Flea Market Finds #14

[sanjosefuji]

When: Saturday, November 5th
Where: De Anza Flea Market
What: 1988 Topps Big Wax Box, a 1988 Topps Big Set, & a 1989 Classic Baseball Board Game
How Much: $1


Yesterday's journey to the flea market started way earlier than normal... 5:36am to be exact. That's when my friend picked me up to go to the flea market. Why so early, you ask?


Well... yesterday we went to the flea market as vendors, instead of as prospective buyers. My friend, Cupcake (who wants to remain anonymous, yet at the same time have a cute nickname), got rid of some of her old books...

While her sister, Secret Squirrel, sold her beautiful, homemade greeting cards...

I... of course... dumped unwanted sports cards that were cluttering up my garage...

After freezing our tails off for eight hours, the two ladies came to the conclusion that this experience was an epic waste of time. Both made enough to cover our spot, which was $30 ($10 a piece). However... in the end, neither felt it was worth their time.


On the other hand... I had a blast. The guy next to us was a sports memorabilia dealer, who turned out to be mutual friends with my buddy Mike (the guy I go autograph hunting with). We talked about sports & cards, which was nice, since the two ladies I was with could care less about cardboard.


Speaking of cardboard... here's a summary of what I was able to dump:

1987 Topps baseball set (hand collated) $10
1988 Topps baseball set (hand collated) $5
1991 Leaf Series 1 baseball wax box $5
1990 Score Series 1 football wax box $5
1990 Score Series 2 football wax box $5
1990 Score football set (opened factory) $5

Plus... on Friday night, I spent a few hours putting a bunch of star base cards into used top loaders that I didn't want anymore... and inserted a bunch of minor stars from local teams (49ers, Raiders, Warriors, Sharks, A's, & Giants) into penny sleeves.


I priced the top loaded stars @ $.50 each or 3 for $1 and sold the penny sleeved singles for $.20 each or 7 for $1.


I'm not sure exactly how much I made, but it was enough to buy everyone lunch, pay for the spot, plus leave me with a small wad of cash.


And you know the formula...

Cash + Flea Market = More Garbage

After a long, cold day at work... here what I ended up bringing home:

11 used DVD's $13
some magazine boards $12
a pair of cashmere scarves (lol... not for me) $20
3 sports posters $3

I also came across a guy who was cleaning out his collection. Most of the stuff was picked through, but I ended up spending $8 on the following items:

1988 Topps Big Series 2 Baseball Wax Box $1

I know this stuff is the epitome of "junk wax", but thirty-six packs for a buck made it impossible to pass up.

1988 Topps Big Baseball Set (Series 1, 2, & 3) $1

Yep, same product as above... but this time it's a complete set of all three series. Once again, I know it's junk wax... but I figure for the price... I had to buy it. Worse case scenario... I sell them next month for $5 each.

1989 Classic Baseball Board Games $6

Anyone else remember these board games? It features a 100 card set and includes a rookie year card of future HOFer... Randy Johnson.


I worked at a shop back in the day that sold these for over $30. There haven't been any recent sales on eBay, but there are a bunch of these listed in the $15 to $25 range. I picked up two of them at three bucks a pop.


I turned around and sold one for $7, which is why the wax box, set, and other board game only cost me a buck in the end.


Okay... time to get my game face on... because NFL action is about to start any minute now. But before I head out, let's check in with a mid-season report on the only two teams that really count on this blog: the Seattle Seahawks & the Green Bay Packers.


I'll try to keep this sweet and simple... the Seahawks suck and the Packers don't. In September, I picked the Packers to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI and I'm sticking to it. What about you?

Who do you think is headed to the Super Bowl?


And who is going to win it all?

Happy Sunday everyone... Go Hawks & Packers! Sayonara.

NaBlo WriMo daily total: 776 words
November Total: 1,605 words

More...

[ucffans]

Good stuff - I love to go to flea markets. I have found that people who sell cards there are either willing to just dump their stuff, or have no idea of what "value" it should be. They try to sell 1,000 cards from the late 80's for like 50 dollars.

[sanjosefuji]

ucffans - i totally agree. it's the whole "it used to be worth ___, so it still is worth ___." craigslist is the same way... every now and them, i'll try to explain to them how times have changed, but most of the time... i don't want to break their heart.

[ocanseco55]

I love your posts! I wish there was flea markets in my area!

[sanjosefuji]

Thanks for supporting the blog!

I love your posts! I wish there was flea markets in my area!