My Recap of the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention
Last month, the 44th annual National Sports Collectors Convention took place in Cleveland, Ohio. And for the fourth year in a row, I set up at the National to sell hockey cards and Puck Junk t-shirts, and to promote the Puck Junk Podcast.
As much fun as it is to be at a five-day card show, it is also a grind.
This is me on Wednesday, at the start of the show…
And this is me at the end of the five days…
Needless to say, it was a long and busy week – including a day of travel to Cleveland and a day of travel back to Chicago. I was pretty beat by the end of it all.
Still, I had a lot of fun and got to meet quite a few listeners of the Puck Junk Podcast and readers of the Puck Junk blog and newsletter.
Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. I hope to see you at the National next year in Chicago.
Three Interesting Things I Saw
Unfortunately, I did not have much time to walk around and take in all the sights at the National. But a few interesting things did come my way.
I own one copy of this card, but this guy had FOUR! Allegedly, around five copies of this card exist. For more information, check out my articles here and here about this card.
Another collector asked me to look at a Wayne Gretzky O-Pee-Chee rookie card that he bought at an auction and tell him if I thought it was fake. The card looked questionable to me, so I asked the collector to pull it out of the top loader it was in so I could handle it.
Unfortunately, the card was 100% fake, with absolutely no gloss on the front of the card and edges that were way too clean for a 1970s-era OPC card.
The card was originally in a slab, graded by some no-name grading company called Dynamic Card Innovation, based in Dallas, Texas. I would be wary of buying ANY graded card from this company.
But this was definitely the craziest thing I saw – a mobile brocase showcase!
This collector used a 3D printer to make his own showcase backpack, that had lights and a slowly turning carousel that showed off his graded cards. You can see a video of it in action here on TikTok.
Some Cool Cards (and Other Stuff) I Got
Of course, I can’t go to the largest sports card show IN THE WORLD and leave empty handed. Fortunately, I did have enough time to get some nice things for my own collection…
Two graded Connor cards – a 2015-16 Fleer Showcase Metal Connor McDavid rookie card and a 2023-24 O-Pee-Chee Glossy Connor Bedard rookie card.
I also got a few ungraded cards of the younger Connor for my collection, as well as a dual jersey card of my all-time favorite player, Chris Chelios.
I picked up this sweet triple auto card, signed by Chris Chelios, Mark Howe, and Paul Coffey. It is numbered 1/3. I also acquired autographed cards of Ryan O’Reilly, Denis Savard, and Cam Neely.
Clemente gave me this cool photo of the Cleveland Barons from the 1977-78 season – the last year the team existed before it folded.
Upper Deck was selling this nice 8-1/2″ by 11″ art print of Wayne Gretzky. I made it a point to stop at their booth and pick one up. It even came in a big top loader, which I thought was a nice touch.
My best purchase at the show was these three rookie cards of Charlie Conacher, Ivan “Ching” Johnson, and Joe Primeau from the 1933-34 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set. All three players are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Finally, I got an unopened box of 1990-91 Pro Set Hockey Series One cards because I gotta to stay true to my roots.
Did you make it out to the National this year? What cool stuff did you get? Leave a reply or hit me up on social media and let me know.
Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk
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