Pasteboard Power Tour Finale: Chantilly, VA

Our last stop on the Power Tour was two days (Friday & Saturday) at the tri-annual show at Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly.

With one exception, I haven't really broken down my hauls by dealer.  You may recognize some of the price markings from Uncle Dick's among the groups shown here.

I'll lead off with the one separate purchase I scanned.  A very eclectic mix from the guy I call Brother Mike.  He's got an email mailing list that keeps you informed of where he is at all the local shows.  And he always works with you on prices.  I snagged up a couple inserts and base cards from Topps Super Teams, American Pie, '07 Sweet Spot Classic, and Topps Gallery HOF.  I'm down to only one of those Gallery variations now (#38 Bucky Harris with the red W on his sleeve).  I got about a dozen of them from Mike before.  Also found a couple nice '57 semistars and the Phillies team.

Ramped up my '50 Bowman purchases.  The Robin Roberts is an upgrade.  I'm at the point where it's time to bite the bullet on some of the more expensive missing ones.  The top four were still less than $10 each and the others were within the pre-boom price range.

These are all from Uncle Dick's too.  I'm starting my '62 and '63 builds with the variations even though I haven't officially started the sets.  Will wait until '64 is done and '57 is close until that happens.  But it's nice to have a lot of the odd ones out of the way.

Stuart hooked me up with Hal and the Leaf stars (for a setbuild later).  I did well on Super Teams this trip.

Found a dealer with a ton of quarter boxes full of chrome parallels, so I dove in on some Washington batches that I was lacking otherwise.  Also was shocked to find some of the premiere rookies from my 2015 Score set build in there too!.  Moses and Pastorini were from other buys.

More quarter box shinies and some vintage Washington.  Mr. James is an upgrade, and I ended up having more of those 4-in-1s than I realized.  Luckily I only bought one duplicate.

Going way back into the early 50's to finally knock out some of the older Washington needs.  Bowman larges and smalls that I finally pulled the trigger on.  Chet O I hadn't seen before.  Makes it tough when they are still listed with their colleges.

Speaking of vintage ~ more of my two older set builds, '58 and '68.

Got these three for like $60 total from and older couple.  I thought it was a great deal even though the wife was a bit sheepish about the offer.  Griese is fine, he's just in a tinted top loader.

And finally, the bargains of the day.  A young guy had mostly graded newer stuff, but there was one little box of vintage stars - a handful at most.  I saw these two and heard Hallelujah music in my head.  I said to him "Wow, are these because you don't do a lot of vintage?"  He replied that he had just looked around and figured out a good price for them.  I jumped.  Had one of my dealer friends inspect them just to be sure.  Effectively kills both sets.  I only need the Calvin Hill black name variation for '70.  And of course those short prints at the end of '72 are basically a fantasy.

Thanks for coming along on the Power Tour!

Pasteboard Power Tour 2022: Greencastle PA

The day after the visit to the Bel Air shop, we went back through Westminster and Taneytown to visit a few of the antique shops that we saw on the way the day before.  None of them had any significant cards, so I'll move on to Thursday.  

One shop we were anticipating visiting for the first time was Kevin's Cards in Greencastle.  He had had a big booth in Rocky Ridge Collectibles near Maugansville, MD, but that place was shut down and will be replaced with a soft drink warehouse or something.  Kevin opened his new shop a few months ago, but I hadn't had the chance to see it until now.

I pictured a retail storefront, but the shop is actually just a space on the back side of a shopping center with one window and a door into the entryway.  The main part of the shop is an enclosed space with several rack shelves and some counters.  Here's the view as you come in the door, though this must be an early shot, because the shelves look a bit sparse compared to when we were there.

And there's a bit more around to the right.  That's where I started digging...

Some of the boxes are marked as vintage or certain years.  A lot of the others are just 25¢, 50¢, or $1 by sport, which is the same as in the old space.  Just here there are more of them!

I started with the vintage football...

He's always had those distinctive price tags over the top of each's card's penny sleeve or sheet pocket (sometimes both - I like to return the pockets and holders for "recycling" when I come back).  

Was very happy to find that Cam Newton - it's the final card for that 2011 Topps Legends set.

Stuart found those Cal Ripkens from 1996 SP.  It always adds to the fun when you're with another collector friend and you go back and forth with "Do you still need any of these?" "You ever get this one?" etc.

Another couple set killers - the Luis Bob 2030 was the elusive finish to those, Yordan killed my 2020 Heritage needs except for the Ernie Banks inserts in the high series, and Judge finally knocked out those 5-Tools from 2017 Topps.  (Still need some of the '87s, Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, All-Star MVPs, and HRD champs...)  The others are Heritage short prints, header cards, or serial numbered rookies that I didn't expect to find soon.

One unfortunate bonus pickup I got was a dry cough that the owner had (wasn't COVID) that I'm just now getting over completely.  Spending all that time in an enclosed space will lead to that sometimes.

So that wraps up this shop.  The last couple days were at the big show in Chantilly, VA.

Pasteboard Power Tour 2022: Bel Air, MD

Tuesday brought what turned out to be the highlight of the week.  Stuart sent me a link to the Bel Air Sports Cards shop a while back and I put it on the list immediately while planning our tour.

It's about an hour and a half drive from my house, straight through Westminster and around the top of the Baltimore beltway.  It was well worth the trip.  I will be going back often.

Just inside the door, there is a big area of monster boxes of recent singles by sport, and a wall full of older sets.  Further in is the Card Bar, a long counter where you take your boxes and sift through them or break your wax.  They even offer free sodas and Gatorades, which helped me because Stuart never takes meal breaks in the middle of the day when we're in a shop.

Behind the counter (to the right in the photo above) there are several more rows of inserts and other singles, and at the far end are even more.  Vintage, 80's, 90's, 2000's +, they have it all.  They're open from 11 AM to 6:30 PM Tuesday thru Friday and 10-4 / 12-4 on the weekends.  The late close on the weekdays works well for me coming from such a distance - I don't have to get up before the sun.

Anyway, on to the loot!  I dug through mostly the insert boxes, but found a bit of everything.  And I'm sure I didn't get through all they had out.  And there is a whole back room that they can pull stuff from as well!

I attacked the big box of 1957 Topps they had early.  Most were $3 each and really nice.  

Stuart pitched in and dug me out all these baseball from 2003 Topps, 2004 Topps Fan Favorites, and 2006 Greats Of The Game.

I'm pretty sure I found these in their vintage football too.  I can't confirm that 100%, but I'm pretty confident.  I had stacked these up after the week was over and couldn't match them to the other stuff.  The price tags are similar enough to the '57s that I think I'm right.  Volney was an upgrade.  (He could be from somewhere else too).

Then I got into the football insert boxes.  I think I went through six or eight three row units.  Found a ton of this Prestige set including that Zeke insert I got before.  When I settled up, he just gave the totals to the big stacks I had, so I didn't have an itemized list, but these were most likely a quarter each.

More Prestige and then 2015 Score.  And a few of those crazy 2009 Philadelphia inserts. Knocking out listings left and right.

Some of the earlier 2000's inserts I've been after, and all the way back to the late 90's.  Plus an early 90's Joe Montana header card. Some of those E/X Centurys I put on my favorite sets list.

Among all those inserts I kept finding Washington football cards that I didn't have as well.  I actually brought my whole list binder and looked them up as I went.  Probably saved me several dollars and a few dozen dupes.

And finally, some non-sports that I got from them - but actually at the Chantilly show over the following weekend.  I've got about a dozen scans from that show, so I'll put these here.  They had every one of the remaining Charlie's Angels I had on my list.  But I messed up - #109 should have been #108, which was an upgrade anyway.  Will confirm that later.

Like I said, this is a great place to go digging for singles, which is what I like best about card shopping.  It's too bad I've shunned so much of the current year's offerings, I'd have spent a lot more time in the front area with the base cards.  But I still know that I'll have to go back a couple times before I'll have any idea that I've seen most of what they have to offer.  If you're in the area, stop in and sit at the Card Bar with Mel & the boys....

Pasteboard Power Tour 2022: MD/DC Stops

Continuing on our pursuit of cardboard, we move to Monday the 20th of June.  

Our first stop was the shop next to McDonald's in the Cabin John Mall in Potomac, MD.  Potomac is the suburb of DC where all the multimillion dollar mansions are, so this is where the fancy people live.  

Hall Of Fame Cards usually has a decent selection no matter what you're looking for, although it may take you a little longer to find it.  They have vintage cards by set, but the more modern stuff is sorted in an area against the wall into the major stars.  That's not horrible, since we keep want lists with the stars names usually noted - at least when you get down to a few base or just the inserts.  But if you're looking for the other decent names or inserts, you're going to have to dig through a lot of little boxes.  Their stock is sorted by teams.

We spent from about 10AM to around 2:30 or so digging.  At one point we were both sitting on the floor by the stacks.  The owner said we looked like little kids.  We were more like old guys with bad knees or backs.  Luckily those wooden team boxes are only about 300 card size.

To be honest, I learned something after we went to this shop this time and then the others during the week.  This is the type of shop you schedule very late in the tour.  And that's because the goal would be to exhaust all the other places and then find what you didn't get here.  Because their pricing is reasonable, but you won't find stuff super cheap.  The one sign that discourages me from buying from a dealer at shows it that they get the book out when pricing things.  This owner does too, but usually it's not horrible.  I found several star cards and inserts and paid a buck or few for each one of them.

Picked up the Unitas Kellogg's just 'cuz it was there (and $4).  The other stuff, yeah Peyton Manning or Dan Marino inserts are reasonable at $3, or the rookies for a couple bucks.  No problem.  Brady for a dollar.  Sure.  I can live with that.  They've got the full retail overhead situation going, I understand.  

I did get one insert for this kind of price that I ended up duplicating later, but only for about a quarter I think.  Dang Cowboys...

Found a few baseball, including some decent but not fantastic '57s for $7.50 total. 

Then from there, we finally ate something and moved on to House Of Cards over near Silver Spring.  This is more of an auction type place (affiliated with Huggins & Scott) and a little more high end, but they have a nice store display (that last year apparently suggested an appointment to see).  Can't find any interior shots except their Facebook site, which I can't get into.  The store is located in a business park, rather than a full retail center like HOF Cards.

I didn't get a whole lot from them, but what I got was pretty sweet.  They have several boxes of half price vintage football...

The '58s and '68s are for my set builds, so it's nice to knock off a couple big names.  Lots of Unitas today!  Figured I could live with the tape stains for that much of a discount.  Got all three of the pair of '68 checklists - the second one comes in blue or green on the back - same price for all three ($10).  The Gifford was just because it was too cool to pass up.

Again, the '57s and '50s are for the sets, and the Posts were just 'cuz they were so cool.  I got another Nellie Fox later for someone else, which wasn't as cheap as this one.  Unfortunately, I didn't look at the back, which had a strip of packaging paper stuck to it.  Looked like it might have been an envelope seal or something.  I successfully removed it by dabbing water on it and lightly scraping it off, immediately drying the card as I went.  Should have documented that procedure.

House Of Cards is open until 7:30, which is the latest of any shop we visited.  Makes it nice when you can hit a couple places for hours at each place without rushing around.

Next time - A new place!  And one I'll definitely be back to often!

Pasteboard Power Tour 2022: PA stops

This is the first of several posts chronicling my vacation.  My collector friend Stuart was visiting from Michigan, and we hit all the area shops, plus one we'd never been to, and ended the week with two days at the big Chantilly show.

As soon as he arrived, we were on the hunt.  Mere minutes after he got to my house, we were on our way to the closest cardboard sources.  This was Saturday, the 18th of June.

It had been a long time since I had been to either Prime Time Sports or Old Glory Antiques in Frederick.  Probably pre-pandemic.  Only found a couple singles from either place.  Nothing of real note, so I didn't scan them all.  But there was this Sparky Lyle jersey card...

Not sure it was worth all $12, but it looks nice, so I said what the heck.

Sunday was our first full day shopping, so we headed north into Pennsylvania.  The first stop was Jason's Sports Cards in the Morning Sun Marketplace along Route 30 towards York.  I'm pretty sure it used to be the MorningStar Marketplace, not sure why or when it changed.  Anyway, he had some sales going - all $4 cards were half price I believe, though all I got were dollar cards.

All these were a dollar each.  Those tags are bright red.  Not sure what the scanner was doing.

Also nabbed another '58 for my set.  (Had scanned it with some others from another store.)

We also hit one of the better antique places in the same area.  Yesteryear Antiques in Hanover is a regular stop not just for cards, but a little bit of everything. 

The biggest card guy there (of about 2) can be pricey, but I found a batch of my Topps 205 minis for a dollar each.  Even the rare Brooklyn series.  I'm not trying to collect the Brooklyn ones, but couldn't resist one for a buck.  Finally got my Foster insert from Decades' Best too.

Prestige football rookies and inserts will become a theme throughout all these posts.  These were the beginning.  Those All-Pros must have been retail only or something, because I hadn't seen them before even though I have a whole monster box of 2015 Score including parallel inserts and everything. 
The blue Fleer Team Actions were a major score - only $3 for the whole batch.  They're all minty condition and I needed the majority of them for my set.

The final stop was Black Rose Antiques, also in Hanover.  There were a few small stacks of cards among the many booths of classy items, and we found a couple to take home.

Decent names for a buck a shot.

Next time - a shop whose stock is primarily sorted by star and team.  Plus some really great finds on big vintage football stars.

Celebrating Something Else Born in 1951

OK, I've been teasing this long enough.  

I've been looking for something like this for a while now.  I joined a club of fellow enthisiasts to find it.  And in April, I saw an ad for just what I was looking for.  And I went and got it.  It was delivered to me Sunday.

This 1951 Buick Special Riviera is sitting in the garage at my mother's house.  I still can't believe it's mine.

It all just fell into place.  I had been looking on Hemmings website for months for early 50's Pontiacs or Buicks.  Then I joined the Buick Club of America, figuring I liked those best and any members selling on there would be in it for the enjoyment of the cars and not trying to hawk rustbuckets for a quick buck. 

Lo and behold, in the April issue of the Buick Bugle magazine, I saw the ad for this one.  Garaged all its life, they just wanted it to go to a good home.  It checked all the boxes for what I was looking for.  I decided "Life Is Short." and figured out when I could take off and go see it.  The catch was, it was in Menlo Park, California.  I live in Maryland.

But what the heck.  I booked flight and hotel, and went out on May 7.  Drove it the next day and we made the sale.  The owner couldn't have been nicer.  His father in law owned the car originally, but commuted to work, so the mileage was very low.  Then they got it and only put 1500 more on it.  

It was repainted, rechromed, and reupholstered in 2002.  And it never went east of Sacramento its whole life.  I booked a shipper and they picked it up a week ago. (The owner was out of town in between.)

I got the call yesterday at noon and met the shipper in a Home Depot parking lot.

Took it home and introduced it to my old Ford.  To my surprise, the Buick is just a bit longer.

I've driven it now three times total.  It's a workout.  It's an automatic, but has no power steering.  It's going to take a while to get used to driving it.   I also got the shop manual, and reprints of the owner's manual, and a second book on the DynaFlow engine (inline 8 cylinder). Plus some extra vintage light bulbs, radio tubes, weather stripping, air ducting and a custom cover.

My favorite part is the piano style hood that opens from either side.  The engine was repainted with all the stencils and labels too.

So Topps can celebrate their 70th anniversary and that's cool and all, but this car was made the same year they started and I like it's design much better.  I considered picking a card from the '51 Red and Blue Backs set to hang on the mirror or something, but there weren't any west coast teams yet, and I don't really have a favorite player that far back except for Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones, who I started collecting just to see the 50's cards.  I looked through the Topps World On Wheels set, but the closest thing there was a '53 Roadmaster convertible, which is just too different than mine.

So that's what I've been preoccupied with the last month or so.  I finally got some stacks of cards put away in the last couple days.  I need to get back to sorting my football hoard and generating more trades.  I've got a lot of work to do on all three cars now too.  Like my old boss used to say, "It keeps us entertained."