Visiting an Orlando LCS

I have been trying to make it a point to visit card shops when I am traveling for work.  This week I went out to Orlando, FL for a work vendor conference.  The highlights included some actual sun and warm weather (it has been a pretty awful KC winter), a tour of some of the backstage areas of Disney World to learn about their world class approach to customer service and a trip to Orlando Sportscards.

I found Orlando Sportscards doing a quick google search.  It was located fairly close to the airport and I had a few hours to kill between my flight landing and the conference reception.  The card store had tons of cards, mostly singles, sorted in all different ways.  They had dozens, if not hundreds of 5000 count boxes with single sorted by team and set along the left wall.  The right wall had display cases with stacks of cards on the top shelves and 5000 count boxes sorted by team on the bottom shelf. 

I started by taking a look at the box of 1957 Topps cards.  As he handed me the box, the owner indicated that the singles were half off the marked price.  I liked that each card was marked so there was a clear understanding of what the prices were.  I wasn't a fan of the cost of the 57s and didn't pick any up, the lowest priced cards were listed at $12-15 in okay condition and even half that is above what I have been spending on commons.

In the back of that same box was a small stack of 1960 Fleer cards, a set I am working on completing.  These prices were pretty good and I ended up picking up these 5 towards my set:

I am within 9 cards of finishing this set and although a few of them are bigger names, I am going to make a push and try to get it done by the middle of 2019.

Next up I looked through a box of 1972 Topps looking for the dreaded high numbers.  They didn't have a ton but more than I have seen in one place in some time.  The prices were really high, which always is my problem with 72 high numbers.  I didn't get any, I can't seeing paying $8-10+ per card when I need well over 100 cards for the set - I may have to end up giving up on the set or saving up to buy a complete set and selling off my partial.  I also looked through several stacks of star card ranging from a couple of 1952 Topps cards up to early 80s rookies like Ripken and Henderson.  I already had most of the cards I thumbed through so I moved on.

Next I asked to see a large box of Giants cards.  It had mostly hits and serial numbered cards.  A lot of the hits were Bowman prospects that never panned out or relics I already had.  I did find 2 cards to add to my haul:

I really like both cards, the 2005 SP Legendary Cuts set has a few great looking insert sets, I need to see if I can track down more.  The Posey Panini Spectra is the Neon Blue parallel /99.  The card looks really nice and is a very thick card.

After the Giants I saw a row of Sacramento Kings in a box in the cabinet and asked to see that.  I have a few Kings cards in my collection but they are a little underrepresented.  I was able to find 3 cards to get from the Kings' "glory" years (can you have glory years without winning a title???):

I now have 3 Vlade autos in the collection, this National Treasures /25 sure is a nice looking card.  I also picked up the other 2 in part based on aesthetics.  I really like the basketball net look to the Bibby relic and find it cool it is commemorating a milestone.  The acetate Bobby Jackson is a great looking card with a nice big signature.

While looking through the Kings stack I picked up a couple KC era hits:

I started a Tiny Archibald collection during Black Friday and was planning on focusing in on his vintage cards.  I couldn't pass up either of these, both are great looking cards.  While I don't plan on pursuing tons of Autos or Relics of Nate, I suspect I will grab a few hear and there if the price is right.

Finally the highlight of the visit was finding this in a display rack:

This is the current issue of Beckett Vintage Collector featuring Greg of Night Owl Cards fame in a article about the SSPC set.  My LCS didn't have it and I hadn't seen it elsewhere.  I am very happy to have it and will be reading through it this weekend.  Thumbing through the magazine, I am super excited to read all the articles and check out all the photos of Babe Ruth along with an article about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in addition to Greg's article.  I am least interested in the price guide at the back but if these articles are good I may plop down the $60 for a 2 year subscription.

All in all, it was a descent store visit, the above stuff was sold to me for an even $60.  I would rate the volume and selection of cards at Orlando Sportscards highly but the prices are a little steep compared to what I find online.  While I understand it and don't blame them, I am a bargain hunter at heart.

I Found a Local Card Show!

A co-worker whose husband just got back to card collecting told me about a small local card show her husband stumbled across and I got a chance to attend a little while back.  This was my first card show since the National Card Convention in Anaheim, CA  way back in 2006, that's right over 12 years ago.  I was excited but guardedly as I didn't want to expect too much.

The show ended up having 12-15 sellers, most with more than one table.  There was quite a bit of local KC stuff - Royals and Chiefs - both cards and memorabilia.  One guy had tons of autographed 8X10s, balls and bats.  Another guy had primarily autographed jerseys.  One guy had quite a few unopened hobby boxes and blasters. The rest had cards.  There were a few dime, quarter and dollar boxes.  There were also a few binders with cards.  The rest were single in display cases and boxes.


I was really hoping to track down a ton of 1972 Topps high numbers on the cheap but that didn't come close to happening.  I did however have tons of fun and get some cards that fit nicely into my collection.

I will start by sharing some Giants I picked up in various dollar, quarter and dollar bins?

My favorites are here are the Vogelsong numbered rookie parallel /290 and the John McGraw Cooperstown card.  I remember when the Panini Cooperstown product came out they replaced a promised hit with these wood-like cards.  They weren't very popular and definitely not an equal swap but I was glad to pick up this one.

 More Giants, the purple Panda is pretty awesome.  It was also cool to get the Buster and Lincecum cards in their college unis. One of the Buster's is pretty thick.

A few more cheap Giants, pretty happy to track down the Herbel buy-back.

I also found a few Trojan cards as well.  Pretty cool to get premium Carson Palmer numbered base cards for a quarter.  Also nice to find a new Tony Boselli card, I have a pretty high percentage of his cards.

I also picked up some cards for my Reggie collection.  I think a couple ended up being dups but some nice looking cards of Mr. October.

I found some Rickey Henderson cards I needed and a Dave Winfield relic, all great pick ups!

There was a guy with a ton of relics and autos and I spent a while going through them.  They didn't have prices and I was a little worried despite his assurances that I would be happy with what he quoted me.  I pulled out quite a few cards and I don't recall the exact price but I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

The first 3 scans are the Giant I found:

Love the Cain gold Finest!

Two Matt Williams from two different products with the same photo.

There are basically For the F of it cards, I have thought about starting a Foster collection and Affetdt was a huge part of the Giants championship bullpens.

Another cards just for fun, I am not a Zito collector unless he is in a Giants uniform but these were nice and cheap.

My final pick ups were some cards for my 1960 Fleer set build.  The condition isn't amazing but I got a good deal and it is a 68 year old vintage set.

That's it for the card show haul, it was fun to be back at a show for the first time in over a decade.  I am seriously contemplating a trip to the National in Chicago this year.  Maybe I can track down some of the 1972s there.

If you are interested, jump into my contest on this post, giving a way a few different things:

https://arpsmith44.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-contest-and-new-player-collection.html

2016 Black Friday COMC Order #1 - Vintage Set Needs

Time to show off some of those COMC goods from Black Friday.

I am still working on getting my card room at my new house organized.  Some parts of my collection are more organized than ever but I am still struggling to find the right place for everything.  Part of my struggle has been a lack of wall space which doesn't allow for as many shelves for storage/display as I would like.   One wall has windows starting 2 feet off the ground up to the ceiling.  A second wall has double doors to enter the room along with a door to the outside.  A third wall has a door into a Jack and Jill bathroom and the walk in closet, leaving only one wall with full wall space.

I have a pretty large number of complete sets in pages that fill a majority of the book cases I have on that one wall.  I have decided that I won't put any new sets into binders but will still try to fit my vintage sets into pages/binders.  My last set to input that is fully complete was my 1973 set - or at least I thought it was complete.

A few weeks back I was sitting in front of the TV putting my 1973 set into pages when I noticed a few missing cards. I am pretty embarrassed to admit this as I am usually very careful.  I went through my stack of duplicates and plugged a few holes but in the end I was left with 4 empty slots in my binder.  I quickly jumped on to COMC and filled the holes.

I am very happy to welcome these 4 cards into my collection and now officially call my 1973 Topps set complete:

Some other happy additions are these traded cards and a 1970 Topps Checklist.

With the traded card acquisitions, I now have complete sets of the 1974 and 1976 Topps Traded sets.  The 1970 checklist is a variation, leaving me 1 variation away from having all the cards for my set along with the variations. The traded sets are small but I am happy to have them complete.

I am currently working on the 1971 and 1972 Topps sets.  My progress on the 1972 set has pretty much stalled - I am frustrated with the limited availability and the high cost of the massive high number series.  I am seriously contemplating finishing off the other series and punting on the high numbers.  Luckily my frustration with the 1972 set is balanced out by my progress on the 1971 set.  The next 3 scans show the 26 new cards I was able to add from this order including a trio of HOFers and quite a few high number short prints.

This leaves me only needing 34 cards to complete this set!  I have a couple big namers in Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente along with the high number Don Baylor/Dusty Baker high number SP rookie card.  In all I need 20 SPs.  I have already gone onto COMC since this shipment and purchased 8 of the 14 non-SP cards.  I am so close I can taste it. I want to be careful and not overspend as I get closer to the end but I am very confident I can put the set from my year of birth to rest sometime in 2017.

The last 3 vintage set need cards I picked up are from the 1960 Fleer set.  Picking up these 3 leave me with 32 of the 80 cards in the set.  I had picked up a few of these at my LCS Bid Board back in CA and decided I was going to casually pursue this set.  This trio were well priced and met my condition needs

Not a ton of vintage in this order but definitely some great pick ups towards 3 set builds and the finishing of 2 Traded Sets.