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 #165: Two Months & Four Trips Pt. 2

On Tuesday I kicked off my latest Flea Market Finds post.  That's where I explained how I'm a little bit behind in regards to blogging, so I ended up changing things up a little and consolidating four flea market trips into three posts utilizing a countdown format.

Here's a breakdown of these posts:

Part #1:  #22 to #14

Part #2:  #13 to #6

Part #3:  #5 to #1

Honestly... there weren't any mind-blowing purchases in Part #1.  However I document everything I pick up when I walk around the flea market... so it had to be included.  Hopefully you'll find some of the items in this post a little more interesting.  I know I did.

Here's the next tier of September and October's flea market finds...

#13:  Skateboarding CCG Cards  $5

Flea Market:  De Anza on September 7th

2011 Super Heat CCG Starter Boxes

This is one of those purchases that 99% of you won't care about... but I was very happy to find these boxes.

The cards were floating around in the boxes, but since they're CCG cards... they have rounded corners so minimal damage occurred.  As soon as I saw these three cards of Christian Hosoi, I asked the guy how much he wanted:

When I was a kid, I really, really wanted a Hosoi Hammerhead skateboard.  I thought he was the coolest skater at the time.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any of his decks in stock when I went to the skate shop, so I settled on this guy's board:

I didn't keep my original board from the 80's, but I still have the one I rode in the 90's somewhere in my garage.

By the way... I did end up eventually getting a Hammerhead.  Purchased it eight to ten years ago... and the ride is still as smooth as it was the day I built it.

#12:  Some Sticky MJ's  $5

Flea Market:  De Anza on October 5th

Cleo Michael Jordan Stickers

What can I say?  I like collecting Jordan stuff.

I can't find a copyright date... but back in 1991 this company released Michael Jordan Valentine's Day cards.  I'm guessing these were sold at around the same time.

#11:  Quarter Packs  $1

Flea Market:  De Anza on September 7th

Back in February, I bought a box of 1993 Upper Deck Series 2 at the De Anza Flea Market.  This guy was back and he had the same assortment of Junk Wax Era boxes.  I didn't buy any this time around, but I did pick up four of his quarter packs:

The pack of 1994 Upper Deck Baseball: The American Epic was the key to this purchase.  After some research, I discovered it contains the entire nine card set.  This will go into my unopened wax pack collection, but I hope to grab a cheap set off of eBay in the near future. 

As for the 1996 Pinnacle Denny's packs... If I don't already have one in the collection, I'll save one and open the other two at some point.

#10:  Vintage Playing Cards $6

Flea Market:  Branham on October 19th

1979 Army Aircraft Recognition Playing Cards

I got excited when I saw this deck on a lady's table.  She told me her father was in the Army and these belonged to him.  I was hoping to add another SR-71 card to my collection, but it wasn't included.

#9:  70's Non-Sport Stickers $2

Flea Market:  Branham on September 21st

Cheap vintage is always a flea market favorite of mine.  Found a sandwich bag filled with non-sports cards and stickers sitting on a lady's table.

As I flipped through it, she told me I could have the entire bag for $10.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of use for Bingo! or early 90's Batman cards with dinged corners.  But I pulled out these four discolored stickers from the 70's :

1978 Langendorf Super Heroes Stickers #NNO

1974 Wonder Break Disney Stickers #NNO

I had never seen any of these before, but I figured her two dollar asking price was fair.  All four are browning and the two Superman stickers are crinkled.  But they're from the 70's and they've been stored in a sandwich bag, so you can't expect them to be gem mint.

#8:  A Vintage Board Game  $5

Flea Market:  Branham on October 19th

Parker Brothers The Mad Magazine Game (1979)

This board game always pops up at toy shows and flea markets... and I've definitely thought about purchasing it a few times over the years.  You see... Mad Magazine is just as nostalgic as baseball cards when it comes to my years in elementary school.

But ultimately... I don't have any room for stuff like this, so even if the price is right... I usually walk away.  This time I found a brand new copy (cellophane is starting to tear) for five bucks.  No way I was walking away from that.

#7:  The Sandlot Cards $3

Flea Market:  Branham on October 19th

There is enough interest in cards of The Sandlot cast that they seem to come out ever few years.  I've written about the ones included in specially marked Blu-Ray packages before.  Last weekend, I found a set I had never seen before:

1993 Fox Video The Sandlot Collector Cards

This six card set was part of an uncut sheet produced back in 1993.  I definitely want one of these for my collection, but there's no way I'm spending $90 on it.  I'll take the separated version for $87 less.

I know that there are at least one or two other bloggers who collect The Sandlot cards.  Hopefully we don't bid against each other the next time one of these sets pop up on eBay.

#6:  Another Board Game $10

Flea Market:  De Anza on October 5th

I met a couple who purchased a storage unit with a ton of board games.  Nachos Grande probably would have had a lot of fun digging through their boxes.  I'm always on the lookout for cheap board games for my board game club at school.

Unfortunately I didn't find anything for my students, but I did grab this game:

The box cover contains images of familiar faces and immediately caught my eye.  Inside there were a bunch of different player cards:

When I got home I took a closer look and scanned the Ozzie Smith card:

I was hoping there was a card of Rickey Henderson in the A's set, but there wasn't.  For those who want to see what the board looks like, here a peek:

Can't imagine I'll ever play this game, but if I do... it does appear to be complete.  I'd like to find a shelf to display it, but for now it'll join the Mad Magazine game in my office closet.

Well... that wraps up Part #2 of my September and October flea market finds.  I am super excited to show off my Top 5 pickups.  Four of them are nostalgic finds that tie directly into my childhood... while the other one was a hidden treasure worth some good money to a small group of card collectors.

I'm hoping to have that post up on the blog by next Tuesday.  Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!