Card Show part 1 - The Wax

So, I went to my first real card show since the '90s today. Sure, I went to a bunch of FanFests and such that had card dealers as a feature, but this was the first by God real show I've been to in ages. This was actually at the same location as the card shows I went to as a kid, the Cobb County Civic Center. I had some good times at those shows in the '80s. I was always up for the oddball stuff and I found it at those shows. That's where a large chunk of my Vintage basketball cards came from. At another show I accidentally won a Braves cap in an auction. I had never been to a live auction before and I was pestering the hell out of the auctioneer trying to win something with my meager funds. One of the auctions was a Topps traded set that I bid on, and got out bid on with a 7 dollar bid. I tried to bid $7.50 when there was only one dollar increments and the auctioneer looked like he wanted to shoot me. The next auction up for bid was a Braves cap, which I immediately bid on thinking someone would surely outbid me, then I heard crickets. So my card money went to a Braves cap which immediatley broke when I put it on. I had to go to the dealer who donated it to get a replacement which probably made that auctioneer's day.

I was supposed to go to the show on Friday, but my request for a day off was denied. No one to cover. It's a shame too, because Bobby Cox and Otis Nixon were signing. I wanted to get in early to try to pick off some good stuff before more Vultures like me arrived. It wasn't meant to be so I went today hoping to find some of the leftovers cheap on closing day.

The Civic Center had banners announcing the show all around in front of the center. If anyone driving on the 120 loop was interested in baseball cards, they would not miss out on seeing those signs and pennants. I pulled into the parking lot and went inside. The table was manned by two really bored looking women. I asked for a ticket and they gladly took my money and stamped my hand with a little smiley face. there was a box of 1991 Upper Deck packs on the table, but I didn't ask about them. To the right was a snack bar. To the left was a table with some people eating pizza, another open box of '91 UD, some bags with some ads in them and some door prize registrations. I asked about the prize and a guy in a baseball cap stopped chewing on his pepperoni slice long enough to help out. He pointed out the registration for BP and asked if I wanted to do a raffle for some softball team. I passed so I didn't get a goodie bag. I already had a bag and I jut wanted to get to the cards.

The Civic Center has two levels. The lower level was where all the action was, up top circling the lower level was the autograph booths. I didn't see anyone there at all at about 1:15
and honestly there wasn't anyone on the list I was interested in seeing. the schedule posted on the ticket table was somebody I've already forgotten, Braves prospect Tyler Flowers (who I thought was in Arizona) and Chris Chambliss. Now Chambliss I would have loved to have seen. He wasn't signing until after 2 though and his prices had apparently gone up ten bucks. I'll be honest, I didn't plan this out very well and I didn't have a whole lot of cash on me. One sig from Chris and I would be shuffling through nickel boxes the rest of the day. I took the stairs down and started checking out the place.

It's getting late so I'll go into more detail on all this tomorrow. First though, the wax.

I came into the show hoping to get a wax box of something. I didn't want anything new, as that would be too expensive. I was really hoping to find a cheap and cool wax box from the late '90s or early '00s. Something like this guy would open. Failing that, I planned to pick up a box of cheap junk for five bucks or something just to open. Well, there was practically no wax in that entire building more recent than 1992. A couple of open boxes of new basketball cards was about it. A few tables were empty though and a couple of people were packing up early so it's possible that the wax was sold out or packed up already. It just seemed really odd that there weren't a lot of boxes around. Maybe they just doesn't make enough money to be hauling them around the country to sell at shows, who knows. There were a couple of tables with 5 dollar junk boxes though. 1988 Donruss, 1990 Donruss, 1991 Pro Set Football, Pro Set Soccer, 1990 Fleer Football, 1992 Pacific Football, some Michael Jordan Upper Deck Locker boxes (anyone remember those?) 1991 Upper Deck Hockey and a couple of boxes of Topps Big. I almost got the Topps Big. I had the thing in my hand and decided to think about it and come back before I left so I wouldn't be lugging it around all day. I ended up not buying it because the dealer at that table was a little annoying with his prices and I honestly had better ways to spend five bucks.

I couldn't leave without any wax though so at the third to the last table I visited I found a couple boxes full of junk packs. I asked how much? the dealer said ten for a buck. That worked for me, I was willing to blow a buck on some crap wax. There was a who's who of junky wax in there. 1990 Topps Football, Pro Set Hockey, Racing cards from the early '90s (and not NASCAR racing, either) tons of really random non-sports stuff. Some packs of 1989 Donruss caught my eye. There was only one problem: I picked one up and noticed the wrapper was kinda loose. Really loose. Like, wide open loose. All the '89 Donruss packs were open. Just left wide open. Now, I had bought a bunch of '89 Donruss packs from dealers in my college years hoping for a Griffey pull and found zilch. If I had no chance with supposedly trusted dealers back in the day, what chance did I have with open freaking packs? I put the pack back in the box (almost accidentally stripping the wrapper completely in the process) and reevaluated the wisdom of this purchase. On one hand, the packs ain't but a dime. On the other, I have tons of '89 Donruss and I don't need more commons. In the end I compromised and got a dollar's worth of packs to sate my appetite for opening packs, but I only chose sealed packs with one exception. Here are those packs:

1990 Topps Big series 1
1990 Topps Big series 2

These two packs have plastic wrappers so they were mostly sealed. Well, the flaps on the 2nd series pack were technically open but the rest of the wrapper was tight. If someone opened this pack (WHY would someone open this pack!?) to search it, there's no way they would have gotten the card back in so tight. I've opened too many of these packs to know that you can't just peek inside the things. You open it and that's it, there's no turning back. Besides, I had gotten set on that box of Big and these made up for not getting it. The Series 2 pack has already been completely opened on A Pack A Day, series one will probably be up tomorrow sometime.

1991 Pacific Pro Plus football

This pack is actually open but I bought it anyway. I know a kid who likes these packs, he calls them the 'chocolate wrapper packs'. I'm beginning to wonder if these packs were opened not due to shenanigans but to someone leaving them in the back of a hot car or something causing the wrapper to simply melt. As you can see this wrapper is really crinkled up and doesn't actually completely cover the back. I'm still not buying an open pack of '89 Donruss no matter how cheap it is. I got robbed enough when I was a kid, thankyouverymuch. This is the last of the sports packs.

1990 Weirdness

I have no earthly idea what these packs are. One is The Pharaoh's Revenge, the other Desert Rats. There is a sticker on the back of each with 1990 written on them. The packs look hand wrapped like a Christmas present. The wrapper itself is pretty sturdy paper, it's not flimsy wax paper at all. They are obviously horror themes and the packs are presented by "The Old Undertaker". The cards are illustrated by A. Osorio and are copyright Rosem Enterprises. I found a mention of Rosem Industries on Zelda's Mars Attacks page. They put out a 13 card "Update Set' of Mars Attacks cards in 1984 that was based on Wally Wood sketches and the really gross and gory ones that got cut from the original set. A set is expensive as hell, but I really want this card. What can I say, I'm a fan of Wally Wood and that card is totally Wally Wood. So it looks like Rosem Industries is a homebrew card manufacturer for non-sports stuff. I'm down with that. A. Osorio, I can't find anything on. I've found an artist named Pepon Osoria and a guitarist names Andres Osorio, but that's as close as I've gotten. These packs are nifty though and were basically the reason I bought any packs at all after being turned off by the open packs. Until I find out more about these suckers, don't expact a pack rip of them any time soon. The rest of these packs I'm going to be torturing A Pack A Day with over the next several weeks.

1987 Who Framed Roger Rabbit

P-p-p-p-p-p-leeEEEAAAAse Eddie, um I mean Topps! Give me a Jessica Rabbit card! And it better not be the card with gum glued to it! I'll need that green crap Christopher Lloyd used to wipe out Toons to get that gum off the first card, I can tell. In a good vintage Topps pack the gum slides around freely and happily. This gum ain't slidin.

1991 RockCards

This pack reminded me of Upper Deck X so I had to have it. You can't tell from here, but that wrapper is a freaking HOLOGRAM. Wiggle the pack and the R O C K RockCards in the front move over the RockCards in the back. I'm deathly afraid to open this beast for fear of 1990-91 Pop bands. I desperately want there to be a Pixies or They Might Be Giants card in this pack, but I'm going to get Mariah Carey and Sinead O'Connor. If I'm lucky. I'm intrigued as to how crappy the actual cards will be considering this company likely blew their whole budget on HOLOGRAMS for the stupid wrapper.

1991 Desert Storm Victory Edition
2001 Enduring Freedom

What can I say, I was feeling patriotic. I do appreciate the irony of "Victory Series" in regards to the other pack however. I have plans for these packs, just you wait. And we finish off with...

1992 The Elvis Collection

'Cause Elvis is Everywhere.