How was the National ??
 

A few years ago we used to get several daily updates on the Nationals but now
you here pretty much nothing .......

About go to the show in Atlantic City this weekend ??

How was it ?? etc. etc.....

Any reports out there ??

For me, it was the best show I have ever attended.
Basically everthing on my list was obtained and more. I found TWO cards I had
been looking for for four (did I say that three times?) years. I found stuff
there for MUCH cheaper than what they go for on line. Any box you were looking
for was there. Any single was also there.
Came back with an absolute ton of stuff.
Can't imagine a better show anywhere.
Mike
"Support your local card store and ENJOY the greatest hobby in the world"
Mike
Member of 2 good dealers groups
(TIC) and CDN#99

According to most of the dealers I spoke with, the show was a bomb.
Attendance was sparse and most collectors were not dropping large amounts
of cash in the room. However, dealer to dealer sales were fairly good
with most of the action taking place during set-up. They would have been
even better if retail sales throughout the show had been better.

From a selling standpoint, this was my worst National ever (I've done 14
of them). I had two large dealer sales on Wednesday, but these were
pre-arranged and could have been handled through the mail. Many dealers I
spoke to went hours between sales at their tables. It was, for me, a
great buying show. I spent more than I sold (a first for me at the
National)...prices on a lot of things were just too good to pass up. I
bought several boxes of 2003 UD Golf for under $25 per box, cases of 2001
UD golf at $86 per case (I know golf is kinda dead, but I have a lot of
customers in Japan that still buy it and I figured I couldn't go wrong
at under $8 per box), tons of singles priced at under 20% of guide.

The facility was very nice and load-in was really easy (load-out for most
people was a different story). Lots of dealers packed up on Saturday.
The hotel rates in AC were the highest of any city that has ever hosted a
National. The city itself is a dump. The casinos are a big disappointment
for those who have ever visited Las Vegas (although the new Borgata is
nice).

My overall impression of the show was that it was boring. No excitement
in the room. Not a lot of collectors trying to sell their cards to
dealers in comparison ot other Nationals. This was also the first
National in 5 or 6 years that I didn't meet any of my mail order customers.
I generally have at least a dozen people introduce themselves to me as
past ebay customers, but this year there weren't any. I'd be really
surprised if they hold the National in AC in three years as planned (I
heard talk of moving it to Philly instead...don't know how true that'll
be).

Next year's National is in Cleveland...if you're a collector, you should
try to go. I think Mike's assessment below will still be true next year.




MIFA23 wrote:
: For me, it was the best show I have ever attended.
: Basically everthing on my list was obtained and more. I found TWO cards I had
: been looking for for four (did I say that three times?) years. I found stuff
: there for MUCH cheaper than what they go for on line. Any box you were looking
: for was there. Any single was also there.
: Came back with an absolute ton of stuff.
: Can't imagine a better show anywhere.
: Mike
: "Support your local card store and ENJOY the greatest hobby in the world"
: Mike
: Member of 2 good dealers groups
: (TIC) and CDN#99

On 28 Jul 2003 00:41:05 GMT, (HOCKEYRON) wrote:


A few years ago we used to get several daily updates on the Nationals but now
you here pretty much nothing .......

About go to the show in Atlantic City this weekend ??

How was it ?? etc. etc.....

Any reports out there ??


This was the first National I have ever attended, so I can't make any
comparisons, here are some random observations.

I primarily went to get Ron Guidry's auto, I am a big fan since I was
a kid.. He was very nice but not overly talkative and was 40 minutes
late.

The room was huge and my legs ached from walking the entire place
several times over.

I was disappointed in a lack of quality, non graded older (1960's)
cards. I was trying to put together Yankee team sets back to 1960,
but I think I will put that project to the back burner for a while.

It may be that most were sold before I arrive, I only attended on
Friday.

Where were Topps and Fleer? Upper Deck must have cleared out their
warehouse. Every time I passed thier booth, they were giving away
something. I like the black card holder the best, also got a few caps
for the kids.
The one UD rep I spoke with was very nice. I was complaining about
how game used swatches rarely match the picture depicted on the card.
She stated that the player has final say over the picture and can veto
the companies choice. Anyone else buying this or is it a load of BS?

Donruss' booth was OK, giving out rubber squeeze pigs to promote some
new FB product ( I only do BB)

I could not believe how much "junk wax" was on people's tables. Stuff
from the late 80's early 90's. I don't believe anyone was selling any
of it. Several tables looked like they hadn't seen a customer the
entire day.

I found some cheap inserts, (thanks Chandy, and it was nice to meet
you in person). Andy, where was your table?

In regards to prices, some were pretty good, here is a breakdown of
what I bought.

02 Fleer tradition update hobby $23.
02 Leaf R&S hobby $25.
03 sp authentic $70
03 upper deck series 1 retail $25
03 Fleer tradition $43
03 Leaf hobby $30
02 gold label 24 pack re-wrap $25

I also found something new to collect, although the wife is going to
kill me. Autographed mini helmets. Got a Fred Blinitnikoff on a
replica with metal face mask for $45.

Oh, also got to see the Ruth jersey that Donruss is going to destroy,
I mean cut up for cards next year. and also saw the PSA 8 Wagner,
both were very impressive.

All in all, it was for me at least, worth the 2.5 hour drive down.
But I have to agree with Andy, there was no buzz, no excitement in the
room. It just seemed like a very large, nothing special card show.

Paul

dougefresh wrote:
: Andy, where was your table?

I was in booth 822...If you came in the main entrance and turned right, I
was on the 4th row (a row from Collection Monster and across from Brian
Morris who had an awesome display of old memorabilia)...a great location.

In article , dougefresh
writes:


Where were Topps and Fleer? Upper Deck must have cleared out their
warehouse. Every time I passed thier booth, they were giving away
something. I like the black card holder the best, also got a few caps
for the kids.
The one UD rep I spoke with was very nice. I was complaining about
how game used swatches rarely match the picture depicted on the card.
She stated that the player has final say over the picture and can veto
the companies choice. Anyone else buying this or is it a load of BS?

Fleer had to be there, you must have missed it. They had an auto guest i
believe. Topps has boycotted for 4 or 5 years now.

LARGE EYES wrote:
: Fleer had to be there, you must have missed it. They had an auto guest i
: believe. Topps has boycotted for 4 or 5 years now.

Fleer was there. They weren't doing anything exciting in their booth, but
they were there.

I don't think "boycotted" is the proper term here. It implies that there
is some sort of animosity between Topps and the NSCC which I don't think
exists. Topps feels that they get much more mileage out of sponsoring the
Super Bowl and Pro Bowl shows than they do out of attending the National
so they don't set up. If you've attended either of the Topps shows, you'd
see a huge difference in the way the shows are promoted. Topps did have
some of its executives at the show walking the floor.

In article , writes:

I don't think "boycotted" is the proper term here. It implies that there
is some sort of animosity between Topps and the NSCC which I don't think
exists. Topps feels that they get much more mileage out of sponsoring the
Super Bowl and Pro Bowl shows than they do out of attending the National
so they don't set up. If you've attended either of the Topps shows, you'd
see a huge difference in the way the shows are promoted. Topps did have
some of its executives at the show walking the floor.

The view of many in the hobby is that Topps thumbs their noses at the
nationals. It really is one of the biggest conglomerations of hobbyists in the
world, and you don't go? I don't think that they'd lose sales if they went.
It could only help their image.