Adventures at the Card Show - Volume 2, Part 1: My Vintage Haul

Thank you to everyone who wished me well on my first show in a long time. In my last post, I detailed some goals that I had set for my Sunday at the Show. I picked up a lot of cards. Now, I'm not talking about Johnny's Trading Spot-a lot of cards, but I brought home more than I have from any single show in years. Did they help me meet the pre-set goals? We'll get to most of that answer in another post. Tonight, I'll focus on my vintage haul. Wow, I've never put those two words together to describe my show(or shop) spoils before. It's got a nice ring to it...vintage haul.

First, I'll address my only vintage related goal. Was I able to track down and bring home my 'public enemy number one'? That was a very disappointing no! It turns out, Mr. Mantle's 1968 Topps Game insert did not exist at this particular show. That being said, I was able to walk away from the show very happy. I did a fairly quick scan up and down all of the aisles, stopping briefly to ask the vendors if they had any singles from the Game set. Most said no, a few said yes, but none had the Mantle. However, I was able to cross off another HOF'er from my set needs.

I found the McCarver for a buck and I was able to pick up Frank Robinson for only $2. I will end an upgrade at some point on the Robinson(there is some ink on the flip side), but for now it is an acceptable place holder in my set. With a recent acquisition(which will be documented in a future trade post) and the word that another should be on its way to my mailbox in the near future, I am down to 3 more cards needed to complete this set.

There were several guys that had bins labeled 'discount vintage', but the closer I looked, a lot of the singles still had large enough price tags that I didn't even bother looking. The Robinson was in a box labeled '$2-5 multi sport'. It was the only card in the box that was of interest to me at all. Turns out, the same guy had a 2-row 'shoebox' that was filled with his definition of 'vintage baseball'. The entire box was $0.50/card. I started digging and as I saw some really nice cards(that didn't fit my collection), I asked the guy if the whole box was two for a dollar, just to confirm. After some digging, I came across these:

These are my first vintage Hostess cards that have the dotted borders in tact. The Morgan is pretty clean; no creases or staining. The Eckersley is from his rookie card season and does have a noticeable crease near his first name. Heck, for only fifty cents, there is no way I was leaving it behind, crease or no. While these are good, they're not the best picks of the day.

When I came across a stack of various early Fleer, I knew I needed to take home an example of each set. I chose the Lazzeri from the 1960 set because he is one of my favorite Yankees that doesn't get much hobby love. I wish he was in the Yankees uni on this one, but I'm digging it anyway. Out of the players that were available in the box, picking the Cap Anson from the 1961 set was a no-brainer. He was one of the first true superstars of the game and how can you resist that mustache?

As is my custom, I've saved the best(or at least my favorite) for last...

I couldn't believe it when I saw this 1951 Topps red back in the $0.50 box! I had been thinking of picking up a '51 Topps card at some point. How could I pass up the chance to own one at that price point? It's just gravy that it happens to be a Yankees player. Yeah, there is a pretty dinged up corner I'm that bottom left corner, but I can still see everything and read all of the text.

That puts an end to my 'vintage haul' from this show. I'm sure as I go to future shows, the numbers within the vintage purchases will increase, but I may not beat the deal on that Bauer. That's not nearly the end of what I brought home, but the rest will wait for another night. As a teaser, I picked up set needs, some cheap relics/autos, and I found a unicorn...at one point, I came face to face with the mythical 'nickel box' that I've only read about before. So, there is plenty more to read about. I hope you come back to check out my other finds.