dealers had the same prices on items that they used on Ebay dump days. However, there were some descent prices too. Nice assortment of cards, including Plow Boys, Blue Bird Ruths, a Clements Bread, Ju-Ju Drum, Victory, Plows Candy, T206s w/ Drum, Uzit, and BL 460 backs, All-Star Baseball, Rice Stix, and plenty more. I couldn't find any pre-war cards I needed at any realistic prices, so my purchases were limited to 5 post-war cards - the highlight, a '48 Gentle's Bread label.

with the logistics of the nationals going forward (cleve, balt more east coast) and hearing the high prices i'm not sure if i would actually go to one anymore. the ones i did go to like atlantic city and the last chicago was great! you could usually find a few mid-priced bargains to offset the cost but that doesn't look to be the case anymore.

my last nat'l was home in anaheim and all the deals and buys were done wednesday afternoon when all the dealers were setting up...i didn't buy a single item and would've been pissed if i had to fly out for that experience. in the future i guess the travel would be to meet other board members like todd, tony, elliot, bill, scott m, wes/rman, anthony, king, zach (who looks more like kurt cobain every day ) etc and anything else would be gravy.

I guess there is some irony in looking like Kurt Cobain as I don’t like Nirvana.

More to the point, I got back from my 5th straight National on Sunday and had a fantastic time. More important than the cards were the people; say what you want about this hobby but there is no shortage of generosity and great conversation.

I managed a few really neat items and overall had a good show (though I went home with some bills still in my wallet, probably a good thing in retrospect). I’ll post some pictures this evening, as I still need to scan my cards. Here they are for now:

E90-1 Walsh (this was my good buy of the trip and came completely raw in a small zip-lock baggie)
T209-2 (I picked up two SGC graded examples for my set, busted them out and slid them into their binder pages)
T210-6 (just another card for my monster)


The two highlights of the show, however, were two Earl Moore items. The first item is a circa 1909 signed cabinet photo of Moore (the only existing example). This was a pre-arranged sale and Jodi from net54 was kind enough to bring it along with him.

The second highlight was a 1905 Cleveland Souvenir Shop Earl Moore PC. The condition of this piece is amazing and is at least EX. This piece is very close to my heart as both my Father and I both saw it upon leaving last year’s show. Unfortunately, our cash wad was low at the time and we had to pass on a near-unique Moore item. Luckily, the seller gave me his number and told me to call him when I can get the funds for it. Flash forward 8 months after my Dad’s death and I remembered this and feverishly searched my house for this guys number, nothing. Early Wednesday morning I’m walking the show and I come across a case and see the exact same Moore PC I saw last year, my heart dropped and I pointed in the case and told the man I’ll take it (I didn’t even care about the price, I needed this piece now more than ever). Of course the man remembered me and told me I was lucky that he only sets up at one show a year, the National. Not five minutes before me buying the Moore had another collector been eyeing it as it was the last one for his set but he declined due to the price.

<<1905 Cleveland Souvenir Shop Earl Moore PC>>


Congrats, this is what its all about...

Zach, thanks for the report. Sorry to hear about your dad. I wasn't aware that he had passed away. Good to hear you eventually got that Moore piece as I know how it will be very near and dear to you.

Jay

Zach, congrats. Nice story.

Tony, next year, we'll have to exchange phone numbers. It was a lot of fun meeting old friends and people I had never met before but emailed/talked with.

I thought it was an ok show. I picked up a wide variety of stuff: a few E92 Dockman upgrades, some World Series tickets, some 1954 and 1959 Topps raw commons, ad a Babe Ruth photo.

I agree prices in general were high, but that's not unusual for the National or any show I guess. The way I think about it - if prices were good or even if they were fair, most cards would have been sold anyway, and there wouldn't be any inventory out there.

Here are images of the Walsh and Moore PC:


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Zach, Congrats on the Earl Moore Items.

The PC is outstanding, I can't wait to see the Signed Cabinet.

Glad you had a good time at the show, I know it probally felt strange being there without your Dad.

I'll see you next year for sure, Life's to short to miss any more Nationals and I'm not getting any younger.

Jerry

i hardly see a nice e90-1 walsh anymore. guess i shouldn't have sold that sgc60 i had

zach i agree with you...pearl jam ftw all the way!

I remember showing you that souvenir post card at the Cleveland show--as I recall the price initally quoted by the guy handling it was not outlandish but was quickly corrected and raised significantly by the other guy on the seller's side of the table. I'm thrilled it worked out for you.

Zach was being a tease at the National, flashing that beautiful Cleveland PC at his table, then saying it wasn't for sale. At least I could drool over it in person.


Here's a scan of my newest type:

Neat pickup, Glen. Would you mind telling us a little about the issue? I've never seen one before.

Zach - awesome pickups! That Moore PC is a special one.

Zach - great Moore and I'm glad that you were able to finally track it down!

Wow, thanks for the kind words, everyone! The Moore PC is already a highly treasured card in my collection. Not only is the card of Moore, but it also exhibits unreal clarity and contrast.

Here is the cabinet of Moore that I acquired from Jodi. Apparently, this is the only Moore signed photo in existence. Oddly, this cabinet photograph is very small in comparison to others, measuring only about 4-5 inches tall.

Ben, I don't know much about the issue. This is the only one I've seen, other than a few pictures in an auction around 8 years ago. Anyone else have any information? Here's what I have:

1948 Gentle's Bread Labels. Attached to loafs of bread. Printed on a waxy paper. Depict Boston Brave players. In a Net54 post, Lemke wrote that he took photos of two "cards" 20 years ago and hasn't seen any since. He also thought the checklist (of 9 players) was lifted from the Sugar Bible. Supposedly one collector has 5 of the 9. Impressive, since that's more than most collectors have ever seen...