Sunday, May 18, 2014

Throwing the Budget Out with the Bathwater


Any regular readers know that when it comes to collecting I'm a bit thrifty.  Thrifty.  Stretching the budget.  Frugal.  Fiscally responsible.  Yep, those are the terms I prefer.  Kate has a different verb: cheap.

And to be truthful, there are few things I enjoy as much as digging through dime boxes.  But sometimes life gives you a large room full of sports memorabilia.  And sometimes, just sometimes, when things fall just right you find a dealer or two who are selling mindblowingly amazing items at great prices.  And as they say "when life gives you fantastic prices on sports memorabilia, make financially questionable decisions."

I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to break up the posts of my haul from this past weekend.  Honestly, a few posts of some baseball cards won't even tell half the story.  Oddball memorabilia.  Action figures.  Bobbleheads.  And high end sports memorabilia that would be worthy of any man-cave.  My dime box finds are getting left in the dust this week.


 The show started pretty innocently Friday afternoon.  I got there right around the time doors opened, and immediately followed my usual show process of scoping out the room and prioritizing deeply discounted and modern tables.  It yielded early successes, including some heavily discounted vintage cards.  I'll get back to that stuff later, though.  After hitting all my "target" tables, I wandered around to see what I may have overlooked.

I noticed a dealer with two monster boxes of Pirate cards that hadn't been there when I first scanned his isle a few hours earlier.  It happens - deals are made, items are flipped, and new inventory is put out throughout the weekend.  The boxes looked like a lot of overproduction wax, but I figured I'd at least ask a price.  In a thick Bostonian accent, the dealer replied " how about .02 a cahd."

Wait.  Two cents?  You didn't get the decimal place off there, pal?  I started my dig, pulling out about 300 cards (50 or so ended up being doubles once I got home and checked my spreadsheet).  But here's where things got good.  While I was penny box digging, this dealer was wheeling and dealing with his other customers.  The guy is an excellent salesman, and I knew he'd be trying to sell me on some more stuff once I finally came up for air from penny heaven.

What I didn't realize is that he would actually have things I would want!

Fast forward an hour and all of that pile was coming home with me, mostly at dirt cheap prices.  The guy is a dealer from Boston who deals in wholesale oddball memorabilia.   And the prices were just too cheap to pass up.  I don't even drink more often than a casual drink a few times a year...but now I'm the proud? owner of three Pirate shot glasses, including one from the 1994 All-Star game.  At a buck each, why not?  Sure, let's throw in a 94 ASG hat.  And a commemorative pin set from the early 90's?  Never saw that before.

The Red Man tobacco ad featuring Ralph Kiner is a fairly racist piece of advertising memorabilia.  The two baseballs pictured were the real gems of the day (bonus points to anyone who can correctly guess what the balls are!), but they deserve their own post down the road.  I was ready to call it a day and head home with a decent chunk of my budget for the weekend gone.  But my new friend Jim had one more trick up his sleeve.

 I had been looking to pick up a '79 World Series program for a while now, but most copies on ebay go for more than I was willing to spend.  But seeing a copy in person...the book is in great shape with pretty sharp corners and minimal wear along the binding.  And my bundle price?  Well, it came in much lower than the cover sticker.
 And then dropped some more when I saw these two.  The 1994 All-Star game program features a pull out tab with the league uniforms on it.  It's actually a really cool program, and I've been compiling a pretty nice collection of 2006 and '94 ASG memorabilia in recent months.

 But I'm saving the best for last.  While my collecting interests continue to go all over the place, at heart I'm still a player collector.  Jack Wilson will always be "my guy," and with card additions coming in few and far between, I've turned my attention to expanding my collection a bit.  I had no idea until a few months after the game that the 2006 ASG program featured the '04 and '05 Pirate representatives, Jack Wilson and Jason Bay respectively.  It's one of those oddball pieces I love to have, but I had never seen a copy in person.  The only one I had seen until Friday was one an online friend got signed at Piratefest some years ago.  Into the bundle it went!


 Heading out to the car Friday night I was seriously considering just calling it a show.  I spent a decent chunk of change, picked up some great new items, a few hundred new cards, and was more than content with my purchases.

But when I got home I found out Kate had made plans to spend Saturday to go outlet shopping with her mom and sister, figuring I would be spending the day at the show.  So go to the show I did.  And the results?  Well, you'll have to check back for those.  But let's just say I have a new centerpiece to my collection.


9 comments:

  1. Wow, good stuff! Are those Red Man posters originals?

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    1. They're reprints, but on a nice heavy cardstock. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. I think the unusual size is going to be too big for most store-bought frames.

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  2. Awesome finds. I'd say great day treasure hunting, but that wouldn't do justice to your discoveries. Looks like you hit the mother lode.

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  3. Sounds like a great time! I always tell myself I'm going to make it to that show, but never get there. I'm not even that far away.

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    1. The show seems to get more vintage heavy each year. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it can get a little frustrating. Aside from a couple dealers with this year's Bowman, I completely struck out at finding any dealers who had commons for my team sets from 2013/14 releases. Numbered cards and hits? The only stuff I saw was from local shop owners who were charging 1.5 to 2 times ebay prices. But it's hands down the best show in the area each year.

      Not sure how far of a drive it would be for you, but Columbus and Canton both have really good shows that are a little more balanced in their vintage/modern numbers.

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  4. Sounds like you had as much fun this weekend picking up oddballs as I did.

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    1. I'm perpetually amazed how easy it seems to be to find Kellogg's cards anywhere in the country but Western PA. I picked up maybe half a dozen this weekend, but all except for one or two were badly cracked. They just never pop up at shows. Maybe Pittsburgh was more of a General Mills city?

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  5. Great stuff! Can't wait to see what else you got!

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  6. Looks like you dominated at that show! Looking forward to seeing your other finds.

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