Monday 15 May 2023

Local card show - Great to have a dealer looking out for you

There was a local card show just over a week ago, and I arrived at it later in the show, actually seeing some dealers packing up when I got there.

No matter, a few of the dealers that I always check in with were still there, and it was nice to go over and say hi.

From one, that sells used books and CDs, along with some cards, I found a hardcover Brett Favre book for one friend, and a 3 CD Gordon Lightfoot collection to give to another friend, shortly after Lightfoot's passing.

At a second dealer's table, I didn't see anything that I wanted at the time but talked with him and asked him to look for a few things for me that he thinks he might have in storage. Hopefully it will give me something to talk about after the next local show.

A third dealer's table was busy, so I really didn't look through much of his stuff but said hi, and said I'll chat with him more next show.

When I got to the fourth dealer's table, he was happy to see me. He is the biggest football fan/collector/dealer among them, and we often trade cards with each other.

He smiled, and told me that he had picked up some Browns cards for me at a show that he went to in Toronto. He passed me a small stack of cards and told me that he got them for a good deal, along with some other football cards for his collection.

Here is what was in that stack of cards.




Although the signature is fading a little, I'm thrilled with the Luke McCown 2004 Playoff Prime Signatures card numbered out of 99.

I knew I owned the regular (or silver) 2005 Donruss Zenith - Rookie Roll Call card of Braylon Edwards, but wasn't sure if I had this gold parallel, numbered out of 100. I didn't own it, and now I do. I like it when things are that simple.




The Jim Brown card is the bronze version of the 2006 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles card. It is numbered out of 1000, and is the first of the Jim Brown cards from these Classic Singles that I own.

The Brady Quinn card is the Timeless Tributes Bronze parallel from the 2007 Donruss Classics set, numbered out of 100.

I can't believe that the draft when Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn were drafted was 16 years ago.




Then there were these cards of the two Browns first round draft picks from the 2012 NFL Draft.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't have the 2012 Topps - Rookie Patch card of Trent Richardson. Frankly, it is a generic enough relic card that it looks like so many others that I own and I figured I might already have owned it.

The Autographics 1998 card of Brandon Weeden from the 2012 Fleer Retro Ultra set has now joined the Autographics 1999 card that I already owned.



In the last of the "older" cards that I needed from the stack were these two cards.

The Connor Shaw Courage parallel is from the 2014 Topps Valor set, while the Orange parallel Ozzie Newsome card, numbered out of 99, is from the 2017 Panini Phoenix set.

Following came four 2022 cards that I needed.




From the 2022 Panini Legacy set was this Red parallel of Nick Chubb, and this Premium Mini Silver parallel of Myles Garrett. Both are welcome additions to my collection.



After mentioning last post that the four David Bell cards that I picked up at the Syracuse show were the first of his cards into my collection, I found two more to join them.

The 2022 Panini Absolute card is nice, adding an autographed memorabilia card that has a piece of football in it, along with two generic uniform swatches. It gives a little bit of variation in the appearance of the card.

According to the Trading Card Database, the 2022 Leaf Metal Draft autographed card seems to have the description of being a Portrait Autographs Mojo Blue parallel. (Again, where do they come up with these parallel names?) It is numbered out of 15.

Along with all of these cards, I knew that one additional card in the stack was a double, but I decided to just grab the whole stack of cards that he bought for me so that he wouldn't be stuck with an autographed card of a former Browns quarterback that most people wouldn't be interested in - a 2005 SP Authentic - Sign of the Times card.



Seeing this stack of cards, and knowing that I wanted to buy them all, I was waiting to see what his price was going to be. He had always been very fair in the past so I wasn't too worried, even when the cards weren't broken down by individual prices.

I hesitated a little when he told me the price, only because I was actually expecting it to be a little more than it was. He wanted CDN$40 for the stack (just under US$30).  I thought it was very fair, told him so, thanked him and paid for it.

I'm just glad to have a friendly dealer that thinks of me while buying for himself at a big out of town show. These cards probably would have escaped me if it wasn't for him.

2 comments:

  1. That's really cool that you've gotten to know this dealer well enough that he'll look for deals for you. I've had dealers do this for me before. Sometimes it works out for me, but there have been a few times I knowingly overpaid just because I felt obligated to make the purchase.

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  2. I don't own any of them, but it seems like all of the autographs that I've seen on jersey swatches have some sort of fading. I would imagine that it's just something that collectors have to deal with if they want those kinds of cards in their collection.

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