Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Flea Market Finds #182a: The Season Isn't Over Yet

After two poor flea market outings in a row, I was mentally preparing myself for the end of the flea market seasonBranham High School had other plans.

The parking lot was full of vendors, including at least two new guys with sports cards.  Plus there were the regulars.  Remember the guy with a dime box last month?  Well he was back.  This time he brought out a dollar bin...


Purchase #1Dollar Bin  $5

Memorabilia cards have lost their luster over the years, but I'll happily buy them if they're cheap, fit into my collection, and/or are interesting.

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #21
2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #10
2021 Upper Deck AEW Memorabilia #55

The Billy Martin will be added to my Oakland A's PC, while the Hikaru Shida is a nice addition to my Japanese athlete collection.

2021 Topps WWE Women's Division Super Star Logo Patch Relic #SLP-SB
2017 UD Marvel Thor Ragnarok The Armory Dual Memorabilia #AD-10

The other three women fall into the "interesting" category.


Purchase #2Vintage Star Wars Puzzle  $5

1977 Kenner Star Wars Puzzle

I saw this puzzle sitting on a lady's tarp and my eyes were drawn to the sticker on the left side of the box.  It states that the puzzle does not include the two characters on the left.  Kenner eventually corrected this and issued a different box with the two gentleman cropped out.


My first attempt at building vintage Star Wars puzzles ended in failure, but this one seems to be much more manageable.  Maybe I'll give it a shot over the holidays.


Purchase #3Will Clark Cookie Cards  $1

There's a guy that I run into at every flea market who also collects cards.  We usually hang out a few minutes and talk about our finds or lack thereof.  He told me about a kid who had a binder with some 50¢ cards.  

By the time I found the "binder" I figured it had been already picked through and was correct.  However I found a pair of Mother's Cookies Will Clark cards:

1987 Mother's Cookies San Francisco Giants SGA #2

1988 Mother's Cookies Will Clark Food Issue #1

This is a perfect time to explain the two different ways collectors could acquire Mother's Cookies cards back in the day.  The first card was given away at Candlestick Park in an envelope that contained 28 cards as part of a 28 card set.  The catch was there were 21 different players in the envelope with one player receiving 7 duplicates.  Fans were encouraged to trade with other fans to complete the set.

The second card were inserted into bags of Mother's Cookies.  The set contains four cards and each bag contained one cellophane wrapped card.


Purchase #4Vintage Hockey Binder  $20


I found this binder of vintage hockey cards in the last row of the flea market.  The guy was asking a buck per card, three cards for two dollars, or $20 for the whole binder.

I was immediately drawn to the Golden Seals cards:


But after coming across this Bobby Orr, I just bought the binder:

1974-75 Topps #100

Here's a peek at some of the highlights from the rest of the binder:


I'd say 90% of the binder was from the 1974-75 Topps set, but there were a few 1973-74 and 1975-76 Topps cards mixed in:


I was pretty stoked to find this binder on the way out, but little did I know... I wasn't finished yet.

While cutting through rows on my way out to the car, I saw a familiar face with some really cool sets from the 80's.  But that's a post for another day.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

15 comments:

Matt said...

Nice hockey cards! Well worth the cost!

RJ Sahl said...

I really like the hockey cards as well. Those are from a part of my Minnesota North Star years. Nice find!

Dennis said...

More excellent FMF pickups! I also love the timing of this post as I just saw that the Angels hired your guy Kurt Suzuki as their next manager and immediately thought of you.

Crocodile said...

Great find with that hockey binder. Which reminds me that I need to work on my 74-75 hockey set.

Elliptical Man said...

Hockey binder wins it.
Ava's a legend, so good pick up there too.

The Angels In Order said...

Good stuff. And I just saw that Kurt Suzuki was named the Angels new manager.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Glad you had a good day at the flea market :)

Anonymous said...

I don't really collect non-sport cards, but a relic of AVA GARDNER for a dollar? An absolute legend! And the subject of a classic dialogue exchange on Sports Night:

CASEY: Chuck Kimmel?
JEREMY: Yeah, but you're supposed to call him Cut Man.
CASEY: I'm not calling him Cut Man.
JEREMY: He wants to be called Cut--
CASEY: I'm not calling him Cut Man.
JEREMY: He trained Rocky Marciano.
CASEY: Yeah, and I made sweet love to Ava Gardner in Paris.
JEREMY: That ruins Ava Gardner for me.
NATALIE: I love Ava Gardner.
JEREMY: Casey slept with her in France.
NATALIE: While she was doing "Green Acres?"
JEREMY: That's Eva Gabor.
NATALIE: I thought they were twins.
JEREMY: That's Zsa Zsa Gabor.
NATALIE: Which one did you sleep with in France?
CASEY: Natalie, I actually never--
JEREMY: Let me. Ava Gardner is dead. Eva Gabor was on "Green Acres." Zsa Zsa Gabor is her sister. Casey never slept with anybody in France.

Probably doesn't work so well in print, but I love Sports Night.

night owl said...

Oh yes, that hockey binder is the find of this trip.

Bo said...

These are all great finds. Great day at the flea market here.

Never knew about that Star Wars puzzle error.

Sasha Banks was in the Mandalorian.

Fuji said...

matt - thanks. it was a huge boost to my vintage binder.

rj sahl - i kinda lucked out, because there are at least 5 other guys i compete against who collect cards. either they don't collect hockey or they didn't take the time to open up the red binder

dennis - just saw the news on espn. super stoked. hope he ends up having a great managerial career.

crocodile - if you don't mind low grade cards, i have a decent stack. email me your wantlist

elliptical man - was very happy to see the ava relic in that box. by the way... haven't forgotten about your cards. just haven't had a lot of time to ship stuff out to people. maybe turkey break?

the angels in order - i'm super excited about you guys hiring zook. although i won't root against the a's, if they don't compete for the world series, i hope the angels do

johnnys trading spot - it's nice to get more than steps. it didn't feel good to come home empty handed the last time

anonymous - lol. you got a chuckle out of me. thanks

night owl - there was at least one buffalo sabre card in there. i'll send him your way the next time around

bo - i didn't know about that puzzle error either, but i thought the sticker was interesting. it sent me down the research road. as for sasha being on the mandalorian... i had no idea. i mean, i know her character, but never put the two together. thanks for pointing that out.

Chris said...

Love that vintage hockey find!! The Orr alone is worth the price you paid. The '75 Sittler is one of my favorite hockey cards ever. The color matching borders are only on the Topps side, not OPC, which IMO makes it one of the few hockey singles where Topps is the better choice.

Xavier Higgins said...

Looking forward to the forthcoming Kurt Suzuki post in honor of his Managerial Status

Fuji said...

chris - i didn't know about the color matched borders, but that definitely gives topps my vote over o-pee-chee.

xavier higgins - hmmm. maybe this weekend? regardless... i'm super happy for him. one year contract = extra motivation.

Bryan said...

This is me drooling over the Don Cherry card in that binder! I had that card at one point in time but sold it in my collection purge in 2002. I should really get another one someday. Great pickups! I love the stuff you find!