30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Saturday Night Five: Card Show Pickups

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, jumped into the shower, threw on some comfortable shoes, grabbed me some Starbucks, and drove a little under an hour up the San Francisco Peninsula to attend my first card show of the year at the Serramonte Center in Daly City.

Outside of meeting up with some friends and talking shop, I pretty much walked into the show with two things on my mind:

#1:  Find a 1973 or 1974 Topps Baseball Card Set
#2:  Avoid Dime Boxes

I managed to fail twice.  The guy I've purchased vintage sets from in the past wasn't at the show.  And I stumbled upon some really nice dime boxes that were loaded with tons of cool cards for my collection (and some of yours).  However... I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I just picked a few of my favorites to share tonight.


#1:  1988 JALFCO Johnston Cookies Reprint #5  10¢


Reprint or not... this card is beautiful and well worth the ten pennies I spent on it.


#2:  2010 Topps (Legends Variation) #489  10¢


I recently left comments on a couple of blogs in regards to these particular variations in the 2010 Topps set.  The variations are easy to spot, because they're all legends... which is why I had no problems with pulling this card out of the dime box.


#3:  1974 Topps #333  10¢


There weren't a ton of vintage cards in these particular dime boxes, but I managed to scoop up a few hall of famers including this one featuring two guys who made it into Cooperstown on their first ballot.

The other two cards I'll share were a little pricier.  Right next to the guy with dime boxes, there was a gentleman with autographs and memorabilia cards for two bucks each.  I ended up grabbing eleven for $20.


#4:  2012 Finest UFC Finest Moments Autographs #FMDC  $1.82


I've been thinking about starting a Daniel Cormier collection for awhile now.  He's the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and he trains right down the street from me at AKA in San Jose.


#5: 2006 Flair Showcase Fresh Ink #FI-AG  $1.82


There's a good chance that one day Mr. Gates will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which means that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab his signature for less than $2.


I'm sure I'll eventually show off more of my purchases in future posts.  However... I wanted to wrap things up by saying thanks to Brady over at St. Louis Cardinals' Cardboard for this huge box of cards:


There were a ton of goodies... but here are a few of my favorites:


Unfortunately... I ran out of my house this morning without this grocery bag filled with Cardinals stuff for Brady's collection.


Sorry Brady!  I totally dropped the ball.  I'll make sure to bring it out to TriStar in a few months.  It was great to see you and catch up.  You too Mr. Haverkamp!

Well... it's way past my bedtime.  I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

12 comments:

  1. Man, I wished I had shows or flea markets to pick up the cool stuff you find.

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  2. Wow 2 bucks for a Gates auto is fantastic.

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  3. Avoid dime boxes? Never! I have yet to find a Legends SP in a dime box, you definitely scored there.

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  4. Wow - good thing you didn't avoid those dime boxes!

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  5. As they say, leave-em wanting more. Love the Campy.

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  6. A dime for a Campy? Well spent 10 cents.

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  7. Put me in the Campy camp as well. And the Carew/Morgan is another gem. At least you got something from 74 Topps, even if its far less than what you planned.

    Don't avoid dime boxes. Dime boxes are your friend. And for those of us who cant go to shows, we have to live vicariously through the blogosphere.

    Cant wait to see what else you got!

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  8. Good stuff--and I hope you put on more than comfortable shoes

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  9. I am glad I could see you on Saturday-nice to chat and flip through cheap autos-good to see Mr. haverkamp too

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  10. Send me to these shows where that Campy is a dime and Gates' autos can be had for two bucks. Sigh....

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  11. sport card collectors - there actually aren't a lot of quality card shows in my neck of the woods. serramonte is by far my favorite, but outside of one solid dime box, there wasn't much to look at

    john miller - yeah, i'll take those all day long

    matthew scott - yeah, i was happy to see that card sitting in that box. tight ends don't always get the spotlight, but gates has slowly accumulated solid numbers over the years.

    cardboard jones - me too. i'm slowly acquiring them on the cheap. maybe when i get a little closer, i'll actually make the push to finish the legends set.

    nick - i know it sounds crazy, but i really need to cut back on accumulating cardboard due to lack of space and dime boxes are a big part of the problem

    tony burbs - yes and no (see my response to nick)

    hackenbush - me too. easily the highlight out of the dime box

    jedijeff - thank you sir

    chris - yes... dime boxes are my friend. unfortunately... they're the friend that always enables you to make poor choices. i really need to "just say no". seriously. but... i just can't seem to do it. maybe i need to start attending dime boxes anonymous.

    al kawamoto - oops. left out that i also wore shorts, socks, a shirt, some underwear, and a hoodie ;)

    b man - yeah it's always cool to stand next to friends and sort through cards. thanks again for the nice box of stuff.

    greg zakwin - those were both solid finds, but most of the stuff i found weren't in that league. most of it were cheap, overproduced inserts and parallels. stuff i've been finding in dime boxes for years now.

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