Old Friends and New Additions

I'm caught up with my Flea Market Finds posts.  Now it's time to catch up with my card show hauls.  While I tend to splurge on a variety of purchases at the flea market, I'm much more selective when I shop at shows.

In fact, the only reason I attended the Santa Clara Card Show back in late June was to hang out with my buddy who was setting up at the show.  Walking in with Ben saved me the $10 admission fee... but things balanced out, because I still had to pay for parking ($10).

This show shares the same story I've read across a bunch of your blogs: some sports cards and lots of Pokemon.

I did find a few guys with quarter bins and dollar boxes, but I only made a purchase from one of them...

Purchase #1:  Quarter Bin  $2

I'll happily hand over a quarter for PCA rookie cards.  This guy is super fun to watch.

The other five cards are refractors for the binders.  Although I'm happy to add these to my collection, finding them for 25¢ is a sad reminder that Topps is flooding the hobby with these shiny parallels.  

Purchase #2:  The Greatest Auto  $200+

1992 Pro Line Portraits Autographs #NNO

This card is a huge addition to my autograph collection.  It has been on my radar since the 90's, but honestly I never thought I'd actually own a copy.  Then I saw it sitting in Ben's display case:

He had a $400 price tag, but told me I could have it for $350.  We worked out a deal where I traded him two display cases (from my card show days) and $200 cash.

This purchase had me floating like a butterfly... but stung (my wallet) like a bee.

Purchase #3:  Oversized Stuff  $5

1997-98 NBA Hoops Great Shots #13

One vendor had some oversized cards sitting in a box.  This Kobe poster caught my eye and lured me in.  But buried in the stack below was this hidden treasure: 

2006 Topps Allen and Ginter N43 Box Topper #N43-4

At the time, I just thought it was a cool card of one of the greatest hitters of all-time.

But in regards to value... this was the best deal of the day.

Freebie #1:  Oakland A's Lanyard

While walking around the show, I ran into some old friends I hadn't seen in a few years.  Some of you are familiar with my buddy Mike.  Anyways... he introduced me to Alfredo and his wife about a decade ago.  They were regular vendors at the Serramonte Mall shows.  However since Mike passed away, I hadn't seen them.

Well they were set up there and it very nice surprise.  We shared stories and caught up.  Anyways, I saw this lanyard and tried to buy it.  But they refused to take my money.

Purchase #4:  An Ohtani Rookie Card  $20

2018 Topps Now #678J

After hanging with Alfredo, I went back over to Ben's table to tell him I was going to head out.  Saw this Ohtani in his display case and grabbed it. 

I'm not actively chasing all of Ohtani's Topps Now cards, but the "kanji" was interesting.

Well... that wraps up my purchases from this particular show.  I attended a card show last weekend as well that I'll try to recap next week.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!