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Card Show Pet Peeves

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  • Card Show Pet Peeves

    I love attending card shows. If it were up to me, there would be a local card show in my area every weekend like back in the early90's. It's not just about spending money and adding cards to my collection... it's the camaraderie among collectors and the discussions we have about our hobby.

    With that being said... nothing in life is perfect. There are always going to be things that potentially annoy me whenever I attend a show. Today, I'm going to share a few of these things with you.

    However before I do... let's preface things by stating that I fully understand that we as collectors have the right to our own opinion... and what I'm about to write is my opinion... not God'swritten rule. Since we live in a democracy... I encourage you to leave your opinions down in the comment section below.

    So without further ado... let's get to my card show bickering...


    Card Show Pet Peeve #1: Unrealistic Prices

    Yes, I understand that dealers have the right to price cards as high or low as they want. They are in fact... their cards. But I have the right to feel annoyed.

    Purchase #5: 1983 Topps Billy Martin$40

    One of my friends has recently entered the highend cardboard market and had a very impressive display case with things like Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufaxautographs. Due to a tight budget, I wasn't really interested in any of those. But I was interested in this:



    Unfortunately... my buddy's asking price was $200, which is completely and utterly ridiculous. I offered him $40 which made him laugh. I explained that I had picked up my other Billy Martin autograph, which is PSA/DNAslabbed for under$40 off of eBay and that he wouldn't have to pay any PayPal or eBayfees like the other guy. He dropped it down to $100 and I told him I'd come back in a little while.

    Fast forward four or five hours and four or five trips to his table... and he finally accepted my fair and reasonable offer. I realize that the average person probably wouldn't pay $40 for this card... but growing up in the Bay Area, the Billy Ball Era was a major piece of my childhood.


    Card Show Pet Peeve #2: Unpriced Cards

    One of my biggest pet peeves are dealers who don't label their cards or boxes with prices. Sometimes I walk away. Other times I'll find a card and immediately ask them, "how much?" to gauge whether or not it's worth my time to dig through their box.

    Purchase #6: Unpriced Cards$8



    While glancing over this guy's table, I noticed this 2002 UD Vintage Aces Ferguson Jenkins sitting at the front of a shoebox. I'm a huge fan of the 1971 Toppsdesign and relic cards of old school players, so I asked him how much he was asking. He responded "that's my dollar box"... which made it worth my while. I'm guessing he'd get more customers to stop and look through his boxes if he just labeled the box "Dollar Box".

    Anyways... I'm glad I stopped to ask, because I found a really cool card for my Japanese PC. The card in the bottom right corner is a Goodwin Championsjersey card of hockey phenomAito Iguchi, who just might be the next Wayne Gretzky. Realistically... we'll probably never hear about this kid again... but it's still a cheap cool card for my collection.


    Card Show Pet Peeve #4: Intrusive Collectors

    I know I mentioned camaraderie at the beginning of this post, but if I had to pick between standing next to an annoying collector who lacks common sense and fails to respect personal space or be alone... I'll choose the latter.

    Purchase #7: Josh Gibson Seat Relic$5



    The guy with the unlabeled dollar bin also had an unlabeled $5 bin as well. That's where I found this 2005 Bowman Heritage Pieces of Greatnessseat relic of Josh Gibson. I was pretty excited when I found it in the box, because Gibson is one of those legendary Negro League players who passed away decades before I was born.

    The guy standing next to me got excited too. When I set the card down off to the side and picked up the next stack of cards, he immediately asked if I was going to buy the card. I said "yes" and continued to flip through the cards.

    What came next made me feel like I was being set up by Ashton Kutcher and his Punk'dcrew, because it seemed way too surreal.

    The guy took out his phone, looked up the card on eBay, and showed me and the vendor a completed listing that went for over $25 last month. Who the heck does that? This might be the single most annoying moment on my personal card show timeline. Thankfully the vendor responded "looks like you found yourself a deal" instead of upping his price... otherwise I might have had a few choice words for the guy standing next to me.


    Card Show Pet Peeve #4: Signed Mini-Helmets of NFL Hall of Famers for $20

    Yeah right. Who doesn't like JSA and Tristarcertified autographed helmets for the price of the helmet itself?

    Purchase #8: Jackie Slater Helmet$20


    Jackie Slater'stwenty season career mostly took place during my childhood, which was a time in my life where I mostly cared about quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and the occasional linebacker or hard hitting safety. Offensive linemen were barely on my radar along with punters and kickers. But Slater wasn't just your average linemen, he was one of the greatest in his era and his signature is well worth the twenty dollars I dropped on this helmet.

    Okay... that enough ranting and raving.

    Do you have any card show pet peeves? Any Ashon Kutcher Punk'd moments?

    Feel free to entertain us down below in the comment section.

    Happy Thursday and sayonara!


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    Collecting autographs, game-used cards, & certain inserts/parallels of the following players/teams: Tony Gwynn/Padres, Kurt Suzuki/A's, Greg Maddux, Brett Favre/Packers, Steve Largent/Seahawks, Kobe Bryant/Lakers, & Devin Setoguchi/Sharks.

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