30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, April 17, 2014

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!

16 comments:

Mark Hoyle said...

I love the two mags.. Williams and DiMaggio. Wow!

Commishbob said...

You work those flea markets like my mother-in-law works the vendors in Mexico. She ends up with a bunch of stuff and more $$ than she went with.

I love the old Sport issues. I grew up reading that. Nicely done all around.

Dawgbones said...

I've been looking at that Halladay patch card for a few weeks now and just can't bring myself to pull the trigger yet! Nice!!

Hackenbush said...

Wow!

Play at the Plate said...

Love that you turned around the box so quick.

The Big Kahuna said...

Definitely some nice cards in that lot!

Fuji said...

Yeah... that was probably my favorite purchase. Both magazines are pretty beat up, but I can't complain for their age.

Fuji said...

It's one of those things... when it rains, it pours. I hadn't really had any major purchases for a while. Timing couldn't have been better, since I've stopped buying on COMC for the time being.

Fuji said...

It's available for trade. Lmk if you'd like to trade.

Fuji said...

Sorry... that's one of the cards that went straight into my PC. It's my first Matthews memorabilia card.

Fuji said...

The guy was pretty weird. Felt like I was being stalked, so I guess the least he could do is help me out. I actually gave him a really good deal so everyone won in that transaction.

BobWalkthePlank said...

Great finds Fuji!

Man said...

You shoulda been arrested for that steal! I always forget that Coco was a Cardinal who I think we sent over in the Mulder deal.

Ana Lu said...

What great finds! I don't know if I'd spend so much money in 1 round but buying here and there would make the same hit to the wallet so..you did well!

Jafronius said...

nice card pulls, but wait, what, a Coco Crisp Chia? Was that A's giveaway?

Fuji said...

Yeah. From 2012... I think.