Last Thursday was my first National Card Show experience. It was nice to see so many of my friends and business acquaintances doing their thing. One of my friends sold out Wednesday night for 50k, yes 50K. That may be surprising, but what may be more surprising is that the same guy who dropped 50k bought out some more of my friends a couple rows over for several thousand more dollars. I make no apologies for the fact I'm 10% card collector and 90% small business owner. As I walked the aisles I was less interested in individual cards and more focused on gleaning some insight to help myself and others on the business side of the hobby. Here are three things I learned at the National.  

It may seem obvious and a bit clique, but the Hobby is alive and well. Like the above 50k purchase, we sometimes see things from the small lens of our local shop or card show. Official for the National Sports Collectors Show, this may be the best in recent memory. John Broggi, National Sports Collectors Conventions Executive Director, said " attendance was likely the highest since 2006". Secondly, all the large wax dealers together is prime breading ground for soft wax prices. Topps Chrome Baseball particularly stands out as a good example. All indicators were, even weeks prior to the release of Chrome, that it would be red hot. It's a great value at $100 a hobby box, but with 60% of the nations hobby box supply in one room for an entire week sales were very slow. Also, there were some early negative reports from case breakers about the product that easily spread through out the hobby. Thus, sells were strangely soft even in this booming market. Thirdly, dollar cards are a dime a dozen. Okay, maybe not literally ,but close. Why? I think we as dealers can blame the breakers. It actually makes a lot of sense. They bust case after case and often only ship the hits [ autos and memorabilia]. They already have set up their breaks to make a profit, so all those extra inserts, rookies, star cards and just pilling up for them. They are probably happy to practically give them away. So for the dealers who are buying cards like they did ten years ago, prior to breakers, found out their boxes were way overpriced for the low end box digging market. What is often bad for the dealers is often good for the collector. The room was filled with bargains for player collectors, insert seekers, set builders, and even hobby box busters.

Speaking of good value this week has two quality releases. Donruss Football really stands out to me as a great value and its under $80 price tag will not last long. 

2018 Donruss NFL Football Cards delivers (1) Autographed Card and (1) Memorabilia Card plus (24) Rookies, (24) Rated Rookies, (8) Parallels and (40) Inserts in Every Box! A great product at a great price, LOADED with unique content to provide fun for every fan and collector.

2018 Topps Clearly Authentic Baseball Cards delivers (1) Clearly Authentic Autographed Cards in Every Box! Topps Clearly Authentic Baseball is back by popular demand this season. This year, Topps is combining clear, acetate card technology with ON-CARD autographs from the hottest rookies and superstar sensations in Major League Baseball!

-Rob