Mint Musings: Road Trip to White Plains Card Show – I’ve written in the past about why I feel card shows are still an important part of the hobby community. Since I’ve lived in Connecticut, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a number of reliable , monthly shows in the state that I could attend, including one less than 15 minutes from my house. (Click on image for full size, high resolution.)
However, as fun as they are, you do tend to see the same dealers and items after a while. With that in mind, I decided to mix things up and attend the White Plains show last weekend. A staple in the New York area, it’s a show I had been meaning to attend for years but had never quite been able to devote a day to. However, with a day off from work and no particular motivation to go the gym, I saddled up with a few friends of mine who were setting up at the show to sell.
I’ve been to a wide variety of shows throughout the years, but never when it was first getting set up. I have to admit it’s a bit of a different feeling seeing empty tables being set up as opposed to the final hustle and bustle seen at card shows. It was great to see the familiarity and friendliness between the dealers who have known each other for years.
One of the best things about the collecting community is the sense of family it provides. That was clearly evident as I witnessed numerous dealers talking everything from shop to catching each other up on how their families were doing. I had the chance to catch up with some acquaintances myself, including Dr. James Spence, who was in attendance authenticating autographs for a busy JSA booth.
The show itself offered a nice variety of items. However, I’d say the largest presence at the show was vintage cards, both graded and ungraded. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that vintage has never been hotter in the hobby. Some of the recent auction prices for high-grade vintage cards have been setting records every week it seems. A large amount of dealer tables and booths at the last few shows I’ve attended have been devoted to vintage cards. This show was no different.
However, at this show in particular, I noticed a large amount of graded rookie cards. Being a Pirates fan, I was sorely tempted to purchase one of the high-grade Roberto Clemente rookie cards I saw. Taking advantage of the New York market, one dealer even set up a showcase with what he described as “cheap” Mickey Mantle cards.
Though vintage was popular, there were also plenty of cool modern cards to see. Easily the coolest being a sweet Michael Jordan/LeBron James autographed patch card, numbered to 15. It might be one of the nicer modern cards I’ve seen. Not surprisingly, New York had a strong presence with sports cards across the spectrum. I was a little surprised to only see one dealer concentrating on selling wax boxes and even more surprisingly, there was nobody selling card supplies like sleeves and boxes.
It wasn’t just the sports stuff that made this show cool. Half of the fun of card shows is finding the oddball stuff. Whether it was a box of old Topps Voltron cards or a sweet wrestling poster featuring Ivan Putski in the main event, the White Plains show had a nice variety of non-traditional sports items.
I actually decided to purchase a couple of those items for myself. One thing I was surprised and pleased to acquire was a Tim Robbins signed postcard featuring him as Nuke LaLoosh from Bull Durham. Already JSA-authenticated, I was able to pick it up at a good price for a friend of mine who collects actors in sports movies.
I also decided to splurge for a dollar and pick up this magazine insert featuring cards of ESPN football luminaries, including Chris Berman and Tom Jackson. From a more traditional sports list, I was able to add to my Hall of Fame collection with a Frank Frisch signed photo and an authenticated autographed card of Packers great Ray Nitschke.
Overall, it was a fun experience getting to attend a new show. As I mentioned, it can get a little monotonous attending the same show multiple times. If you ever have the chance to give a new show a try, I have to recommend it. Like most hobbyists, I collect on a budget, so you always have to be mindful of that, especially with the National only a few months away. In the meantime though, attending White Plains certainly helped scratch the buying itch until August.
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan as the producer of ESPN’s Mint Condition has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on the hobby in Mint Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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