Card Show Chronicles: Serramonte Mall Show

Yesterday, I attended the Serramonte Mall Sports Cards, Toys, and Collectibles Show.  It's my favorite show of the year, because it has a little bit of everything.  But if you know me well enough, then you probably know that my favorite thing to dig through are dime boxes and quarter bins.

Purchase #1:  380 Sports Cards $38

The first thing I did was look for my favorite vendor, who unfortunately didn't set up this time.  However, I found another guy with tons of dime boxes and spent close to three hours standing around his tables.  I would have stayed longer, but my legs were too sore.  When I was finished there were 380 inserts, rookies, parallels, promos, and vintage cards stuffed into the 550 count box I brought:

This purchase added cards to a bunch of different collections.  To save time, I scanned a few cards to show you the diversity:

After that I went back to my buddy's table and hung out with him for a little bit before venturing out again.


Purchase #2:  1982 San Diego Padres Media Guide $1

Another vendor I usually buy stuff from was dumping a bunch of stuff at ridiculous prices.  He had several dollar boxes with pretty cool sports memorabilia.  That's where I found this media guide that actually contains some information on Tony Gwynn prior to his rookie season.  It's a nice addition to my San Diego Padres PC.


Purchase #3:  1995 Denny's Hologram Set $2

I also grabbed this set off of his table.  I'm not sure if I have it already, but I'm a sucker for cheap oddball sets.  If you like that sort of stuff too... stay tuned, because there's more to come.


Purchase #4: 1993 Toys R' Us Set and Five 1996 Denny's Hologram Sets $5

This guy who regularly sets up at the De Anza Flea Market was there too and he always takes care of me when it comes to cheap 90's cardboard.  I immediately noticed the Denny's sets and was going to offer him $2 for one of them.  He told me if I bought all of them, I could have them for 75¢ each.  I asked if he'd throw in the Toys R' Us set for an even $5 and he said "deal".

But I wasn't finished at his table.  He too had cheap cards for me to dig through.


Purchase #5: 70 Sports Cards $5

Only this time they were cheaper than a dime.  His box was marked 14 cards for $1, so I grabbed $5 worth.  Same story as the dime boxes above...

I don't have time to scan everything, but here's a sampling of some of the new cards added to my PC's.

My final four purchases took place at my good buddy Mike's table.  He's the guy I grab Shark's autographs with... and the same person I set up at the flea market with.  He rents out some of his space at Serramonte to two other guys:  Ben and Tony.


Purchase #6:  5 Sports Cards $5

I was bored waiting around, so I started digging through Tony's boxes.  His stuff was broken down into two categories:  $1 and $2 cards.  He told me he'd take 50% off his price, so I pulled these five cards out of his $2 bin.  I'm pretty sure that's my first Lacy rookie card and I'll buy Malkin and Bonds memorabilia cards for a dollar any day of the week.


Purchase #7:  15 Sports Cards $5

When I was finished with his $2 bin, I started into his $1 cards.  When the dust settled, the sale averaged out to 3 cards for a buck.  Nothing earth shattering, but a few new rookie cards for my collection.

Purchase #8:  1997/98 SPx Basketball Set $10

I almost went home without these final two purchases, because neither one of us wanted to budge in terms of pricing.  Ben didn't really want to sell me this set for this price and I had no intention of paying more than $10 for a set that I really don't need.  Plus I was running low on funds after a long day and just wanted to go home.

But at the last second, we created a package deal that included a Pablo Sandoval autograph I wanted and the rest is history.


Purchase #9:  2009 Sweet Spot Pablo Sandoval Autograph $10

What can I say?  I'm a fan of fat guys who can hit for contact.

Sorry about the timing of this post.  Normally, I wouldn't publish a post this late on a Sunday evening, but I spent most of the afternoon organizing my binders after these purchases.

Stay tuned, because I'll be having a contest in the next week or so for some of my extra inserts and one of my Denny's hologram sets.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Extra Edition

Oh!  One more thing.  I also completed a trade at the show.  Last July, I met a guy at the show who takes the time to read my blog and he sold me a bunch of cool stuff for my A's collection.  Anyways, he's a collector of Topps 206 minis and needed the Thurman Munson I pulled from my Black Friday box.  He gave me this 1975 Topps mini of Munson:

And in return, I'll be sending him his Munson either tomorrow or Tuesday.  Thanks for the trade James!