On Saturday the weather was beautiful here in the Bay Area, so I set my alarm, woke up, and walked around the De Anza Flea Market. There weren't as many vendors as I had expected, but there were a few vendors with trading cards.
Purchase #1: Promo Card Collection $20
Last September, I purchase a collection of cards from a couple who were trying to dump their entire trading card inventory after being in business for over two decades. They were here again with only a fraction of the stuff I saw before and they were motivated to sell.
They had a 25¢ table, a $1 table, a $2 table, and a 75% off table.
He had four 3,200ct. boxes sitting on the 75% off table. Inside one of them was a row dedicated to promo cards and samples.
I've been a huge fan of promo cards since the 90's when they were included inside of magazines and card shops would hand them out to their customers. There were some pretty cool cards in the box, so I asked the guy if he'd give me a deal on the entire row. $20 later and the row of promos were mine.
There were over 250 different promo cards and you know that scanning cards isn't my favorite part of blogging, so here are a few that stood out to me:
1996 Zenith Championship Salute Promo #12
On Monday, Zippy served you up some faux wood. Here's a faux diamond for you.
1991-92 Conlon TSN Prototype #145
1992 Impel Marvel Universe 3 Prototype #1
1992 High 5 Prototype #NNO
It's a good day anytime I can add a new Gwynn card... I mean decal... to my collection.
I could spend another few hours scanning and cropping cards, but I won't. Instead, I'll wrap up this purchase with a non-promo card that somehow made it into the row:
1991 NetPro Legends #30
Never heard of Anne Smith, but according to the back of the card... she took home a few titles back in the early 80's. There's no telling whether or not this signature is real, but I can't imagine anyone going out of their way to forge her signature.
Purchase #2: Dollar Table Items $2
I also grabbed these two items off of the couple's dollar table. On the left is a 1991 Upper Deck Comic Ball 2 set with holograms. Once upon a time, I was trying to collect all four series and their holograms. If that ever happens, I'm 1/4th of the way there.
The 100ct. box on the right is filled with Fernando Valenzuela cards. I pulled these for my player insert, oddballs, and parallels binder:
Purchase #3: Kenner Starting Lineups $10
I've professed my love for Kenner Starting Lineups on multiple occasions. I've also explained to my readers why I don't buy them anymore. Simply put... they take up too much space.
When I saw these, I came close to walking away... but I just couldn't pass up this deal. To put things in perspective... I picked up the same Iverson figure back in January and paid $2 more than the price of these four figures combined.
Purchase #4: Sports Illustrated Classics Puzzle $3
This might just be the coolest puzzle I've ever seen. It's pure awesomeness! The only problem is that it's missing one piece. That's okay. I'm not sure if I'll ever put this puzzle together anyways. I am thinking about framing the cover of the box and hanging it up somewhere.
Well that's all folks. Nothing too epic, but this is only my second trip to the flea market in 2019. There's still plenty of time over the next few months to find some really cool items for the collection.
Until then...
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
23 comments:
Loving that Blue Ruth Conlon. Pretty sure I need it for Conlon Collection.
Promo cards rule! I always pick 'em up when I see them cheap.
Oooooh. Fernando! I am in great need of a 987 burger king Fernando card if you found one.
Plenty of cool cards especially the Allison. Good stuff. Fernando Mania baby!
Awww man Love SLU Pickups!! I still dont have that iverson and i love the old school baseball greats duals!!
I remember that Iverson selling for $50 a pop. I found mine on the shelves of Kay Bee.
Promo cards are always interesting to find. Some of them went for big bucks back in the day.
Would love to sift through the promos, and that puzzle is great!
Those are some great flea market finds! I don't even collect Starting Lineup, but it would be tough walking away from that Yaz/Aaron beauty...
Nice purchases! I really have to find a flea market around here...
One of my goals in life is to go to a flea market with you.
I need a flea market!! Do you have any Rodney Hamptons in those promo cards lol
johnnys trading spot - i've got good and bad news. bad news is the one in this post is part of my set. the good news is they're not expensive. pretty sure comc has them for under a buck.
nick - agree. at some point i need to catalog and put them into a binder
gcrl - sorry. there wasn't a burger king card in the box. mostly base, topps stickers, and fleer boxed sets. they'll be headed your way. if you don't need them just pass them along to other dodger fans
bulldog - yeah... i like the allison. i have a jerry rice promo card that also has a faux diamond in it
chris p - the iverson is cheap these days. you should be able to grab one for around $10 on ebay.. which is mostly shipping costs.
billy kingsley - yeah, that was an expensive pop at one point. they've lost their luster over the years though. maybe one day they'll become popular again
sumomenkoman - do you prefer non-sport, sports, or both? i have some doubles which i'll send your way.
gca - i spent over an hour sorting and transferring them into new penny sleeves. it was very entertaining. there were some star trek cards (not sure if they were promos though). if you don't mind a pwe, email me your address and i'll send the doubles your way.
matt - i was pretty shocked at the condition of these figures... especially the baseball greats. i don't think i've seen them in this nice shape before
gregory - honestly the ones in my area are really hit or miss. i used to go to the capitol flea market every sunday, but stopped because 50% of the time i came home with nothing. best of luck finding a flea market in your area. hope you find some nice treasures
the lost collector - if you're ever in the bay area, hit me up... and i'll give you a tour.
parts of my past - most of the promos were non-sports. there were a small handful of football, but none were rodney hampton.
I see some Star Trek promos there, so very nice get. Also, excellent SLUs...I bought the Ruth one and the Aaron pose is quite familiar (Dawson, Schmidt, and McGuire's pose, haha). I'd never buy two of the same one though.
I love that puzzle. I love the flea market posts you make on here. There is a big flea market on the state fairgrounds in Raleigh. I really want to go check out some tables, mainly based on your experiences, but I just never get around to going there. One day.
For a mere $3, that vintage puzzle is a steal and an excellent pick up. Looks like you did very well at the flea market.
Starting Lineups for the win!!!
Ooh... promos! I would have loved to have seen all of the non-sport cards that were in that box.
I found that puzzle in my flea market last summer!
jafronius - there were actually more st survey cards than promos. as for multiple... it's the bargain hunter in me. there were probably 40 different slus to choose from, but the iverson rookie piece was the one that gave me the best value ;)
the snorting bull - i've cut down on my flea market visits, because there's much more competition these days. but sometimes it's nice to get out there, walk around, get some fresh air, and hope you find a bargain or two
henry blanchette - i think it was cheap, b/c it's missing one piece. but i can live with that
big tone - glad there's at least a few bloggers out there who appreciate slus as much as i do
jon - it was about 70% non-sport. i'd review some of them on the blog, but honestly it's way too much work to have 10 people read it. lol. gotta stick to baseball ;)
baltmoss68 - nice. did you put it together?
No I don’t have a good way to display it so I kept it in the box. I like your frame idea
i collected lineups in the 90s but wouldn't open them! Now that time has rendered them somewhat worthless, I rip 'em! I pick up the Greats and Cooperstown figures anytime they're marked $5 or less. My little collection is growing. The drawback is keeping them dusted!
This might sound crazy... but I actually like the cards more than the figures. But I do keep figures in their packages if they're in really good condition.
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