Flea Market Finds #107: Dollar Deals

One of my favorite kinds of flea market vendors is a person who is cleaning out their garage, because if you find the right one... they're just happy to get something in return for what they deem to be junk.

That's what happened when I stumbled across a family a few weekends ago at the Capitol Flea Market.  They had a couple of tables and a giant blue tarp laid out on the ground with a ton of sports memorabilia and kids toys from the late 90's/early 2000's.  There were a few things that I thought were cool, but since I'm limited on storage... I didn't bother asking for prices.

Purchase #1:  Rawlings Ken Griffey Jr. Miniature Glove $1

Then I saw this miniature replica of Griffey's glove.  It looked pretty cool and for the right price, I would be interested.

One dollar was definitely the right price.  I probably would have given him up to three bucks.  It'll look good in my office and it's the perfect size to display an autographed Griffey ball.  

Now I just need the ball.


Purchase #2:  1999 White Rose Collectibles Padres Diecast Car $1

I immediately pulled my dollar out of my pocket when the guy said he'd take a buck for the glove.

Have any of you been in a situation where you just want to hurry up and make the cash transaction, before the vendor changes their mind on the price?

That was one of those moments.  As soon as I threw the glove into my backpack, I stayed and looked at the rest of the stuff they had for sale.  The kids were selling Pokemon cards , some McDonalds toys, and old clothes.  The wife seemed to be in charge of the household items like the blender and vase she sold while I was standing around.

The father and I started talking about baseball and the Oakland A's.  He told me I could have this seat cushion celebrating the 1972, 1973, and 1974 World Series Championships.  The valve stem is broken, so it can't be blown up anymore.  Normally, I wouldn't take someone's broken garbage, but it's a cool piece of memorabilia and I figured I could hang it up in my office or something.

Anyways... I kinda felt like obligated to make another purchase since this guy was being so cool.  That's when I saw this Tony Gwynn card with a San Diego Padres die cast truck.  The front of the card is identical to the pack pulled Fleer Tradition card.  However the backs are slightly different:

The White Rose version features a different card number and if you look at the bottom left corner, they included their company's logo.  For that reason alone... this purchase was well worth the one dollar asking price.

Purchase #3:  Hey Jude LP $1

The final item I purchased from the family was this Beatles album.  The cover is kind of beat up and the record has some scratches, but for a dollar I felt it was worth it.  Actually the guy told me I could take two albums for a buck, but there really wasn't anything else I wanted.

The rest of the flea market was pretty uneventful.  The Capitol Flea Market has been getting progressively worse in terms of actually finding quality finds.  I've gone three weeks in a row and outside of a bag of pistachios... these four items are the only thing I've walked away with.

Being the middle of summer, I'll continue going on a weekly basis.  Worst case scenario... I'm getting some exercise.  However... I can already see myself sleeping in on Sunday mornings as soon as it starts getting cold.

Well... that's it for now.  It's the final week of summer school... which means I'll have some time to finally work on blogger care packages.  Stay tuned... I'll post an update as soon as they're built.  Have a great week.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!