Truth be told, I did not enjoy the 2013 National as much as I enjoyed the 2011 National.This was because I had less money to spend this time around. However, there was far less hockey this time around too. So, I had less to spend — and less to spend it on. I couldn’t be impulsive and had to carefully weight anybig purchases, but I dug around and still found a few treasures for bargain prices.
I bought about 100 inserts from the 1990s and 2000s for 25-cents each. Since I went to the National for all five days, I had lots of time to rummage in quarter boxes.
This Team Pinnacle card of Chris Chelios was an absolute steal for a quarter. I always find this card from dealers who want $10 for it. I figured that sooner or later, I’d find it for a better price. Mission accomplished. (I found one of Bill Ranford too for the same price).
A Topps Chrome rookie card of Ilya Bryzgalov for a quarter is a HUMONGOUS SUPER DEAL.
So is this Topps rookie card of Lanny McDonald. A little rough, but still worth a quarter.
I found 13 Jeremy Roenick rookie cards, ranging from a quarter to a dollar each. One of my resolutions this year was to try and collect 1,000 Roenick rookie cards. This brings me 13 steps closer.
One dealer, who specialized in football cards, had a box that said “Anything in this box for $1.00.” I looked inside and found a complete set of 1994-95 Fleer Ultra All-Rookie insert cards. These have foil lettering and are printed on clear plastic. Finding a whole 10-card insert set for $1.00 is a good deal,
So I kept digging in that box of mostly football and found this:
That’s right — a 1979-80 Topps Gordie Howe card for $1.00. Is the card perfect? No. The corners are a little touched, but otherwise this card looks fantastic. And it was a buck!
Do not adjust your computer monitors. This is indeed a baseball card — and it is much larger than the other cards. I found the complete 60-card set of 1985 Topps Super Baseball. These cards measure 5″ x 7″. Though I am a die-hard hockey fan, it was 1985 Topps Baseball cards that got me into sports. The set was only $8.
More nostalgia from the 1980s. I snapped up a full box (48 packs) of Nintendo “Game Packs” Trading Cards for $5.
This “Blue Mirror Parallel” 2010-11 Certified card of Stan Mikita is numbered 1/100. This card is for my “1 in a…” collection, where I try to get any serial-numbered card where the first number is 1 (be it 1/1, 1/2, 1/5000, etc.).
This card was FREE. I found it at the bottom of the “goodie bag” that VIP attendees got at the National. Beckett made cards reprinting a magazine from each sport. I was lucky enough to get the Beckett Hockey Magazine card, instead of a different sport.
I picked up seven cards from the 1964-65 Topps “Tall Boys” Hockey set. Six of the cards were commons. The Pit Martin card you see here is not a common, as it is the first card in the set and a rookie card. The high book is $125. I got it for $25, which is 20% of book price. Like I said many times over, deals can be had if you are patient and know where to look.
Unfortunately, this Dale Balon card was the only 1963-64 Parkie that I could find at the show, so I did not make much progress on this set (more on this here).
I bought five hockey-themed Sportscaster cards for a buck each. No big names, but still a neat find.
CAT! CAT! CAT! CAT! OMG! DON’T LOOK HIM IN THE EYES. HE’S GONNA EAT YOU!!!!!!! (also a dollar)
It is exciting to find hockey cards that I do not know anything about. One dealer had a complete set of 1997 Pinnacle Mario Lemieux Moments trading cards — a set I had no prior knowledge of. He wanted $7 for a complete 18-card set, which also included 17 unopened packs. But the dealer ended up “throwing in” the set and packs because I bought some other items from him.
While I wish I had more funds, I honestly don’t think there would have been too much more that I would have purchased, other than a few more of those 196-65 Tall Boys.
Oh, I did get a few other odd items, but I will save those for future blog posts.
I also got some unopened hockey boxes. I’ll post the breaks of those next week.
Check back tomorrow for a set review.
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Wish I had the time and patience that you do. I probably missed half the tables with anything relatively interesting, only picked up a few singles, and mainly focused on wax. The kids make it difficult to search the quarter boxes sometimes but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Quarter boxes save money, but not time. And time is money, so I guess it all evens out. Sure, there will always be a few great finds in a quarter box or dollar box, but most of it is stuff you can find easily online.
Well regardless, I wish I would have found those Lemieux’s first, ha ha!!
I know you really are jealous of the Cat card. Admit it.
George Ferguson is the Leaf in that one Sportscaster card. Not sure who the Caps are.
Very nice Gordie, particularly for a buck.
Nice catch on the Lemieux cards! I would have jumped on those as well.
The Pit Martin card is also a nice catch. I bought one myself last year and paid around the same price as you did.
I guess Pit’s card really isn’t “worth” $125 if everyone can get it for $25 🙂
Lol I hope not! I thought I got lucky and managed to find one of those rare steals that seem to happen about once a year.