The Post War Cards Newsletter #46
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I know a small portion of sports fans collect cards, and an even smaller percentage of collectors go to The National. And there’s so much content about the show, but since I was visiting my sister in Chicago the same weekend, it would have been silly for me not to go and write about my impressions, and I think you’ll see some unique stuff here.
🥵 NSCC23 - Overall Impressions
I spent ~5 hours at The National on Thursday the 27th; yes, it was warm and crowded (the biggest show ever). My goals were to see some cool stuff and learn about a few new items, but I also managed to walk away with some unique oddball collectibles you don’t see every day at fantastic prices and came out incredibly motivated to write about the hobby a lot more, so mission accomplished!Â
Now, this isn’t a knock in any way on the hobby, but it’s really two very different worlds between vintage and modern that it could be two shows - but that’s also what’s great about the hobby, there’s something for everyone; be it pre-war, post-war, shiny modern, corporate stuff, pack ripping, etc. And yeah, there are a ton of museum pieces, too, like the SGC 9 1952 Topps Mantle I highlighted last week.
I spent most of my time with vintage dealers. And, despite some negativity on social about prices, I saw a TON of sales. Many people online are quick to comment without context or anything constructive to say.
While prices were often marked high, I found most (~75%) dealers would come down A LOT in price, especially if you bought more than one item, particularly if one thing differed from most of their stuff. For example, a dealer who mostly has pre-war tobacco cards and a few post-war Topps/Bowman wrappers will massively discount the wrappers to sell a tobacco card or two. So don’t succumb to sticker shock at shows.
A lot about making a deal is building rapport with dealers to settle on a price - but if it’s a rare item, you might not ever see it again, so you might HAVE to pay up a bit.
🎆 NSCC23 - Specific Items
Unopened: Like every year, the Baseball Card Exchange had a lot of fantastic unopened items, like a 1987 Fleer BK case for $155k (and they authenticated a 1954 Topps BB wax box for Nat Turner, more on that in the future). But a pair of items at other booths caught my eye. I believe it was RockHurstAuctions that had the nicest 1953 Bowman box I’ve ever seen, and another dealer had an unopened 1954 Red Man Tobacco Pack (which I’d need to research more if purchasing).
Pre-War: I’ve started collecting W-cards lately; the HoF value seems great, and there was a great selection around the show floor.
There were a ton of tobacco cards, but this unique case had a bunch of empty Tobacco cartons.
Post-War: This 1965 Bazooka Box with a Mantle panel was unique and interesting.
I always knew about the Johnston cookie sets but had never realized they were distributed in foldout panels. And I’m going to have to research the early 70s Bulls cards a bit more, I highlighted the ‘70-71 cutouts on the Oddball Archive, but I’ve never seen the larger example and couldn’t grab the dealers’ attention for a chat.
Hobby Library Guy: My absolute favorite displays were in the lobby and showcased hobby history.
Shoot me an e-mail, or reach out on Twitter, if you want to chat about anything I shared, and happy collecting!