I headed out to the world famous Frank and Sons Collectibles show in order to find a nice prize for Al, the winner of my recent 100,000 views contest - and hopefully some other cool stuff for my regular trade partners.
Back in the day, Frank and Sons was a card collector's paradise, with rows upon rows of tables stacked high with cards, packs, and boxes of cardboard, from the shiniest new stuff opened there before your eyes, to the most vintage and obscure cardboard from just about every sport and endeavor they made cardboard for.
It had been a couple of years since I set foot in there, and I was absolutely looking forward to slowly sauntering the aisles, enjoying all of the wonderful cards (that weren't under glass), as I used to.
Of course, the day I planned to go was twice as busy as I wanted it to be, so I ended up screeching into the parking lot one hour before the show closed, which I knew meant a good 20% of the tables would already be closed and covered.
And then I walked in. The show is in the same industrial-sized building occupying the same huge floor space, but at least 70% of the tables were devoted to comics, figurines, super hero memorabilia, stuffed mini-figures and who knows what, that wasn't related to sports cards.
*Imagine me with a huge frown at this point.*
That said, I still had a mission to accomplish, so I dove in to what sportscard dealers were still open for business. Time and choice factors were working against me, so my purchases were extremely limited.
I ended up buying just a few cards from a quarter box. Sorry Nick, there's pretty much no such thing as dime boxes out here in the LA area. Here they are...
One can't go wrong picking up a card from the greatest catcher ever. Anybody need/want this one?
The next are from a couple of subsets that I collect, so I was already partial to the designs. The players weren't too shabby either. Any takers?
Finally, a little something I figgered Tony might like, but then again, he may already have five copies of this one...
Oh yeah, I also found something related to the Toronto Maple Leafs that I hope Al will dig. But I'm keeping that a secret. Here's a hint, Al - it aint cardboard.
All in all, I found something for my primary objective, so the trip was successful.
Even though the choices are fewer these days, I'll head back to the show in a couple of weeks for a deeper foraging. I just gotta get there early!
A note for Jeff from I Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum: I saw you wanted the Chipper from my GQ packs. All yours. My email is in my profile. Just shoot a mail to me with your address, and we'll get our (believe it or not) first trade going.
Aloha!
I think every card shop that I know that still exists has had to add comics and Magic the Gathering in order to survive. I guess the same goes for card shows.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've got that Yount already, unless it's a Topps Tiffany version. But thanks for thinking of me!
ReplyDelete