Flea Market Finds #61: Clemente, Cespedes, and Comics

When: Saturday, April 19th
Where: Branham High School Flea Market
What: Clemente and Crap
How Much?: $17

After I set up my table on Saturday, I decided to walk around and check out what everyone else was selling.  The guy across from us is a regular and the same guy who sold me a bunch of vintage Bowmans back in January, so I headed over to him and immediately made my first purchase.

Purchase #1: 1970 Topps Posters #21 Roberto Clemente $1

It was love at first sight.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it... but I made sure to play it cool.  I picked up a few other items, before finally asking about the poster.  He told me any of the posters were a dollar.  The Clemente has "browned" over the years and is torn in a couple of spots, but there was no way I was going to pass up this deal.

He also had a Johnny Bench and a Rod Carew, but both of them were in very poor condition, so I passed.  Although... for the price I'm sort of having second thoughts.

Purchase #2:  Mussina Autograph and Cespedes Refractor $10 

This purchase is a simple case of the "pros" outweighing the "cons".  On one hand, I don't like the New York Yankees.  They're right up there with the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Red Wings in terms of teams I truly dislike.

However... it's hard not to admire what Mike Mussina did on the diamond during his years at Stanford University and while playing in Baltimore and New York.  I also like the overall look of the card and the on-card autograph.

I just wasn't sure I wanted to pay the $10 sticker price, so I asked him if he'd be willing to throw in this 2012 Finest refractor rookie card:

He accepted, I paid, and now both cards reside in my collection.


Purchase #3:  Comics and Baseball Programs $1

Things died down by 1pm, so I figured I'd make one more round around the flea market.  Half of the vendors were packing up, which sometimes means people lower their prices in order to avoid hauling their junk home.

This was one of those situations.

I stopped by this guy's table earlier in the morning, because I was checking out some old Transformers he had.  Unfortunately he sold them about an hour earlier.  But he had a table full of old magazines priced at four for a dollar.  Here's what I grabbed:

An early 80's Oakland Athletics program with Rickey on the cover?  I'll take that.  The other three items are gravy:

Purchase #4:  2011 Panini Madden 12 HOF Edition Autograph $5

What happens when your buddy offers you an oddball, on-card autograph of a hall of famer for the low price of five bucks?  Ummm... you buy it.

Overall... I was pretty happy with my purchases.  After spending seven hours set up as a vendor, I walked away with some nice items for my collection and more money in my pocket than I started the day with.  That'll come in handy this upcoming weekend at the TRISTAR Collector's Show.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Swapping Stuff at the Swap Meet

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend.  As usual... I spent part of mine at two flea markets.

On Saturday, I set up at the Branham High School Flea Market with a couple of my buddies.  I brought some boxes of cards that were gathering dust, some books and DVD's, a bunch of brand new aquarium supplies, and a box of Bay Area sports memorabilia that didn't exactly fit my collection.

I ended up taking home a lot of the stuff I brought, but I was able to sell most of the DVD's and a couple of boxes of cards.  Plus I traded the box of memorabilia to my buddy, because he wanted some fresh items for the 18th Annual San Francisco TRISTAR Collector's Show that's taking place next week.

The key items in the box were a pair of 49ers Super Bowl programs, a 1997 NHL All-Star Game program, and some San Francisco Giants ticket stubs.

In return... he traded me the following items:

Casey Stengel Business Card

I can't seem to find any information about this card, but it's a unique oddball of one of the greatest managers in MLB history.

2011 Topps Triple Threads Relic #TR111

My buddy had a bunch of A's, Giants, and 49ers rookie cards in his display case... but the main card that caught my attention was this Jim Plunkett relic.  He's a Bay Area boy and was one of my father's favorite players when I was a kid... so this will make a fine addition to the collection.

I don't stumble across Golden Seals memorabilia on a daily basis, so I also targeted this vintage decal.  It goes well with the stack of vintage California Golden Seals cards Mr. Hoyle sent me last week.

Finally, I grabbed a handful of oddball sets.

First up... the 1991 Heisman Collection Series One set.  The 21 card set highlights popular Heisman Trophy winners like: Tim Brown, Bo Jackson, Earl Campbell, Tony Dorsett, and Jim Plunkett.  There are randomly inserted autographs in this product, but the odds are tough:  one autograph inserted into every fifty sets.  Odds are that I'll just keep my set sealed for now.

1992 Manning 1919 Black Sox Reprint Set

My buddy had a ton of these sets, so I took three.  Up until recently... I had never seen these before, but if you're interested... I found a nice write-up over at Pack Addict.

1994 Post Sets

And wrapping things up are these three sets of 1994 Post Cereal.  These cards were originally issued in three card cellophane packs inserted into specially marked boxes of Post cereal.  I've always been a fan of oddballs, but do I really need three of these sets?  Probably not.  That's why I'll be giving the extra sets away in a future contest.

In the end, I'm pretty sure I got the short end of the stick in terms of monetary value.  But I'm okay with that.  My buddy makes a living off of selling memorabilia and I don't.  And in the end, I was able to get rid of stuff that doesn't fit my collection, while boosting a couple of my PC's and finding a pair of items to giveaway all of you who support my blog.

Stay tuned.  In my next post, I'll show off some of the goodies I picked up with the money I earned from my flea market profits.

Until then... happy Monday and sayonara!

Help Me Fellow Bloggers... You're My Only Hope!

Last Saturday, I purchased a 5000ct. box of cards at the Ohlone College Flea Market for $20.  It was full of low end inserts and parallels, along with a ton of base cards.  But one product caught my attention, so I reached into my wallet and paid the man.

Later in the day, I spent that afternoon sifting through the box, enjoying my purchase, and attempting to build the 2004 UD Legends Timeless Teams set.

The previous owner must have busted a box, because he left two autographs and an expired redemption card for a Luis Tiant autograph.  But that's only the beginning.

Within the box I found 244 out of the 300 cards in the set... which leaves me with 56 cards short of the base set.

That's where you guys come in.  Is anyone else building this set?  If so, I have over 100 doubles available for trade.  Maybe we can help each other out.

Well... that's it for now.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Seals, Stamps, and Signatures

I've never watched a single California Golden Seals game in my life.  In fact, I know barely anything about them.  Can I name any of their coaches?  Don't be ridiculous.  Their all-time leading scorer?  No way.  What about one player... any player?  Nope.

But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to learn.  I love hockey.  And the Seals are a huge part of Bay Area sports history.  That's why I decided to start collecting their stuff about six months ago.  And thanks to the generous Mr. Hoyle my collection has recently quadrupled in size.

Check out what he sent last week...

1971/72 Topps California Golden Seals

1972/73 Topps California Golden Seals Set

193/74 Topps California Golden Seals Set

1974/75 Topps California Golden Seals Set

But that's not all.  He also sent me this pair of Oakland Athletics:

1969 MLB PhotoStamp #91 and 1974 Topps Stamps #222

Oddballs are cool.  Vintage cards are cooler.  But vintage oddballs are the coolest.

Thanks Mr. Hoyle!  I should have some Red Sox cards in the mail within the next week or so.

Extra Innings

In addition to Mr. Hoyle's package... I also received some cards from Brett over at Card Collectors World Forums.  He contacted me last month and asked if I collect autographs of former San Diego Padres.

Earlier in the week... he sent me these:

Jared Baker was drafted by the Padres in the third round of the 1992 MLB Amateur Draft, but never made it to The Big Show.

On the other hand, Scott Hairston has played eleven seasons in the MLB... four of which were with the Padres.  In fact, his best years were arguably played in San Diego.

He also sent me a handful of San Jose Sharks cards... and this dual memorabilia card:

At first I struggled to figure out how this card fits into my PC.  I'm not a fan of the Canucks or Blackhawks.  Neither are known enforcers.  But upon closer examination... I discovered that the bottom right corner was dinged.  So I'm guessing that this was intended to be my Damaged Card PC's newest addition.

Thanks Brett!

Okay... it's time to get ready for dinner.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #60: A Pair of Collections

This weekend I discovered that going to the flea market right after making an ATM withdrawal is not the wisest choice for someone like me.  As soon as I encountered vendors with sports memorabilia... I felt like my last name was Rockefeller and I was king of the world.  In short... I went on a shopping spree.

When:  Saturday, April 12th
Where:  Ohlone College Flea Market
What:  A Card Collection + Random Stuff
How Much?:  $40

Purchase #1:  A Sports Card Collection $20

Within five minutes of my arrival, I found a guy with a bunch of random sets.  In addition to the sets, he had two big boxes of sports cards.  One of them was an old toaster oven box with cards thrown into it.  The other was this 5000ct. box:

I sifted through the box and discovered a bunch of random baseball, basketball, football, and racing cards that included some cheap parallels and inserts.  But it was the several stacks of 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams that I mainly wanted.  I offered the guy $20 for the box and a set of 1986 Donruss Highlights, which he accepted without hesitation.

I'll give you a little more details on this box tomorrow or Saturday.

Purchase #2:  2012 Coco Crisp Chia Pet SGA $5

I've wanted one of these for awhile now and I'm stoked to finally own it.  Unfortunately, it didn't come with the seeds... but thanks to Amazon Prime, everything I needed to start growing Coco some hair arrived by Monday afternoon.  Stay tuned.  I'm going to start a little science project and will keep all of you in the loop.


Purchase #3:  Vintage Sport Magazines $10

Sport Magazine (September 1948)

Sport Magazine (October 1952)

I really love vintage magazines... especially when they feature hall of famers on the cover.  They're not in great condition, but they're over sixty years old and were reasonably priced.


Purchase #4:  Vintage Star Wars Action Figures $5

I was collecting Star Wars figures long before I started collecting cards.  I found this bag sitting on a table when a lady pointed out that they were all original from the 70's.  She also mentioned that each figure was complete with the exception of Obi-Wan's plastic cape.  Best of all... these figures are stiff and probably were only played with a handful of times.

With these five figures, I now have almost twenty vintage figures in my collection.

That wraps up day #1 at the flea market.  I almost skipped the flea market on Sunday because I was so tired.  But I forced myself to get out of bed, get some fresh air, and of course spend more money.

When:  Sunday, April 13th

Where:  Capitol Flea Market

What:  Another Collection

How Much?:  $60

Purchase #1:  Trading Card Collection  $13 + $80 + $7 - $40

It's that time of the year when people are cleaning out their closets and dumping their junk at the flea market.  In other words... it's a collector's dream.

I purchased all of these cards from one vendor who was dumping a bunch of collectibles that included hundreds of Kenner SLU's, sports magazines, unopened wax boxes, and boxes upon boxes of cards.  Actually this is a combination of three separate purchases and a sale that helped recoup some of my cash.

It started with me buying the green box above that included over 80 autographs and memorabilia cards. As I sifted through the box, a guy kept looking over my shoulder to see what I was looking at.  Eventually he moved on and started looking at other things the vendor had for sale.  After a few minutes of negotiations... I ended up grabbing the whole box for $80.

I also picked up a box of 1993 Flair Baseball and a 1993 Topps Traded Set for $13.

And last, but not least... I emptied my wallet and gave the guy my last $7 for a huge stack of comic card holograms from the early 90's.

In all... I spent $100 at the guy's booth.

I loaded up my backpack and started walking away when the weird guy who kept asking me about the cards approached me and asked if I was interested in selling him the box.  I told him that there were a bunch of cards that I wanted to keep, but offered to sell him everything else for a fair price.

Here's what I kept:

The guy ended up giving me $40 for a bunch of autographs and memorabilia cards, including a few multi-colored patches and an autographed printing plate of some basketball player.

I spent way over my budget this weekend, so I'm in the process of recouping more of my money from the comic cards... but I'll save that for another post.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!