Flea Market Finds #169: Cheap Wax, Dime Cards, and A Piece of the Past

Not sure about you, but Mother Nature has been messing with us here in the Bay Area the past week or so.  One week it's freezing.  The next week it's hot.  Yesterday it rained.  Whatever she decides... I just hope it stays cool for another three or four months.  

Temperatures rose into the low 80's last week.  Luckily it cooled off in time for the weekend and the De Anza Flea Market.  When I arrived there on Saturday at around 7:15am... there were already people parked and walking around.  People are catching on to the "early bird catches the worm" philosophy.  The only downside is that half of the vendors aren't completely set up, so you either miss out on some stuff or you have to go back and see what you missed.

All of my purchases took place within the first hour... which is normal.  That being said, one of my best deals was found on the last row of the day.  But let's check out the other stuff first...

Purchase #1:  Japanese Postcards Book  $2

There's a longtime vendor on the first row that sells used books for great prices.  Back when I taught fifth and sixth grade, I filled out my classroom library with their books.  In recent years, I've purchased a Wayne Gretzky signed autobiography and Michael Jordan's first Sport Illustrated cover from them.

This time around... I found this cool book of postcards.  There are twenty-our perforated postcards inside.  Here's my favorite:

Here's a look at the back:

No way I could pass up twenty-four postcards for two bucks.

Purchase #2:  Handful of Matchbooks  $1

A few booths down was a guy who brought a bin filled with matchbooks.  The San Francisco Giants one caught my eye, so I asked him how much he wanted.  He told me I could pick twenty-five for $5.  After I told him, I really only wanted the two Giants matchbooks, he told me I could have them for a buck and I could grab a handful as a bonus (no cherry picking).

I lucked out, because there are a few that are from places I've been to in the past:  Coco's, the Crow's Nest, Alpha Beta, and Harrah's (South Shore Lake Tahoe).

Purchase #3:  Pair of 1990 SI for Kids Magazines  $20

Whenever I hit up De Anza, I always make time to hang out with some of my friends who set up on a regular basis.  I've been waiting to see Tony, because he opens up a lot of blasters and I was hoping he'd sell me an Update Skenes rookie for my set build.  Unfortunately he didn't have one.

But he did have two copies of Sports Illustrated for Kids (October 1990) that he thought I might be interested in.

Here's the 9-card sheet in that month's issue:

Most of you know how much I enjoy collecting SI for Kids cards, but this sheet was actually only the appetizer.  The main thing I wanted from this issue was this four card panel of McDonald's Michael Jordans:

You might notice that the numbering is a little weird.  That's because the other four cards in the set were on another panel.  I had hoped to find it in the other issue, but they were duplicates.

Honestly... I wasn't too disappointed.  I kept one of the magazines intact and I cut the cards out of the other one.

Purchase #4:  1989 Pro Set Football Series 2 Wax Box $22

A few vendors down from my friends was a guy with a bunch of toys, magazines, and movies laid out on a table.  Underneath a stack of comics, I noticed this box.  The guy was asking $25 which I was willing to pay.  However I didn't have a five dollar bill, so I gave him a twenty and a ten.  He didn't have change and I only had 2 one dollar bills, so he took $22 instead.

This product is loaded with some hall of fame rookie cards like Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, and Deion Sanders.  But I'm equally excited at trying to build the announcer set.

Purchase #5:  Auto Relic of a Hall of Famer  $10

2012 Topps Triple Threads #TTAR-206 (#'d 10/18)

I struck out on the next three rows, but as I turned the corner on the final row, I found this shiny card sitting on a table in a penny sleeve next to the box it was pulled from.  I'm no longer actively chasing sticker-graphs, but when they pop up at a flea market for the right price, I'll pick them up.  Not gonna lie... in this era where most vendors think every card they own is worth stupid money... I was pretty shocked to hear him say he only wanted ten bucks.

I pulled out that ten dollar bill I had originally given to the 1989 Pro Set guy immediately before he could change his mind.

Purchase #6:  Dime Cards  $2

A lady who was selling some crafts had given her teenage son part of a table and he put out a few boxes of cards with a sign "10 for a dollar".  I picked out twenty... highlighted by the nine cards above and this card of my favorite football player in the 90's:

2022 Panini Legacy Decade of Dominance #DD-7

That's wraps up another trip to the flea market.  The next one is two Saturdays from now and I'm planning on being out there... as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

A Unique Vendor & some Buyer's Remorse

Before last month... I couldn't tell you the last time I walked around a card show.  According to the blog, it was back in September of 2022.  I might have attended one earlier in the year... but if I did... it obviously wasn't memorable.

However after finding out about Mike... I wanted to hang out with some mutual friends who were setting up at the monthly show located about twenty minutes from my place.

The show itself is pretty small, but I ended up spending a few hours there.  Part of the time was sitting around and exchanging stories about our friend.  The rest of the time was exploring the show and catching up with the hobby since I hadn't been spending a lot of time with cards the last six months or so.

I was surprised at the amount of stuff I came home with.  Here's a breakdown of my purchases...

Card Show Purchase #1:  Fleer Stickers $20

One vendor had a bunch of 80's Fleer Stickers sitting in his quarter bins.  He had a little over 200, so I offered him $20 and he accepted.

Seeing these took me back to my childhood when I'd casually toss these aside while opening packs of Fleer.  These days... I pay much closer attention to them.  Stay tuned for a Fleer Sticker post in the near future.

Card Show Purchase #2:  Dollar Bin (Japanese Cards) $5

There were plenty of dealers with slabbed rookie cards, unopened blasters, and colorful Pokemon cards.  That was expected.  What I didn't expect was a dealer who specializes in cards from Japan.

I spent almost an hour hanging out, listening to his story, and checking out what he brought.  I started with his dollar bin (shoebox at the left of the above photo)... 

2017 Calbee #035

2018 Calbee #167

2019 Calbee #095

2019 Calbee Star Card #S-08

He had hundreds of stars like Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, and Daisuke Matsuzaka sitting in his dollar bin.  I was tempted to start pulling them out, but ultimately... I ended up buying four Masataka Yoshida cards from his days with the Orix Buffaloes.

I also grabbed these two Godzilla cards:

Japanese Godzilla Card #35

Japanese Godzilla Card #43

The vendor didn't have any information on either of these cards, but thought they might be from the 80's.

After the dollar bin, I started digging through his $5 bin which contained a ton of 90's and early 2000's Ichiro cards...

Card Show Purchase #3: Japanese Ichiro Suzuki Cards $65

I'll just shut up and let the cards speak for themselves...

1997 Calbee #013

1997 Calbee #165

1998 Calbee #022

1998 Calbee #097

1998 Calbee West Special #W-13

1999 Calbee #198

2000 Calbee #015

2000 Calbee Star Cards #04

2000 Upper Deck Victory Japan #11

2000 Upper Deck Victory Japan Hardball Heroes #H1

2001 BBM Best 9 #B33

If the math doesn't add up... that's because I grabbed duplicates of the Upper Deck Victory cards.  Plus there was a single I grabbed for SumoMenkoMan.

After his boxes, I started looking through his display cases.  Check out this insane rookie patch card of Ohtani:

I obviously can't afford to drop $7,000 on a card, but I did buy a vintage card of the Home Run King...

Card Show Purchase #4:  Vintage Sadaharu Oh $10

1975-76 Calbee #1235

The gentleman had a stack of vintage Oh's... but this is the one that caught my eye.  I love how it captures his iconic flamingo stance.

No idea what it says on the back, but I figured some of you might want to see it:

The other card I grabbed from his display cases was the Calbee rookie card of a guy who may or may not ever cross the Pacific to play in the MLB...

Card Show Purchase #5:  Roki Sasaki Calbee RC $20

2020 Calbee #094

This was an impulse buy... and the credit goes to the dealer for talking Sasaki up.  Based on completed eBay listings... I totally overpaid.

Anyways... if you're not familiar with him, he's the guy who pitched the first NPB perfect game since 1994 back in 2022.  A week later, he nearly pitched another perfect game.  There's a lot of hype surrounding him, but he won't even be eligible to play in the MLB for at least a few more years.

In hindsight, I probably should have just grabbed four more Ichiro cards. 🤣

The final purchase from this dealer was a very cool set...

Card Show Purchase #6:  2009 BBM King of the World Set $25

After the guy talked me into the Sasaki, he pointed out this Sadaharu Oh tribute set.  It's one of those limited edition box sets that BBM produces.

The cover of the box instantly caught my eye... so much that I carefully cut it out and slipped it into a 6" x 9" top loader:

2009 BBM King of the World Box Cover

The back of the cover features his career statistics:

Maybe one of these days, I'll write up a set spotlight post on this set.  Until then, here's one 9-pocket page featuring Oh's time lapsed swing:

Finally there was an insert card featuring a facsimile signature of the legend:

2009 BBM King of the World Printed Autograph #PA7

In hindsight... this purchase helps me cope with the buyer's remorse for the Sasaki card.

I'm going back to the card show again this Saturday.  Crossing my fingers that this guy is there to take more of my hard earned money.

As I walked back to my friends, I saw a guy with three small boxes labeled ten for a dollar, so I stopped and quickly flipped through them.  Here's what I bought...

Card Show Purchase #7:  Dime Box $1

2023 Topps #17

There were three cards that I really wanted.  The Ohtani was one of them.

The Nootbaar (my first rookie card of him) and Brady (no way I'll pass up his cards for a dime) were the other two.  The rest rounded out the buck.

And that wraps up my card show purchases, but I did come home with one more card...

Card Show Freebie: Jake Cronenworth Autograph

2021 Topps Chrome Black Auto #CBA-JCR

Found this card looking through my friend's display cases.  It was a little out of place, since he has mostly high dollar 90's inserts and modern graded rookie cards.  But as a Padres fan, I have hope this guy will bounce back in 2024, so I asked how much he wanted for this autograph.  He told me to take it and buy him lunch the next time we hang out.

Thanks Ben!  I'm going back to the show this weekend and lunch is on me.

Well that wraps up my 2nd post in three days and here are three quick observations:

#1:  I really miss blogging about cards.

#2:  My writing, editing, and formatting skills are rusty.

#3:  I need to learn to keep things simple and straight to the point.

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!