My Side Hobby

A few weeks ago, I went to a card show held at a local mall.  Like most card shows I read about on blogs, there were mostly dealers specializing in Pokemon cards and or modern graded sports cards.  Out of the 100 or so tables advertised, I only found one dealer with dime boxes and his table was swarmed with customers.

Normally I would have circled around the show and come back when the crowd thinned out, but I had purchased some cards at the flea market earlier in the morning.  I stopped off at my buddy's table instead, chatted with him for a few minutes, then headed home without making a single show purchase.

It kind of makes me wonder if card shows are still something I enjoy attending.  I have already cut out local shows that charge admission or parking.  Now the lone free show near my house is filled with dealers selling stuff I don't have a lot of interest in and the crowds are getting a little too large for my liking.

Maybe I need a change.

Last week, The Shlabotnik Report featured a post summarizing his trip to a postcard show.  Now I've shown off a few postcards on this blog, but there have plenty of others that I've kept to myself since there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest among my readers.

In spite of that, I figured I'd show a few that I have picked up in the last year.  Let's start off with a pair featuring Milwaukee Downer College:

After going to the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the early 50's, my mom transferred to Milwaukee Downer to get her degree in occupational therapy.  Less than a year after moving to Wisconsin, she met my father at a Hawaii club dance and the rest is history.

Another interest of mine is the Kintaikyo Bridge in Iwakuni City.  On my father's side of the family, I have relatives who were caretakers of this bridge.

My dad's uncle and cousin's husband helped with the reconstruction of the bridge during the Showa Period in 1953.

His cousin's son was the master carpenter for the Heisei reconstruction in 2005.  When my parents visited Japan in the mid 2000's, they met him for the first time and walked across the newly constructed bridge.

All three of these postcards have very similar backs.

The only difference I spotted was the small text printed on the lefthand side of each postcard.

I have one more postcard related item I'd like to share.  While searching for cards related to the Golden Gate Bridge, I came across the 1993 Skyline San Francisco set:

I purchased it on eBay back in October, but when I received it... I thought it might be a set of postcards based on the back of the packaging:

Actually... like the cover of the set states, there were actually trading cards inside:

Since this is more of a postcard related post, I won't spend too much time going over this set.  However here's a quick look at it:

Here's the card that inspired this purchase:

1993 Skyline San Francisco Scenes #1

Does anyone else think the borderless design resembles 1992 Stadium Club?

The back of the card features a write up on the famous bridge, which is a symbol of San Francisco.

Well that's it for today.  I know postcards aren't exactly trading cards.  But they're still photos printed on cardstock that people enjoy collecting.  And as luck would have it... I've discovered there's an event held three times a year at Golden Gate Park called the Vintage Paper Fair.  All of the 2025 dates have passed, but the promoter says he's planning on three more dates next year.  I'm hoping to attend at least one.  I bet I don't see a single Pokemon or graded sports card there.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #159: Vintage, Junk Wax, and a Cool Mug

Hello there.  Sorry I haven't been very present in the card blogosphere the past few weeks.  Life happens.

I'll spare the explanations and excuses.  Most of you who check out this blog know the deal.  Let's get to the collectible stuff.

This past weekend, I hit up the De Anza Flea Market.  I planned this trip out earlier in the week and set aside a few hours in my schedule.

In recent trips, this flea market hasn't been that good.   Although it reopened after the lockdown over a year ago... it has struggled to lure both vendors and visitors... and seemed to be clinging to life.  I'm happy to report aisles were filled with collectibles and people treasure hunting.

Made a purchase within a few minutes into the walk and it involved one of my favorite things to collect...

Purchase #1:  Vintage Cards $5

An older gentleman I hadn't seen before had a bunch of unopened wax boxes from the early 90's.  The only thing I was remotely interested in was a box of 1990 Pro Set PGA Tour cards.  Next to them were three monster boxes with dollar packs.  One of these boxes had a bunch of cheap, pre-priced vintage in top loaders.  I ended up pulling out two cards: 

1964 Topps #246

I've always pictured Mota as a Dodger.  This card will be a healthy reminder that he was a Pirate too.

1956 Topps #7

I bought this card thinking #15 in the front row was Bart Starr.  It's not.  It's Paul Held.  Starr was drafted in 1956, but didn't show up on a Topps card until the following season.  There are at least two hall of famers featured on this card though:  Jim Ringo and Bobby Dillon.  Possibly more.

The back features two more hall of famers names:  Don Hutson and Tony Canadeo.

Purchase #2:  San Francisco Postcards $5

Two rows over, there was a family with a bunch of garage sale stuff.  The father had a box of old stereoscope photos and postcards.  There were hundreds of them related to San Francisco, but I narrowed my stack down to these five:

I couldn't find any dates on these, but the guy said they were likely from the 50's or 60's... maybe even a little earlier.  His asking price was a little steep ($3 each), but thankfully he accepted my $5 counteroffer.

Purchase #3:  One Lone Curry Card $1

The postcard guy's son had a few stacks of cards (wrapped in rubber bands).  I found two... but this is the only one he'd let me have for a buck:

2021-22 Panini Hoops Slam #193

Like father, like son... his asking prices were a bit extreme.  Both cards I pulled were Steph cards.  He wanted $5 for one of them and $3 for this one.  After I was about to leave empty-handed, he told me he'd take my dollar for this one.

Purchase #4:  Pac-Man Beer Mug $3

I have way too many mugs sitting around.  Probably because I just can't say "no" to cool mugs with affordable price tags at the flea market.

Purchase #5:  One Lone Junk Wax Pack $5

1989 Donruss Value Pack

As I was walking down the last two rows... there was a guy with some clothes, books, and cd's laid out in rows on the ground.  I strolled down the cd aisle and saw a box with some late 80's rack packs.  All of them had at least one star showing.  There were three that stood out.  One was a 1990 Fleer with Gwynn on top.  Another was a 1989 Topps with a Nolan Ryan showing.  However the guy wouldn't budge off from his $5 per pack asking price, so I put both of those back and took home The Kid.

That'll wrap up my recent trip to the flea market.  There were actually two more purchases (a succulent and a pot) made on this trip, but I gave them to my friend's mom before writing this post.  Sorry about that succulent fans.

Thank you for those who have stuck around and continue to support the blog... even though posts are few and far between.  I actually have plenty to write about... including a pair of recent care packages... it's just a matter of finding time in my hectic schedule.  In fact... if it weren't for the extra day off this week... this post would have been written and published much, much later.

Okay... no more moaning and groaning.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!