Flea Market Finds #182b: Saving the Best for Last

One flea market vendor has single handedly made 2025 my greatest year in regards to flea market finds.  Here's a breakdown of my purchases from him earlier in the year:

March:  1982 Sports Illustrated mini posters

April:  1976 Laughlin Diamond Jubilee set & 1984-85 Star Court Kings basketball set

June:  1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars set, 1984 Slurpee cups, & 1978 Olde Cards Halsey Hall Recalls set

July:  1982 Donruss baseball set, 1983 Donruss baseball set, 1983 Fleer baseball set, & 1983 Topps baseball set

After July, he didn't set up anymore.  Another flea market vendor bought out the remainder of his inventory and the deals disappeared.

Fast forward to last Saturday.  I stumbled across the vendor who bought the collection.  He had some really cool stuff including vintage hall of famers, 80's oddballs, and even a 1983 O-Pee-Chee baseball set.  Unfortunately his prices were high, so I continued on my merry way.

After I purchased the vintage hockey binder and walking down the final row of the flea market, I made a beeline towards my car passing through a couple of rows.  I was probably only 100ft. from my car when I saw Bill, the guy who had sold me all of those cool oddballs and sets.

He was hanging out with his buddy and only had one item on his friend's table:

I couldn't believe my eyes.  After saying hello and exchanging pleasantries... I asked how much he wanted for the box of sets.

Purchase #4:  Collection of 80's Traded & Update Sets  $120

He asked if I'd give him $120 and I told him if they were complete, we had a deal.  I immediately opened up the 1984 Fleer Update set:

I quickly flipped through it while we talked about his upcoming move to Arkansas and the two big cards were in there:

1984 Fleer Update #U-93

1984 Fleer Update #U-27

I carefully put everything back into the box and moved on to the 1982 Topps Traded.  But before we check that out, here's a look at the entire set laid out on my office floor:

I ended up sleeving every card, put the key rookies and hall of famers in Card Saver II's, and stored all of it in a 400ct. box:

I never, ever, ever imagined a situation where I would own this set, but now I do.

Next up was the 1982 Topps Traded:

1982 Topps Traded Set

The box was slightly damaged, but the key card isn't too bad:

1982 Topps Traded #98T

The Ripken has a printing dot near his elbow and if you look close enough there's some edge issues.  But thankfully this wasn't one of the cards with a damaged corner.

As soon as I saw the Ripken, I slid everything back into the box.  Here's a photo of the complete set:

If you look carefully, you'll notice that six or seven cards have damaged corners.  For $120... that's something I could live with.

As I began to pull out the six twenty dollar bills out of my wallet, he asked me if I would be willing to pay $150 instead.  I knew in my heart that this was a great price too.  But I was down to around $140, so I asked if he'd be willing to accept the price based on a coin flip.  If he won, I'd have to go down to 7-11, pull out some cash, and give him $150.  I he lost, he'd accept the original offer.

He laughed and said it was a deal.  I flipped the coin, he called "tails", and I handed over the $120.

When I got home, I took a closer look at the remaining six sets...

1981 Topps Traded Set

This set's biggest issues were centering and some printing defects, but luckily I already have a copy for my Topps Traded binder.  It'll be paired with my 1981 Topps set.

Here's a look at the two key rookie cards:

1981 Topps Traded #816

1981 Topps Traded #850

1983 Topps Traded Set

This set is probably best known for having one of Darryl Strawberry's first cards:

1983 Topps Traded #108T

It might not be a super valuable set, but like the 1982 Topps Traded set, I needed it for my binder project.

1984 Topps Traded Set

This set was sealed and I already had a copy for the binder, so I didn't bother opening it up.  Like the 1981 Traded set, I will pair this one with the flagship set.

1985 Topps Traded Set

I was surprised to see that I needed this set, because I used to own it when I was a kid.  This is probably the cheapest set in the lot.  Here are the two cards I deemed scan worthy:

1985 Topps Traded #24T

1985 Topps Traded #49T

And rounding out the lot were the 1985 and 1986 Fleer Update sets...

1985 Fleer Update Set

Like the Topps Traded, the two cards I thought were the coolest were the Vince Coleman rookie card and Rickey with his new team:

1985 Fleer Update #U-28

1985 Fleer Update #U-51

1986 Fleer Update Set

This set contains Barry's first Fleer card, but Canseco had a card in the flagship set.  Only this time around he didn't have to share his card with Eric Plunk:

1986 Fleer Update #U-14

1986 Fleer Update #U-20

Both of these sets were new additions to my collection.  I owned 1986 Fleer Update set when I was a kid, but I must have broken it up when I sold my collection in the early aughts.  At this point, I don't have any plans to create an 80's Fleer Update binder, but if I ever do... I only need the 1988 and 1989 sets.

As for my Topps Traded binder project, this purchase got me three steps closer to completing my run.  The only set I need is the 1987 Topps Traded which is readily available.  I actually thought I had it sitting in my collection, but when I inventoried everything a few years ago I couldn't find it.

Anyways... this wraps up my big flea market find from last weekend.  It cost me most of the money I brought, but it was well worth it.

The down side is the gentleman who has sold me all of the cool sets is moving to Arkansas, so I won't be buying anymore stuff off of him.  But the stuff he sold me this year has definitely made a huge impact on my collection.

Thank you Bill!  Enjoy your retirement.

As for everyone else, thanks for taking the time to read this post.  There's no flea market this weekend, but I'm planning to go to De Anza in two weeks.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

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 season.  Branham 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 #1:  Dollar 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 #2:  Vintage 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 #3:  Will 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 #4:  Vintage 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!

It Takes a Village

Twelve years ago, I purchased two wax boxes of 1986 Donruss baseball for $50.  It was a birthday gift to myself with the hopes of pulling the iconic Jose Canseco rookie card.  That didn't happen, but it did start a set build that continues to this day.

Recently Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! helped me get two steps closer to completing this set:

1986 Donruss #601

I primarily remember Joe from his time with the Houston Astros, but I knew he was a Yankee too.  Sadly he passed away nineteen years ago at the age of sixty-one.  

1986 Donruss #638

Meacham's career was much shorter than Niekro's, but luckily he played during the first half of the Junk Wax Era.  In other words, he was featured on plenty of cards during his six years in the MLB.  That's why I definitely remember his time with the Yankees even though he was only an average fielder and a career .236 hitter.  The power of cardboard and childhood memories is legit.

With these two cards added to the set, I'm now only twenty-five cards away from completing the six hundred sixty card set.

Bo also sent me this 2011 Topps Update card of Cody Eppley:

2011 Topps Update #US97

If you asked me about this guy two months ago, I'd have no idea who he was.  But thanks to him being one of the final cards needed for this set build, he's become a familiar name.

The other card I needed was one of the Brandon Crawford cards in the set, but that arrived last week in a Sportlots order.  Here's a look at the completed set:

Thank you to the following bloggers for helping me complete this set:

Bo @ Baseball Cards Come to Life!

Chris @ The Collector

Greg @ The Collective Mind

AJ @ The Lost Collector

and retired blogger, Tom @ Angels in Order.

I appreciate all of your help with this set.  It feels great to cross this one off.  Honestly... I'm kinda on a roll.  I've got another Sportlots order on the way and a scheduled COMC shipment.  Both contain cards for another set that bloggers have helped me with this year.  I guess the old saying is correct.  It takes a village.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be receiving the cards from COMC until November, but as soon as it does I'll let you all know.

Don't worry about me not having enough content to write about.  There are three large care packages waiting to be opened... including two from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Plus I made a huge purchase this weekend at the Branham Flea Market.  It helped cross off six sets I needed from the 80's, so stay tuned for those posts.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!