Before this past Saturday... it had been 546 days since I last walked around a flea market and purchased some cards. Obviously... a lot has changed over that time. I thought about listing some things, but honestly... it was a little depressing.
Instead... I wanted to keep this post positive and focus on my first trip back to the Branham Flea Market in nearly 18 months. One look at the photo above reveals that over 50% of the spots were vacant, but the good news is the high school is hosting flea markets again and there were three vendors with cards.
The bad news is that prices are pretty inflated right now, so I only made one purchase. But one is better than none.
Purchase #1: Sports Cards $1
On the right side of the above photo, you'll see a guy with some Wheaties cereal boxes. He's a regular who I've purchased cards from on numerous occasions. In the past, I've referred to him as Box Bottom Guy.
He had several boxes of cards that were marked at 25¢ to 50¢ each. As I was digging he told me they were five for a buck, so I purchased these five...
1997 Donruss Limited #53
There were a bunch of Hideo Nomo cards, but I had no idea if I needed them or not. I pulled this one aside, because I didn't recognize this card. Luck was on my side, because when I got home I discovered I needed this card.
1995 Zenith #149
My favorite card in the stack was this rookie card of Andy Van Slyke:
He might not be a household name, but if you followed baseball back in the late 80's or early 90's, then I'm sure you recognize this 3x NL All-Star.
Collecting promo cards have been a side PC for over a decade. I don't remember seeing this one, but haven't had time to check my promo card box.
Actually I had pulled out eight cards, so I needed to trim the fat and get the stack down to five cards. I opted for this Montreal Expos insert to represent the fifth and final card. It's all about that Dufex technology.
1984 Donruss #83
2008 Rittenhouse WNBA Promo #P1
1996 Zenith Mozaics #17
My friend Tony also brought out cards, but he's currently taking advantage of the 2020-21 Hobby Boom and doesn't have any bargain priced cards. I can respect that. These people have to strike while the iron is hot. Although based on my recent eBay sales... things seem to be cooling off quite a bit.
The last guy with cards had some 90's sets. One of them was a 1994 Stadium Club Member's Only box set that was shrink wrapped. He was asking $30, which seemed fair considering one closed on eBay back in April for $74 + shipping. The pre-lockdown collector in me would have grabbed it, but I'm starting to realize I don't need to buy one of everything.
In fact... I currently have several stacks of cards sitting in my office that need to be organized, scanned, written about, and put away. Some are from care packages. Others are from my card show haul that took place a few weeks ago. Plus... there's my recently arrived COMC package. I will be sprinkling cards from each of these stacks into blog posts over the next month or so.
Today, I figured I'd wrap up this post with two Montreal Expos cards from the COMC order which pair well with the 90's insert I picked up at the flea market...
2002 Topps Chrome Refractor #T109
I'm not the kind of guy who typically searches for Montreal Expos inserts or parallels on COMC (well at least not anymore), so I'm guessing these were blog inspired purchases. Unfortunately... if that's the case... I can't remember when or who to give credit to.
1997 Bowman Chrome Scout's Honor Roll Refractor #SHR3R
However thanks to the great bookkeeping at COMC, I can tell you that I spent $1.68 on the Frank Robinson and $2.17 on the Vladimir Guerrero. No exactly the quarter bin prices I'd like to pay... but these were purchased during the 2020-21 Hobby Boom when discounted cards were more difficult to track down.
I'm not complaining though. My COMC order arrived on schedule (I had to pay $16.49 for Economy Rushed). I've got plenty of blog material sitting on my desk. There are still four weeks left in my summer break. And one of my favorite flea markets is back in session.
Vendors and bargains were scarce... but there was plenty of fresh air for everyone.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
12 comments:
glad you were able to get out and about. you can always take that extra Nomo and start a bubble gum collection. :)
Cool you got back out there. Good luck!
Super jealous and glad you got back out there!!
Anyone who doesn't know who Andy VanSlyke is needs to go back to baseball class.
Think I need that Nomo Limited card, gonna have to check the binders.
I dream of visiting a flea market like this and flipping through boxes of cards.
The Van Slyke is a nice card, and the Expos Mozaics insert really caught my eye. I like the Robinson refractor, too.
It's very telling that COMC's months-long backlog suddenly disappears if you pay them enough. But I'm happy you got your cards!
I'm thankful that my flea market vendors haven't succumbed to the hobby boom pricing (yet). But I don't know how long that's gonna last. That Mozaics card is really spiffy, don't think I've ever seen one of those before!
Mosaics card is awesome! Glad you were able to make your return to a flea market
Love the top 3 cards in this post. During the pandemic, I have spent a lot of time sorting back through my 1990s cards. Not a Dodgers fan, but guys like Nomo bring back good memories. The Van Slyke card is cool too, although I like the action shot on his Topps rookie card a little more. Great haul, glad you got back to the flea market.
Can't wait to hit a flea market or card show. That WNBA promo is sweet.
Yes, the Mosaics cards are really cool, but the card that most caught my eye in this post was the Frank Robinson refractor. Awesome!
johnnys trading spot - i have enough collections already. but if bob (or any other bubble gum collectors) need it, just leave a comment and i'll pwe it to them.
the lost collector - didn't buy a lot of stuff, but it was nice to get back out there.
sumomenkoman - next time you come up for a show, we'll have to try to do a flea market too.
night owl - he's definitely not a common. but i'm not sure your average 15 year old baseball fan knows him. that being said... i just happened to be listening to a podcast last night and they talked about him.
jongudmund - flea markets are fun. and not just for baseball cards. it's entertaining to see what people are trying to get rid of.
chris - i don't think i'll be buying much on comc in the near future. the idea of having to wait months to get my cards (if you're not willing to pay $16 for shipping) isn't very appealing
nick - you're lucky. two out of the three dealers definitely raised their prices. the third one (with the stadium club set) was just one of those guys who thought his sets were worth a lot of money to begin with
matt - yeah... i'll have to see if i have the a's and padres mosaics in my collection.
the snorting bull - nomo is like fernando. both of those dodgers filled baseball with happy, positive memories. i think the only van slyke rookie i need still is his topps. actually... i have him in a set, but not for my binder
bulldog - hopefully this new variant doesn't halt our country again. starting to worry that my favorite flea market (at the community college) might not open until 2022. as for the wnba promo... i was excited to see that sitting in the box.
the diamond king - yeah. that frank robinson refractor is beautiful. it's so shiny.
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