Card Show Dealers

So, I've teased you and shown you some cards. Now let's look at some of the dealers that sold them to me. First off, here's where the card show was held. The Knoxville Expo Center.

This has been the third show that I've attended there. Every February and October Inside Pitch presents a show there. Mark Dill is the dealer that I met a year ago. He used to work with a friend of mine. That friend, Kathy H., bought my house when it was on the market a few years ago. Mark lives in the area and has a nice selection of, well, everything. I emailed him before the show asking if he was attending and could he bring any 1964 Topps Giants that he had. He brought a small stack and I was able to pick up five of them that were on the Collective Troll's wantlist. I also picked up the bulk of Beardy's O's cards here. And that Topps Super.

Keith Mackey runs Vintage Football Trading Cards. He's been in the business since 1982 and he specializes in vintage Football cards. This is where I got all but one of my Bill Wade cards. Keith was very helpful in helping me locate the Wade cards in his boxes. He's organized and had several of each card that I was interested in. He laid them out and let me select the one that I wanted. When asked if I could take his picture, I think he said, "Sure, maybe some cute girl will have dinner with me." At least that's what I heard.

Steph Wallon is the dealer from whom I purchased the AAGPBL auto card. Yes, Mr. Wombat, he had the boxes of $2 relic and auto cards that didn't speak to me. I apologize for the blurry photo of Steph. He was a pleasure to talk with and I wish that I had a bit more money to spend on his offerings.

Wes Starkey runs Bully Ball Cards. Everything that I saw on his tables was clean. Everything. Clean. I picked up one of my Bill Wade cards here and one of Beardy's Orioles. Did I say that everything was clean? Very well priced for he was offering. Another joy to talk to. He has a nice selection of graded wax packs. They brought back many memories.

One other dealer I need to mention, but I didn't get any photos of, is Chandy Greenholdt. He's the silk guy. And the Topps Freedom's War guy. And the Motorola guy. And the Topps Look 'n See guy. He has quite a few items on ebay. When I asked him about any 1964 Topps Giants he quickly said that he didn't have any with him, but immediately told me that he has many of them, save the short prints, at home. In a box, in one of three rooms filled with boxes. He then listed all of the short prints from that set. I knew immediately that this guy knew his cards. Aside from the 50 cent boxes of oddball stuff he had a table of cards that he just bought from a collector. Old Judges, Goudeys, T207s, 1950's Bowmans and Topps. Just fantastic stuff.

There were other dealers there that had some nice things, but my time was limited as was my money. One dealer had several boxes of relic and auto cards for $3 each. Several Hall of Famer relic cards, but I wasn't in the HoF mood on Saturday. I didn't have my list with me. I wasn't fully prepared.

This was a toy/comic/card show. I got to see several old TV and movie related toys and puzzles that were fun. Lots of screen cowboy items. A few tables of NASCAR scale models. A few comic book dealers.

When I talked with many of the dealers I asked what their take on the show was. The majority of them said that the show was dead. Not much traffic and those that did stop at the tables didn't buy much. Now, this was just 3-1/2 hours into the show on Saturday. They still had another day to go. One of the dealers said that one of the malls in the area had a four day card show at the same time and that might have hurt attendance. The entry fee for an adult was $5. Inside Pitch has a dollar off coupon on their website which I took advantage of. The flea market was in the same building with no entry fee and there are usually a few tables of cards there.

Although there were several dealers that dealt in more modern cards, I just glanced over them and didn't dig too deep. I should have looked at the dealer that had supplies, but I'm okay in that area right now.

Overall, a good show for me. I had some goals that I met, helped the Collective Troll and Beardy winnow down their wantlists, and stayed well within my budget. I'm happy.

If you'd like more contact info on any of the dealers that I've profiled here, please leave a comment. And make sure there's a way that I can contact you (email on your blog). Or email me at:

mark dot aubrey at gmail dot com

More Card Show stuff

It took me some time to scan the haul and collect my thoughts about the card show. I don't know that they are even all collected here.

Several readers expressed interest in the Ethel Green silk. Some research shows that this is probably part of the Silk Film Stars 'set' that was issued in the early 19-teens by tobacco companies. The American Card Catalog designated this set as S72-1.

Ethel Green was some sort of actress or vaudeville performer. She was popular enough to get two different poses for this set. I found another, more complete (less frayed) image of this silk from some auction site. The seller is asking about $20 for it. I kind of like mine a bit better. From the stitch marks perhaps it was sewn on to a handkerchief or a pillow. I often wonder about the provenance of the ephemera I scoop up. How did it get from the original point of origin to my hands?



I got this next card from the same seller. The paper is thin enough that you can see the printing from the other side. I wasn't familiar with this set so I thought I found something very rare. I figured that it might be from the 1970s, but wasn't sure.

Here's the set description from the 2009 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards...

This set of (mostly) Hall of Famers was issued in conjunction with the annual convention of Motorola electronics dealers. Cards were issued singly in a wax wrapper with a piece of bubblegum. Sepia player photos are featured in an oval at center. Player identification and a career highlight are in the white frame around the photo. A sales message appears in a white box at bottom. Overall borders are rust colored. Backs have information about various Motorola products.

That must have been one swinging convention.



dkwilson, over at It's like having my own Card Shop is interested in cards featuring players holding multiple bats. I found this 1960 Fleer Johnny Mize. Seven bats. Seven.

This is back when cards were made out of raw cardboard. Tree pulp and everything. I wouldn't be surprised if a squirrel or two got caught up in the grinder and are part of somebody's collection.



There was a dealer that had boxes and boxes of autograph and relic cards for 2 bucks each. I leafed through them. Many minor leaguers, many being set issued on-card autos. No, I don't remember which manufacturer. I had no connection to them so I let them lay in the box.

This one sort of spoke to me. I liked the movie, A League of their Own, mostly for Jon Lovitz. What a ham. The dealer said that he got this card signed when he was living near Carlsbad, NM. Last fall I picked up the book, A Whole New Ball Game by Sue Macy from a library discard sale.

I'm slowly reading it, even though it was written for young adults. The author has enough meat in the story to make it a worthwhile read for older adults. When I'm finished reading the book it probably will find a way out to a certain collector in NM. And her mom.


Back to the silk trader, I found this 1950 Topps Freedom's War card. Yes, that is some sort of hole punched in the upper left hand corner. Very clean punch. The card is rather crisp. I think that Topps was trying to instill some sort of patriotism in the young boys that might collect this set.

I'm assuming that the cards, when assembled in order, provided some sort of storyline. I'm also assuming that "The Reds" that surprised their outfit and and the "two Reds" that got blasted referred to Communists, not the baseball players from Cincy. A nice double-tap by the Captain.



This is another one of those cards that I just wanted when I saw it. I didn't know they existed before Saturday. 1952 Topps Look 'n See.

Washington Irving was a famous American. He wrote stories. Not many other Americans have done that. Mostly we just plagiarize.

I haven't tried to place the red paper over the card to find out the answer. I keep forgetting. I'll try to remember tonight. If I do, I'll share the answer.


In an upcoming post I'll feature some of the dealers that were at the show. Pictures and everything.

Card Show update

Overall, a good card show. This will be a teaser post, since I'm too tired/lazy to do a complete one. I was all over the place. I met a few new dealers and reacquainted myself with one.

Here's a small sampling. More scans and photos in the coming days. I was able to pick up 7 Bill Wade cards. A buck each.

And a 1970 Topps Super. Short Print of Willie Davis. A buck.

I was helping Beardy out with his Orioles collection. A mess of 1968 Topps O's are going his way, along with some other O's from the 1960s. I noticed that this one featured two different cap logos. My guess is that the May photo was from the previous year or earlier, knowing that Topps liked to recycle images. A buck.

This is a very frayed Old Mill Tobacco Silk of Ethel Green. The advertising is no longer present. Fifty cents.

Let's see. What else? I picked up five 1964 Topps Giants that the Troll needs. I picked up a few oddballs (baseball and other). Featured items include an author, diodes, a gun a-blazin', a ball player holding seven, count them, seven, bats, and an on-card signed card of a member of the AAGBL. And no, I don't know if I put the commas in the correct places.

Card Show today

I heading out the door. Report later tonight.

Card Show stuff

I went to the card show on Saturday morning. I had my loupe, my lists, cash and a mission. The mission was to leave the show at 10:45am. Wedding in the early afternoon. My wife was the piano player and my son was a groomsman.

Same venue as the show in March. I took a quick survey and ignored the toy and game vendors. The sports card guys (and gals) were friendly, but since I got there right as it opened, I beat some of the vendors to their tables. One of the last vendors I went to was Uncle Dick. I picked up my two remaining Earl Wilson regular issue cards. I count regular issue as cards made while the player is actually playing (or managing as the case may be).

1964 Topps, Earl Wilson (card # 503)

1966 Topps, Earl Wilson (card # 575)

The 1964 was $1.50. The 1966 was $2.50. Well, it was $3.50, but I asked Uncle Dick if he'd take $4 for the pair. He said yes.

The next three came from a dime box collection. I pulled 30 cards from there to sweeten up some trade deals and to expand my dad's Randy Johnson collection. I'm not quite sure if he's only collecting Randy Johnson during the Arizona years or not. That's what I pulled, though.

1994 Ted Williams Locklear Collection, Josh Gibson (card # LC14)

It is Josh Gibson. What more is there to say?

2003 Playoff Portraits, Curt Schilling (card #7)

The surface of the Schilling is raised, like an oil painting. It doesn't translate at all in the scan, but it is rather nice.

1992 Rembrandt Ultra-Pro Promo, Jose Canseco (card # P19)

No, I'm not a big fan of Jose, but you can't really go wrong with this one. Look at the hair. He'd be a good gubernatorial candidate in Illinois. And it is like I got 10 cards for the price of one.

I completed my mission. Out the door at 10:45am. The wedding was nice, thanks for asking.

Oh, I purchased some more cards, but the pillow is now calling for my head. Perhaps I'll show some later tonight.

Stuff

So, I'm getting ready for the semiannual card show here in Knoxvegas. I've contacted two of the sellers I met in March, but haven't heard back from them.

To prepare, I'm trying to get organized. That means dusting off my jeweler's loupe, printing out my want lists and thinking of exactly what I want to buy.

To do that, I need to find my jeweler's loupe (found it), update my want lists and then get creative.

There are only a few items that I think I can get at this show. It is rather small and I'm not going to have a lot of time. My wife's cousin is getting married right after lunch and my son is an usher. So, I have to be there when the doors open at 9am and leave no later than 11am. Two hours for a small show? Yes. But I have a tendency to spend way too much time talking to dealers or looking through boxes of cheap stuff.

I'm going to focus on finishing off my Earl Wilson Topps regular issue set. I'm missing 1964 and 1966. I don't think that I'll find any of the Venezuelan issues there. I'll also look for some Hall of Fame relic or auto cards. Cheap ones. And some Carl Erskine cards.

I was having an email conversation with another blogger and he suggested that I have a Top Ten list of Target Cards. "It's kind of like letting people know you're looking for a job; friends seem extra-ready to keep an eye out for you."

My Target Cards:

• 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter, Millito Navarro (#112) base
• any Willie Stargell Relic or Auto card (bat preferred)
• 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Blue
• 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Black
• 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Red
• 1964 Topps Earl Wilson (#503)
• 1966 Topps Earl Wilson (#575)
• 2004 Donruss Elite Extra, Draft Class, Don Mattingly, Orel Hershiser (#DC-10)

I started to think about what I wanted. Sure, I'd like lots of old stuff, but I'm trying to be reasonable and focused. I'm still adding my Hershiser cards to Zistle, but I'm not going to finish that up by Saturday.

As I go through and organize what I have, I realize that I need to get some toploaders and some screwdowns cases. I'm good on penny sleeves. I also realize that I need to get organized. I'm getting better, but I have a ways to go.

Then, I need to spend some time with what I'm collecting. If I don't look through the binder, through the toploaders and screwdowns, why am I collecting? I need to enjoy what I have, not always looking for a way to get more.

Card Show dealers of note

Last weekend I attended a card show in town. I met and spoke with three dealers that I want to share with you.

This is Mark Dill. He is the owner of Dill's Sports Cards, based out of Dandridge, TN. A county over from me. He had a very nice selection of 1950's and 1960's cards. I was only interested in the baseball. He might have had other sports. I really don't remember. Turns out that he works with a friend of mine at a school in my county. That friend bought my old house a year and a half ago. Small world. One thing that I really liked is that he had all of his cards sorted in binders by year. Prices were clearly marked by card. Example: $1 for all cards, except for high number. $2 for high number. Makes it pretty easy. When he asked me what I was collecting and I said, "Earl Wilson" he was able to comment on the player and guide me towards the correct binders. We talked about what he collects, the state of the hobby and the show. If you want to get in touch with him, he can be reached via: dillssports AT cs DOT com .   Edit: The email I just sent Mark bounced.  I'll contact him via phone and see if he has another one.


This is William D. Campbell, Jr., CEO of Pinespursports. They specialize in Autographed Sports Memorabilia. He's holding up an Andre Thomas game used jersey. Among other things he had a very fun offering of Travel Reports and Spring Training Reports from 1976 and 1978. William was generous with his time and stories.  Edit: The Andre Thomas jersey is to William's right.  He is holding up a coach's jersey from a Brave's OldTimer's game.  Jersey number 16.


Jed Drinkwine is the owner of Jed Drinkwine's Vintage Cards. Jed is holding an autograph of Babe Ruth from an autograph book. The page is fully intact with a photo of Babe. The signature is the largest that I've ever seen of Babe. Bold and crisp. Jed also had some great singles from the late 1950's through the 1970's that he was selling for $1. Buy more than 10, get a better deal. I pulled about eight of them aside, hockey, baseball, football, but I returned them to the box as I was trying to stay in my assigned budget.

Jed also had a very nice collection of T3 Turkey Reds. Not the ones that Topps calls Turkey Reds with current players, but the ones from about 100 years ago. I fell in love with them and will share some photos and my thoughts on them in another post.

All three dealers were kind enough to let me take the photos and spend some time with them. I learned some, saw some things that I probably won't see again and look forward to doing some business in the future.

Card Show recap

Things I leared from attending the card show this weekend...

Know where the show actually is.

I knew the area, but wrote down the address and plugged it into my GPS.  It helped.

Make sure you have plenty of time.

Since card collecting is a pastime for me and not my vocation I made sure that my attending the show did not interfere with any family obligations.  I was clear and my wife even said that I deserved a bit of time away.

Have your checklists ready.

I knew what I wanted, but I was scrambling on Saturday morning, assembling and printing the checklists.  I had one on a work computer, one on the laptop and one that I'm continually working on and is in no shape to print.

Know what you want.

This goes with having your checklists ready.  I ended up only bringing two checklists.  Earl Wilson and Carl Erskine.  I wanted to fill in as many Topps Earl Wilsons spots as I could and I wanted to see what was available for the Erskines.

Set a budget and stick to it.

I set my card buying budget at $20.  I didn't count the entry fee.  It was $5, but they offered a $1 coupon.  I did print that in advance and used it.  I should have brought a mess of 1's and 5's.  I just had the 5's.  Nothing like two guys fumbling with their money pouch and wallets, digging in their pockets while juggling a handful of cards.  In the end I was probably within 10 % of my budget.  I went over by just a bit.  I was waffling at the end over an early 1950s slabbed Bowman.  No, I don't know what year or even who the player was.  But the card was good looking.  I looked at it.  Went back.  It was half off the stickered price, but it would have put me over my allotted funds.  I left the card there.

Budget your time.

Once I got to the show I scoped the place out.  It was a small show.  I walked by the tables, getting an idea of who I wanted to come back to.  That lasted about half way through the floor and then I just started looking at the cards.  I ended up with plenty of time and then made a second pass.  It was a toy/comic/sportscard show.  The second pass consisted of looking at the toys.  Don't spend an hour flipping through a big box of 25 cent star commons when there are two more aisles to look at and the show closes in half an hour.

Talk to the vendors.

I spent time talking with seven vendors.  Finding out where they came from.  Did they have business cards?  Surprisingly, only about half of those I asked had them.  But then again, I didn't have any of mine.  I really should get some printed up.  Blog and contact info.  That sort of thing.  I wanted to find out where they were from in case they had something back home that I was interested in.  Several were locals (within a few counties).  Some were from several states away.

Be open to new things.

I wasn't looking for hockey cards, but I saw quite a few that I liked.  I didn't buy them, but I liked them.  Same with some older football.

So, what did I get?  It is now time for show and tell...

1961 Topps Earl Wilson (card # 69)

1967 Topps Earl Wilson (card # 305)

1968 Topps AL Pitching Leaders (w/Earl Wilson) (card # 10)

1968 Topps Earl Wilson (card # 160)

1970 Topps Earl Wilson (card # 195)

1971 Topps Earl Wilson (card # 301)

This put a serious dent in my Earl Wilson base set.  I'm starting to go with the collecting philosophy of getting the widely distributed cards (Topps, Bowman, Fleer, Donruss, UD, etc) of the player I want when they were actually playing.  Other cards (oddball and regional) are cake.

The other part of the my collecting philosophy is to get the best quality card that I can afford, but also get the best bang for my buck.  I think that I'd rather have three Near Mint cards rather than one Gem Mint card.  Now, that depends on the card, but I think you know what I mean.

I also picked up two relic cards.  Keeping with some of my earlier collecting intents, I stayed with Hall of Famers and cards that interested me.  Okay, one of each.

2006 Fleer Decade Greats, Steve Carlton (card # DEC-SC)

I had a Brooks Robinson bat card in my hand for the longest time.  I already have a Brooks Robinson autographed card, so I thought I'd go a different route.  "Wait", you're saying. "Why a Carlton bat card?  He's a pitcher."  That's what got him into the Hall, but he was also a decent hitter.  For a pitcher.  Batting Average of .201 with 13 Home Runs.  The HRs put him into 21^st place on the "MLB all-time leaders in home runs by pitchers" list.

2001 Upper Deck Legends of New York, Legendary Dodgers, 

Game-Worn Jersey, Carl Erskine (card # LDJ-CE)

1959 Topps Carl Erskine (card # 217)

Carl was a pitcher with the Brooklyn (and then the Los Angeles) Dodgers.  He ended his career with 122 Wins and 78 Losses over 12 seasons.  His ERA was 4.00.  Not great.  He was selected to the All-Star team in 1954 and wears a ring from the 1955 Dodgers' World Series championship.

The jersey card is thick.  Well, in the jersey part of it.  Thick wool.  It has a great look and feel.  The fabric isn't shiny.  It is what uniforms used to be like.  Not slick and full of breather holes.

I decided to start collecting Carl Erskine cards this week.  Although we've never met, we share something.  But that's for another post, at another time.

I picked up a small set for a family member, but since he reads this blog, I can't share it here.  I will reveal that purchase in the future.  If he lets me.  I'm sure he will.

Later this week I'll post about some of the vendors and product that I saw.  And liked.  My budget won't allow me to collect them, but darn, I liked what I saw.

 

There's a new show in town

There aren't that many card shows in east Tennessee. We're not a magnet for them. But, according to Beckett (which I understand some of the card bloggers despise) there will be a card show in the greater KnoxVegas area in about 2 months.

Mar 21,22 - Knoxville
Knoxville Expo Center
5441 Clinton Hwy (map)
Knoxville, TN

Sa 9-5, Su 10-4 (KEC says that Saturday hours are from 9-7)
80T, a:$5

For more info contact:
Ray Mozingo
919-553-4285
shows@insidepitch.com