My 2021 National experience and pickups

[lietuvalabas]

Hey everyone, another successful national in the books. I was just as skeptical as many others when i figured there'd be a bunch of undesirable new money (new to the hobby) in the room, but aside from some people with camera crews it wasn't too bad. I was fortunate enough to secure a dealer badge from a friend of mine prior to the show. This gave me access to dealer set up on Tuesday and the first half of Wednesday that allowed me to hunt through boxes and showcases without smelly sweaty dudes brushing up against me. As stated in another post, i did land a penny 24kt gold parallel /24 on Tuesday along with some awesome buys out of quarter, dollar, $5, $7, $10 boxes which was given to comc prior to leaving yesterday.

Arriving on Wednesday the first showcase i walked by (i was actually looking for another card) and by accident i noticed a keith van horn 1997-98 essential credentials /7. I knew i had to buy it based on sheer rarity...not because of KVH, no disrespect to him though, he was decent. Well within half an hour, both the penny and KVH were moved so i could find stuff i desired more, i wanted Nice Kobes and J-wills, and my hunt would later be successful. Later Wednesday night i attended a party hosted by Grant Slayton, Josh (cardboard chronicles) and Rodman Martinez. These 3 guys are terrific guys who show the utmost hospitality and just all around nice guys. Nat Turner and Ken Goldin also showed up, I had met Nat once prior and everyone knows he's rich and all this yada yada yada, but just in our brief conversation we had, all I came out of it was how congenial he is, just a laid back guy with a passion for the hobby. I sat with my usual suspects Rob (roargan) and his wife, along with Mike (the glen rice super collector) But i sit by a stranger...well seemingly. I start talking to a guy we talk cards and personal life. Low and behold he is best friends with a guy i was really good friends with in college, in fact I'm fairly certain we've partied together a few times 10 years ago..this isn't all about cards for me, and this was just a cool side tangent to the night.

Thursday I took off because well...i really don't like cards THAT much, but also Matt (mgoblue) was able to get away from work for a brief time and come up so i had to be home.

Friday was a day where i had to really get there and start making trades and buys before there was nothing left, i picked up a Rare Shaq parallel, a very rare Domantas Sabonis RPA, and some other cards.

Saturday was an intense Kobe pickup day Bought a Patch i had to have, and a jambalaya, a long awaited dream card (albeit a psa 5), that i was able to use mostly trade for, which i had little to nothing into and some cash on top. I went to Dinner with Matt, Marc (longbomberz) and Zach (BDRR)

Sunday i wasn't planning on going but my childhood friend said he wanted to go. The night before Roargan was leaving and his wife gave me her VIP pass in case i was going the next day, Rob also gave me a parking pass that i used the past 2 days...a $30 value, thanks again Rob! I didn't want the trip to be for nothing so i found a very reasonably priced kobe with a gorgeous patch and #ed to only 7.

We did miss a few usual suspects this year, but i guess the stars just didn't align this time. My takeaways were this, there are always steals to be had in showcases even days into the show, everything good now seems to start at 5k...like the card can just be decent but yeah...$5k. Also with the 5k number, how in the hell can people drop 5k on cardboard but not $5 on deodorant, alotta stinky ***kers in that room. Also while many dealers did take the time to separate 5 rows by sport, several still have not and it looks like hammered dog$h!t (a reference i learned from a southern co worker)

and to the pickups:

Some J-wills, the e-xceptional blue is /250, big thanks to Mike Coleman for that one, the ultra jersey /149 i believe and a big thanks to Zach (BDRR) for trading me straight up for the luxury box 8 way jersey (wade and Jay-z) on the back /90....though i wish jay-z wasn't on it at all.

20210801_171347 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/153647727@N08/]


Alot of random in this one, the shaq supreme court collection /20. The vince slam show platinum /100 showing off my favorite vince dunk, i was absolutley tickled to find in a bargain box, and by bargain box i dont mean a 5 row, i mean a big box of stuff with the cards laying flat..got it for $20. Domantas black gold prizm /5, domantas immacualte RPA #ed 1/3, and the J.R. smith from my favorite ever product 04-05 finest also #ed 1/3.

20210801_171544 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/153647727@N08/]

Now on to some Kobes, i am so pumped for several of these:

The Super Boss is the last one i needed for my set.

The phenomenons century legends is just a nice die-cut card from the 90s and having it already graded was nice /100

The jambalaya...i mean i always wanted this card, the front is flawless but the back has some pretty good chipping on the bottom, thus a PSA 5 lol.

The Gold standard kobe patch, gold standard in the early years did an amazing job with patches, my favorite being the 14k and 24k points one, but i saw the patch on this sucker and saw it was /7 and knew i had to have it.

The reflections is my favorite, its /25, and appears to be the "A" in Bryant off of his 2003 all star game jersey, the last all star game he'd play against jordan

20210801_171748 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/153647727@N08/]

thanks for looking and hope everyone else had a nice time too!

[Ptaz4Prez]

That time of the year that I live vicariously through others that were able to make it to the national. Great read and thanks for sharing. Sounds like a blast. That Shaq Supreme Court is awesome!

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[Chris P]

Dude..AMAZING pickups...can't even chose what I like the best..that Shaq numbered to 20 parallel is awesome..I love the Domantis Prizm Black Gold because I love the look of Black Gold Prizms in general..the Kobe Gold Standard Patch is sick the Jambalaya I mean..it's a JAMBALAYA..nuff said lol. The J-Will Immaculate..awesome stuff man

[rj.cataldo]

I wish I could have made it this year. I’m glad that it seemed everyone enjoyed the show.

Those are some amazing pickups and I would say time well spent coming home with those! Btw, if you ever decide to move that Kobe century legends please let me know! One of the last 4 I need for my Century collection set.

Congrats again!


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[Shaz]

Those are fantastic cards - im in love with that Shaq Supreme Court.

[JoeAdam]

I knew I just saw that Kobe card. Popped up on one of my local flippers pages. It's a small card world.

[lietuvalabas]

Originally Posted by Ptaz4Prez

That time of the year that I live vicariously through others that were able to make it to the national. Great read and thanks for sharing. Sounds like a blast. That Shaq Supreme Court is awesome!

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Thanks man, you need to make it out sometime, i strongly encourage it, even just once.

Originally Posted by Chris P

Dude..AMAZING pickups...can't even chose what I like the best..that Shaq numbered to 20 parallel is awesome..I love the Domantis Prizm Black Gold because I love the look of Black Gold Prizms in general..the Kobe Gold Standard Patch is sick the Jambalaya I mean..it's a JAMBALAYA..nuff said lol. The J-Will Immaculate..awesome stuff man

Thanks man, its actually the first black gold i owned. i remember when they first came out i thought it was the coolest parallel panini had ever put out, well until i saw the nebulas those are killer. I still think Kobe stuff is severely overlooked. i know we had the run up during the winter months, but that was basketball wide.

Originally Posted by rj.cataldo

I wish I could have made it this year. I’m glad that it seemed everyone enjoyed the show.

Those are some amazing pickups and I would say time well spent coming home with those! Btw, if you ever decide to move that Kobe century legends please let me know! One of the last 4 I need for my Century collection set.

Congrats again!


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Shame with you being a local that you weren't able to attend. Thanks for the kind words, and i will keep you posted if i move the century collection.

Originally Posted by Shaz

Those are fantastic cards - im in love with that Shaq Supreme Court.

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by JoeAdam

I knew I just saw that Kobe card. Popped up on one of my local flippers pages. It's a small card world.

Very small card world indeed. i just always wanted one of the kobes, many told me to try and grade it BGS and hope for a higher grade, but eh idk.

[bkcardcollector]

uhhh,... pretty easy to pic a best/favorite card there!!!

[byronscott4ever]

Nice pick ups, nice meeting you, nice hair too

[lietuvalabas]

Originally Posted by bkcardcollector

uhhh,... pretty easy to pic a best/favorite card there!!!

Haha I'm between. The jambalaya and kobe all star letter patch.

Originally Posted by byronscott4ever

Nice pick ups, nice meeting you, nice hair too

Thanks man, likewise! And I'd prefer women to tell me that, but thank you sir, I'll take it. Twas a good hair day.

[armyml]

You did amazing my friend beautiful pickups! LOVE that J-Will Jambalaya. Here are my pickups from Nationals. Nothing spectacular to be sure. I've got a shop in Indiana so I see awesome high dollar stuff all the time, but for my PC its all fun stuff I love. Just some horror stuff and the ONLY Steve Kerr I could find.
20210802_194746 by mark liddell, on Flickr

Love me some Steve Kerr and all things horror. I also got a Jaws movie poster signed by the first ever Jaws victim(the blonde lady) but my buddy is holding that for me right now. The Jaws 2 card is epic for me because theres only ONE PSA 10 in that entire set of cards and that is it. Not to mention having a 1978 card with a black border gem is just fantastic. Even has the old PSA label and everything!! As for Steve Kerr...man I went to every table and looked and looked. the flip through boxes were always so crowded everywhere I only had time to look at the cases...and wasn't anybody putting Steve Kerr in a case.

[byronscott4ever]

Originally Posted by lietuvalabas

Haha I'm between. The jambalaya and kobe all star letter patch.



Thanks man, likewise! And I'd prefer women to tell me that, but thank you sir, I'll take it. Twas a good hair day.

The hair comment was referencing your comment in the National theft thread FYI

[OriginalRapsfan]

Great stuff. Not a Kobe fan, but those patches are awesome. Glad you found some cards and had a good time.

[maconithappen]

Great stuff as usual. I should've just went to meet you!

[lietuvalabas]

Originally Posted by armyml

You did amazing my friend beautiful pickups! LOVE that J-Will Jambalaya. Here are my pickups from Nationals. Nothing spectacular to be sure. I've got a shop in Indiana so I see awesome high dollar stuff all the time, but for my PC its all fun stuff I love. Just some horror stuff and the ONLY Steve Kerr I could find.

Love me some Steve Kerr and all things horror. I also got a Jaws movie poster signed by the first ever Jaws victim(the blonde lady) but my buddy is holding that for me right now. The Jaws 2 card is epic for me because theres only ONE PSA 10 in that entire set of cards and that is it. Not to mention having a 1978 card with a black border gem is just fantastic. Even has the old PSA label and everything!! As for Steve Kerr...man I went to every table and looked and looked. the flip through boxes were always so crowded everywhere I only had time to look at the cases...and wasn't anybody putting Steve Kerr in a case.

Thanks man! yeah most arent putting steve in their cases unless its a PMG, nevertheless nice pickup. Not a horror fan myself, but have long said i prefer memorabilia pieces over card because they can be framed/displayed and be a conversation piece whereas cards...well they sit in a box, congrats on the scores.

Originally Posted by byronscott4ever

The hair comment was referencing your comment in the National theft thread FYI

haha yeah i figured as much

Originally Posted by OriginalRapsfan

Great stuff. Not a Kobe fan, but those patches are awesome. Glad you found some cards and had a good time.

Yes it was one of the best national experiences i've had, and i went there dreading the new money types, but it really wasn't bad. Thank you!

Originally Posted by maconithappen

Great stuff as usual. I should've just went to meet you!

Dude come out anytime, you and i have always enjoyed the same taste in cards, come into any of the chicago shows and usually a group of us go out to dinner or something of that effect, you are more than welcome!

[frisbeesteve]

Congratulations on the assortment of cards that you wound up with, lots of really nice ones! That Vince Carter is quite a looker, and the photo on the Shaq Supreme Court is awesome!