Just to inform you about the show here at Edmonton. Very disappointing to say the least! Especially for the vintage collector! Lots of newer stuff which is typical for Edmonton shows. The only dealer that really had any older stuff was Dave and Michel of "Global Vintage". I know them personally (they used to get some of their stuff from me...now I'm small time lol!). They did pull out a few items that were neat. Like a Sweet Caporal Postcard and they mentioned they have another one on the way. Last card in the set if I remember correctly. Also they have a factory set of Coke caps still in the original box.
There was one other dealer that had some vintage cfl sets but his prices were out to lunch.
Also Gerry Cheevers was signing autographs or should I say "Jerry". This was brought to my attention by Dave from Global who had an old signed program from his pre NHL days and he signed it with a "J". Cheevers basically said that when he signed with Boston they got his name wrong and it stuck. So he just went with it!
Sounds like the Montreal show of last weekend except we
had a lot of vintage raw cards of middle quality, EX-Mt to NrMt.
I got use to searching for hours at these shows to find a couple
of NrMt-Mt cards. The odds are now to slim and the activity to
much time consuming for the result.
I'm surprise card dealers are not picking up on the high grade
vintage card business. Aren't they the ones buying huge lots from
private collections? They could simply cherry pick from these, send
them for grading and sell them at shows for a higher premium?
It looks like vintage high graded cards collectors are stuck
with internet trading.
I'm sorry you were disappointed with the Edmonton show. I thought it was great – both as a vendor and a buyer. Granted, there was the usual plethora of shiny new stuff and all the bogus hype that goes with it, but I encountered several discerning buyers and made some nice purchases for my personal collection.
Within the first couple of hours of opening on Friday afternoon, I sold three OPC WHA sets, a Quaker Oats WHA set and a half-dozen mid-1950s Toronto Maple Leafs programs. Saturday was much the same in terms of sales, with publications and ephemera drawing more interest than cards. Before lunch, I sold an 1949 Terry Sawchuk Indianapolis Capitols program, a set of 7-Eleven WHA cups and a some mid-70s NHL media guides. Most of the Cheevers cards I brought were also quickly snapped up, as were the two Cleveland Crusaders pennants I had for sale. Sunday was slower, but I still managed to move a few hundred $ worth of 40s boxing cards.
Guess the relative "success" of a show is all in the eye of the beholder ...
