30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Flea Market Finds #14

When: Saturday, November 5th
Where: De Anza Flea Market
What: 1988 Topps Big Wax Box, a 1988 Topps Big Set, & a 1989 Classic Baseball Board Game
How Much: $1

Yesterday's journey to the flea market started way earlier than normal... 5:36am to be exact. That's when my friend picked me up to go to the flea market. Why so early, you ask?

Well... yesterday we went to the flea market as vendors, instead of as prospective buyers. My friend, Fire Ant (who wants to remain anonymous, yet at the same time have a cute nickname), got rid of some of her old books...


While her sister, Secret Squirrel, sold her beautiful, homemade greeting cards...


I... of course... dumped unwanted sports cards that were cluttering up my garage...


After freezing our tails off for eight hours, the two ladies came to the conclusion that this experience was an epic waste of time. Both made enough to cover our spot, which was $30 ($10 a piece). However... in the end, neither felt it was worth their time.

On the other hand... I had a blast. The guy next to us was a sports memorabilia dealer, who turned out to be mutual friends with my buddy Mike (the guy I go autograph hunting with). We talked about sports & cards, which was nice, since the two ladies I was with could care less about cardboard.

Speaking of cardboard... here's a summary of what I was able to dump:

1987 Topps baseball set (hand collated) $10
1988 Topps baseball set (hand collated) $5
1991 Leaf Series 1 baseball wax box $5
1990 Score Series 1 football wax box $5
1990 Score Series 2 football wax box $5
1990 Score football set (opened factory) $5

Plus... on Friday night, I spent a few hours putting a bunch of star base cards into used top loaders that I didn't want anymore... and inserted a bunch of minor stars from local teams (49ers, Raiders, Warriors, Sharks, A's, & Giants) into penny sleeves.

I priced the top loaded stars @ $.50 each or 3 for $1 and sold the penny sleeved singles for $.20 each or 7 for $1.

I'm not sure exactly how much I made, but it was enough to buy everyone lunch, pay for the spot, plus leave me with a small wad of cash.

And you know the formula...

Cash + Flea Market = More Garbage

After a long, cold day at work... here what I ended up bringing home:

11 used DVD's $13
some magazine boards $12
a pair of cashmere scarves (lol... not for me) $20
3 sports posters $3

I also came across a guy who was cleaning out his collection. Most of the stuff was picked through, but I ended up spending $8 on the following items:

1988 Topps Big Series 2 Baseball Wax Box $1


I know this stuff is the epitome of "junk wax", but thirty-six packs for a buck made it impossible to pass up.

1988 Topps Big Baseball Set (Series 1, 2, & 3) $1


Yep, same product as above... but this time it's a complete set of all three series. Once again, I know it's junk wax... but I figure for the price... I had to buy it. Worse case scenario... I sell them next month for $5 each.

1989 Classic Baseball Board Games $6


Anyone else remember these board games? It features a 100 card set and includes a rookie year card of future HOFer... Randy Johnson.

I worked at a shop back in the day that sold these for over $30. There haven't been any recent sales on eBay, but there are a bunch of these listed in the $15 to $25 range. I picked up two of them at three bucks a pop.

I turned around and sold one for $7, which is why the wax box, set, and other board game only cost me a buck in the end.

Okay... time to get my game face on... because NFL action is about to start any minute now. But before I head out, let's check in with a mid-season report on the only two teams that really count on this blog: the Seattle Seahawks & the Green Bay Packers.

I'll try to keep this sweet and simple... the Seahawks suck and the Packers don't. In September, I picked the Packers to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI and I'm sticking to it. What about you?

Who do you think is headed to the Super Bowl?

And who is going to win it all?

Happy Sunday everyone... Go Hawks & Packers! Sayonara.

NaBlo WriMo daily total: 777 words
November Total: 1,606 words

6 comments:

Anthony Hughes said...

Before start of season, I picked Atlanta vs. Steelers, with Pittsburgh winning. I'm not so sure on Falcons anymore, but I'll stick with it...

Offy said...

When I had my big oddball junk wax splurge from Dave and Adam's, I opened a ton of boxes of Big Baseball. Fun stuff. I think every box produced a complete set except for one.

I used to be a huge fan of all things Classic. Some of those singles used to go for huge money. I enjoyed the trivia questions on the backs of the cards. I still have a good amount of the cards and pick up the sets cheaply when I can.

Anonymous said...

Curious to know: What 11 DVDs did you get for $13?

Anonymous said...

Packers vs. Steelers again. Steelers on top. Boom.

Fuji said...

reivax - looks like both of our afc teams took a step back, but our nfc picks made us look good. the falcons offense should get a boost with jones back in the lineup.

offy - it's tempting to open the box up, just for entertainment purposes... but i already have two complete sets, so i'll probably flip it at the next flea market i set up at.

thorzul - you ask and you shall receive... here's the list:

elf
because of winn-dixie
we are marshall
the brothers grimm
invincible
eight below
batman begins
300
the game plan
bad news bears (billy bob version)
without a paddle

g - tough loss for your steelers... the packers almost suffered an epic collapse of their own. thankfully they pulled it out for their 8th win of the season.

Play at the Plate said...

Packers vs...does it matter?