30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Flea Market Finds #91: Third Time's the Charm

Where:  Capitol Flea Market
When:  Sunday, August 9th
What:  Baseball Card Boxes, a Bobble, and another LP
How Much?:  $28

I attended three more flea markets last week, but on Thursday... I struck out.  Saturday.  Nada.  And on Sunday, I almost took the day off and slept in.  However... my desire to get as many steps as I can on my Fitbit inspired me to crawl out of bed and walk around the Capitol Flea Market.  It paid off.  I guess the third time's the charm.

I'm always hoping to find the guy who wants to dump a bunch of cards they purchased in the late 80's and early 90's.  Not the guy who thinks his 1987 Topps Barry Larkin should be worth $20, because he's a hall of famer.  Nope.  I'm looking for the guy who understand the term "Junk Wax Era" and just wants to get rid of everything that reminds him of that part of his life.

And guess what... I found him and I owe it all to my overpriced pedometer.

Purchase #1:  Three Boxes of 1993 Score Baseball $25


Whenever I see people with wax boxes, I'll usually stop by to see what they have... even when I automatically recognize the multiple boxes of 1988 Topps and 1990 Donruss baseball sitting on their table.  Why?  Well... because I will pretty much buy any wax box if the price is right.

Unfortunately... $10 per box wasn't the price I was looking to pay.  I was just about to continue on my way when I noticed a box that I didn't recognize, so I stopped.

Back in 1993, I was on a break from the hobby and didn't really buy too many cards.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never opened a pack of 1993 Score in my life.  Hence when I saw these, I didn't recognize them.

But thanks to smart phones and the internet, I quickly learned that these boxes actually still command a decent dime... ranging from around $20 to $45 each on eBay for full boxes.  You gotta love the impact Jeter has on our hobby.

The vendor offered me all three of his boxes for $25, which I thought was a fair price, so I took it.


Purchase #2:  Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti LP $1


To be honest... I'm not a huge Led Zeppelin fan, but ever since I watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I've loved "Kashmir".



Plus... the album cover is cool and for a buck, it's a nice addition to my growing LP collection.


Purchase #3:  2014 Dick Vermeil Bobble Head $2


There have been three SJSU bobble heads that I've been looking for: The Spartan, Bill Walsh, and Dick Vermeil.  I've never seen The Spartan or the Walsh at the flea market... and I've only seen the Vermeil twice.  Both times the vendor's prices were out of my bobble range.  But I guess... the third time's the charm.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

5 comments:

capewood said...

1993 Score is not my favorite but I probably would have jumped at 3 boxes for $25. I didn't buy much of it new. I'd have also gone for the Vermeil, remembering him from his Eagles coaching days.

Nick said...

I laughed just thinking about that Fast Times at Ridgemont High clip. (And I'm super jealous of those '93 Score boxes.)

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered about that scene in Fast Times... "Put on side one of Led Zep IV", he's told... and then you see him playing a song off of Physical Graffiti. I've never quite been sure if that was part of the joke ("Dumbass has the wrong album!"), or just an error in the movie. I'd like to go with "joke", but I can never be sure...

The vinyl copy of the album is easily worth the $1 just for the cover (assuming yours had the die-cut windows in the outer cover).

BobWalkthePlank said...

I think 3 for $25 was fair.

You have quite the bobble head collection my friend. Do you try to flip them when you set up at a flea market?

Fuji said...

capewood - i totally remember vermeil from his days with the eagles and rams. i just flipped through his wikipedia page and it looks like he never even coached for the spartans. he played qb for them in the 50's though. funny that they chose to have him represented as a coach wearing an sjsu shirt on the bobble.

nick - i haven't seen it in years, but i still consider it one of my all-time favorite comedies. the day i watched phoebe cates come out of the pool was the day i entered adolescence.

shlabotnikreport - i didn't actually catch that until i watched that clip on youtube a few days ago. before this movie came out... i couldn't even name a led zeppelin song. yeah... it has the die-cut windows and even included a few different sleeves so you could display it with different pictures in the windows.

matthew scott - i have a few that i've considered flipping. off the top of my head i have a larry walker and a dan marino that i'll probably sell one day. but so far, i don't think i've ever sold a bobble at the flea market. most of my bobbles are displayed in my office.