Walked around the Branham Flea Market last month and made three purchases from three vendors. For the sake of this post... I've decided to split up the first purchase into five one dollar purchases... since that's how it essentially played out.
The gentleman who sold me these items is a regular I've dealt with on numerous occasions. He has a variety of stuff ranging from magazines to bobbleheads to 7-11 cups... with sports cards sprinkled in here and there.
Purchase #1a: 1990 Barry Colla Don Mattingly Box Set $1
This box set was the first item on his table that caught my eye. Barry Colla is a local photographer who put out a bunch of player sets back in the late 80's and early 90's.
Here's a look at the twelve card set that came in the box:
A few well-cropped action shots... but overall these give off a Broder-like vibe. Hard to complain though when each card costs less than a dime.
Inside of his display case, he had some Dodgers Police cards in a Ziploc bag. Half of them were cards from the 1980 set which features some really cool action shots:
Purchase #1c: 1982 Dodgers Police Starter Set $1
The other half of the Dodgers Police cards were from the 1982 set. It contained all of the players, but the playoff highlight cards were missing. The lot did come with a World Series trophy card... but it's pretty beat up... so I tossed it into the Damaged Card PC before I took the photos.
Here are my two cards that stood out from the lot:
Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela were two of my favorite pitchers from the 80's and pretty much the reason I purchased all of these Dodgers cards.
Purchase #1d: 1991 Marathon Chicago Cubs Lot $1
This stack of Cubs cards were also sitting inside of his display case. I've never seen them before, but according to Beckett they're part of a twenty-eight card set that was handed out at a Cubs game in 1991.
Maddux was the key to me picking up this lot and was well worth the dollar.
Purchase #1e: Cheap Vintage $1
The vendor had a small lot of vintage sitting in a box. Each card was individually priced and I just couldn't pass up these three...
1966 Topps #4
1971 Topps #544
1976 Hostess #122
Purchase #2: Billy Joel 52nd Street 8-Track $1
When I was a kid, my parents had an 8-Track player in one of their cars. Not sure what happened to all of their tapes, but my eyes lit up when I saw a stack of them sitting on this lady's dollar table.
Billy Joel isn't my favorite artist... but he's had a fair share of hits. This might not be considered one of his iconic albums, but it has one of my favorite songs of his: Rosalinda's Eyes. Thank you Freaks and Geeks.
Purchase #3: Not A Dollar Deal $8
The final purchase of the day almost didn't happen. This couple must have bought a storage unit or something, because they had several tables set up and covered with everything from old books to cups and saucers.
My eyes were drawn to some new Panini World Cup sticker albums and comic books sitting on the ground which required me to walk around their tables to get to. They ended up being kind of pricey, but as I headed out I noticed a shoebox filled with cards in toploaders.
They were $3 each or 10 for $20. I pulled out these four and he accepted my $8 offer:
2023 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relic #CCR-SP
This was the key card in the purchase and the first step towards my Perez sports card trifecta. His 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospect card is pretty cheap... but an on-card autograph of his is going to set me back about $50.
In hindsight, I probably should have handed over the three bucks and passed on these other three cards:
2019 Topps WWE Summer Slam Relics #MR-SN
But here are the latest additions to the Japanese Athlete PC.
2021 Goodwin Champions Autographs #A-KG
2021 Skybox Metal Universe Champions Autographs #19
I should have taken a few minutes to look up these autographs of Ken Gushi (auto racing)... since they only sell for around a buck on COMC. Oh well. Win some, lose some.
That wraps up my most recent trip to the flea market. Not sure if I'll be able to make it to any flea markets in May. Last weekend, I cancelled my trip because it rained. There's another one in two weeks, but I have my nephew's graduation party.
Not too disappointed though. I've got several Sportlots packages, a COMC package, and a few more blogger care packages waiting to be cracked open.
Until then... happy Thursday and sayonara!
