Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Flea Market Finds #176: Cards & Stuff


The third Saturday of the month means another trip to the Branham High School Flea Market.  On Saturday, I walked around... but this post isn't about that trip.  It's a recap from my purchases on June 21st.

There's a bunch of random stuff, so let's get to it...

Normally I usually hit up the regular card guy that sets up on the end of the parking lot, but he had a crowd of people around him.  So I skipped him and continued down the row.


Purchase #1A Roman Coin  $3

Inquisitive Minds: Coins of the Roman Empire

That's where I found this item on a table.  I'm guessing this was a family doing some summer cleaning, because they were very organized and had everything labeled with price tags.  I'm not really in the market for blenders or tools, but I have always wanted to own a Roman coin.  I'll definitely conduct the dig at some point... and share the results in a future post.


Purchase #2Lego Brickheadz  $5

I met a guy who is part of the Lego Ambassador Network, who receives free sets from Lego to review.  He ran out of space to display all of the sets, so he brought the excess stuff out to Branham.  His prices were really good, but I resisted the urge and bought the cheapest thing he had: a bag of Brickheads:

Lego #75317

I actually already own this set, but haven't built it.  Now that I own it, I probably will just give away the new set to my co-workers kids.

Lego #40630

The Mandalorian and Grogu will be displayed at home.  As for Frodo and Gollum, I'll take them into my classroom in a few weeks.


Purchase #370's & 80's Vinyl  $10

Not sure if the vinyl market is starting to cool off, but I've been able to find some good deals on albums from my childhood.  This guy had a bunch of them for $5 each, but I asked him if he'd take $10 for three and he accepted.

Here's what I grabbed:

Men at Work: Business As Usual (1981)

This album has some classics.  I memorized Down Under and Who Can It Be Now... which eventually became my go-to karaoke songBe Good Johnny was another favorite.

Pat Benatar:  Get Nervous (1982)

Pat Benatar is one of my favorite female artists... right up there with Stevie Nicks.  This was the first Benatar tape I ever owned and it contains my favorite song of hers:  Shadows of the Night.  I'm very happy to add the album to my collection.

Steve Miller Band:  Greatest Hits 1974-78

Grew up listening to my brother's copy of this album (which I inherited a few years ago).  It contains a ton of classics.  I added this to my stack, because the cover was in such good condition and the price was right.


Purchase #4aDollar Cards  $2

When I walked back down the first aisle, everyone who was hanging around the card guy cleared out.  I stood around and chatted with him, while digging through his boxes.

Here are a pair of dollar cards I grabbed:

1996-97 Finest Bronze Refractor #162

I will never pass up 90's refractors of stars for a buckOakley was part of those star studded New York Knicks teams of the early 90's.  The only downside to this card is the obvious "greening" that plagues 90's refractors.

2003 UD Authentics #102 (#'d 594/999)

The other card I grabbed was this numbered rookie card of Godzilla.  I was out of the hobby in 2003, but was still watching baseball.  Gotta imagine this card was a nice pull back in the day.


Purchase #4bCheap Bin Cards  $1

The vendor also had cheap bin.  He had all three of these cards marked at 50¢, but gave them to me for a buck:


These are the kind of cards I'd prefer to find in dime or quarter bins, but this guy has given me some good deals over the years.  I figured I should buy more than a pair of dollar cards.


Purchase #5Baseball Masks  $7

1990 MLB All-Star Masks: Hot Rookies

This book contains four masks that can be punched out and put together.  I should have done a little more research, but I saw the word "rookies" and Ken Griffey Jr.'s face and wanted it.


It ended up being manufactured in 1990, so it's not a rookie item.  Then again... even if it was... I doubt many collectors would care about these masks.


Purchase #6New Movies  $2

I've started stock piling new VHS tapes and DVD's of movies I love or ones I think I'd love.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

This is one of my all-time favorite movies.  I could watch it once every few years and not get bored with it.  I still own copies of my original VHS tape and DVD.  Now I have a sealed copy too.

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

I've never seen this movie, but I do own a collection of sports related VHS tapes.  This one has been added to it.

Well that wraps up another trip to the Branham Flea Market.  Like I mentioned earlier in the post, I just went again this past weekend.  I promise it won't take me a month to complete my write-up post this time around.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

11 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Good stuff Mark. That Steve Miller album has a ton of hits on it.

gregory said...

Steve Miller Band wins this one. Although that Winfield sticker is pretty great, too.

Jeremya1um said...

I loved Oakley. He was tough and always good at getting rebounds.

night owl said...

I did some shopping for old records at thrift stores this past weekend. Just bought one, but no need for me to buy the Men At Work or Pat Benatar LPs, I still have them from when I was a teen!

Dennis said...

Very cool flea market finds as always! The Legos are fun, more great albums, the book of masks is weird and interesting, and what a pair of movies.

Elliptical Man said...

Steve Miller Band wins it.
Hope you sing better than I do.

The Lost Collector said...

I wish I was collecting/buying packs when Matsui was an MLB rookie!

OhioTim said...

Shawshank was filmed at various locations including the prison all within a short drive of where I live. The prison offers tours and has many artifacts from the movie.

John Sharp said...

Jackie Robinson and the Steve Miller Bamd= a winning combination!

Jafronius said...

Nice finds! Did you hear that the Steve Miller Band canceled their tour due to weather? That seemed a little silly.

Fuji said...

johnnys trading spot - yup. grew up listening to all of them with my brothers.

gregory - always nice to see winfield wearing brown & gold

jeremya1um - yeah. i was always excited when those 90's knicks were on tv. they were so good. it's a shame they played in the jordan era. but at least oakley got a chance to play with jordan for a few years.

night owl - nice. which one did you buy? hope you blog about it. i didn't have the men at work and pat benatar albums, but i did own their cassette tapes.

dennis - i thought of you when i saw that book (because of abbott). let me know if you can use a copy for your michigan pc.

elliptical man - lol. probably not. but i was just singing rock'n me less than an hour ago

the lost collector - me too. i had been out of the hobby a couple of years at that point. i feel like when i returned in 2007/2008 his rookie cards were kind of expensive. glad they've settled in value over the years

ohiotim - very cool. i'd love to do that prison tour. such a great film

john sharp - i'll have to see if that jackie robinson movie is available to stream online. it's kinda cool that he plays himself in the movie.

jafronius - i didn't even know that they're still touring :D