It's Show Time!

It's official.  I'm addicted to cheap cards.  Seriously... it's a problem.

Ten days ago, I walked into the annual TRISTAR Sports Collectors Show with a plan:

#1:  Show some self-control and limit my dime box and dollar bin purchases.

#2:  Look for either a graded 1956 Topps hall of famer or a complete 1973 Topps baseball set.

Pretty simple and not too challenging, right?  Wrong.

My friends set up next to the guy from COMC, who happened to bring a boatload of shoeboxes and 5,000ct. boxes filled with dollar and dime cards.  It was almost as if the Cardboard Gods were testing me.  If they were, I failed miserably.


Purchase #1:  Dime Box Purchase  $10

If you're a 70's vintage guy who doesn't care too much about card condition, than this was the show for you.  The COMC guy had monster box after monster box filled with 70's baseball.  I saw multiple rows of 1971, 1972, and 1975 Topps baseball.

When I got there, three guys were sifting through them, so I skipped those boxes and targeted his other dime boxes:

I ended up grabbing 121 cards for $10, which is a little over 8¢ per card.  Eight cents for a 1984 Topps Traded Bret Saberhagen rookie card was hard to pass up.

Can you believe that back in 1990 this card sold for more than $20?  Talk about sports card depreciation.

However... that's nothing compared to this card:

I found this card, which I needed for my 1986 Donruss set sitting in the COMC guy's dollar bins.

Purchase #2:  Dollar Bin Purchase  $100

I probably should have started with these boxes, because they were loaded with all sorts of cool stuff.  Vintage.  Memorabilia cards.  Rookie cards.  Autographs.  Low numbered inserts and parallels.

One of my first finds was the 2006 Upper Deck Dustin Pedroia rookie card and after about an hour, I had pulled out 129 cards and 6 sets.  Here's a sampling of the stuff I found:

I was kind of shocked when we added up everything and was about to start putting cards back when he told me to take everything for $100.  That's about 75¢ per card.

After sifting through them at my house, I discovered that about half of the cards were damaged to some extent, which was kind of a bummer.  Oh well... you get what you pay for.

I'm still stoked that I found this minor league card of Edgar Martinez:

It wasn't the best deal in the purchase, but it's my second favorite card in the bunch right behind the Canseco, which as crazy as this sounds... actually booked for $100 back in 1990:

I realize that most people don't take Beckett's values seriously anymore, but back in the day... the card shop I worked at couldn't keep these in stock and routinely sold them for full Beckett value.

Based on percentage rather than actual value, can anyone think of other cards that have depreciated as much as or more than the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco?

Purchase #3:  Dime Packs  $5

There's nothing Earth shattering here, but for the price of a Whopper and some fries at Burger King, I was able to pick up 58 packs for a rainy day.  I'm mostly looking forward to the 1980 Topps Footballer cards, which I'll eventually share over on APTBNL.


Purchase #4:  8x10 Cards  $2

There are a number of you who don't like these oversized cards, but when it comes to my player collections, I'll take them... especially when they're 8 for $1.

My favorite?

I've always loved this action shot of Nomo... and the Dufex technology is a nice added touch.

Purchase #5:  Sets  $8

My first four purchases were made with the COMC guy.  This one came on the other side of the show, where there was a guy selling complete sets for a buck each.  He seemed motivated to dump his sets, so there's a good chance I could have gotten these cheaper.  But there's no need to haggle when you're already getting a good deal.

After eight hours of hanging out at the show, I dropped $125 on a ton of cards.  Unfortunately... I accomplished neither of my original card show goals.  I'm still debating whether or not it was worth it.  On one hand, I got a lot of cool stuff for myself and fellow bloggers.  On the other hand, $125 would have easily paid for a PSA 4 graded Willie Mays or Sandy Koufax without cluttering my office with stacks of cardboard.

Who would have thought that card collecting could create such first world problems?

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!