Flea Market Finds #81: Cheap Vintage and Some Bobbles

When:  Sunday, April 19th
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  Sports Cards, Bobbles, and Nesting Dolls
How Much?:  $25

It's getting harder and harder to find guys with vintage sports cards at the flea market.  But yesterday, I just so happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Purchase #1:  Baseball and Football Cards $8

1958 Topps #88

I was flipping through this guy's crate of Kenner SLU's when he asked me if I collected baseball cards.

1960 Topps #1

He turned around and pulled out a small box of cards he had found in a storage locker.  There were a lot of cool cards ranging from late 50's vintage to mid 90's inserts.

1960 Topps #28

He told me that he didn't really know much about cards, so I told him that sites like eBay and COMC were good places to start.

1960 Topps #420

After a few minutes, he thanked me... but told me that he wasn't really comfortable with technology and encouraged me to buy them and flip them myself.  He offered me any card in the box for $2... but if I bought more, he'd give me a better deal.

1960 Topps #445

I started sifting through the box and ended up pulling out eight cards.  There were a few more cards that I was interested in, but by this time another guy was breathing down my neck... waiting for his turn to look through the box.

1964 Philadelphia #1

I'm one of those people who feels uncomfortable when my personal bubble is breached, so I grabbed the eight cards, slid over for the guy, and handed the singles to the vendor.

1971 Topps #5

I figured he'd knock off a dollar and sell me the stack for $15... which I would have gladly paid.

1986 Topps #275

But he ended up selling them to me for a buck a piece.  I thanked him for the awesome deal.

It's not very often I stumble across vintage hall of famers at that price.

Purchase #2: 2014 San Jose Earthquakes Russian Nesting Dolls SGA $1

These were given away at last year's California Clasico which featured the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The rivalry between these two teams continues to grow with each passing year.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend last year's game.  But I went to the 2013 game and it was probably the greatest sporting event I have ever attended.

Whether or not you're a soccer fan... if you have a few minutes to spare, I encourage you to check out the highlights from this game:

Truly an epic soccer game.


Purchase #3:  Oakland Athletics Bobbles $14

I actually own both of these bobble heads already, but the price was right and I figure they'll look nice in my classroom.

The one on the left looks like one of those old school bobbles, but it's actually one of the remakes produced in the early 2000's.

The Stomper bobble is hand painted and looks amazing.  Last month, there was an eBay auction for these two bobbles that sold for $61 (+ $8.50 shipping).

Purchase #4:  1993-94 Donruss Elite Series #10 $2

It seems absurd to pay two bucks for an insert serial numbered to 10,000, but if you collected hockey cards in the early to mid 90's... then you know why I couldn't pass up this card.  Back in the day, this was one of the nicest insert sets around and this Gretzky is a huge addition to my hockey card collection.

Overall... this is one of my most memorable trips to the flea market in the past year or so.  I wouldn't exactly say that the drought is over... but adding those vintage cards and the cool Gretzky insert is a nice place to start.

Happy Monday and sayonara!