Card Show Finds

I recently decided to do something I haven't done in ages; attend a card show. Locally, there is a show held every second Sunday in Manchester, CT. I used to go to this show religiously in my younger years and have fond memories of the dealers with mountains of sealed, hobby boxes that I couldn't afford nor was my dad willing to drop $85 on. Since I am now an adult and have a steady income I can use towards cards, I had visions of scooping up some great boxes that would lead to riches.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. The show is now about half the size that it was ten years ago and though I didn't score a great deal on a current-era box, I did get some junk wax goodness via a 1993-94 Parkhurst Series I box, which didn't yield anything special. However, there was one dealer selling vintage hockey cards for fifty-cents a pop. Since my pre-1989 hockey card collection is seriously lacking, I decided to throw $3 down and get six cards that I felt I couldn't pass up.

1973-74 Topps #50 Bobby Clarke NHL All-Stars

The first and oldest card of the bunch, is a 1973-74 Topps Bobby Clarke NHL All-Stars card. I saw this and was debating picking it up at first. After checking the internet, I saw that this particular card trades for $10 and up. For .50 cents, I figured that it was a steal and promptly picked it up. This is without a doubt one of the oldest cards I own and I love the design of Bobby Clarke inside the NHL shield logo.

1978-79 Topps #67 Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Steve Shutt

I'm a sucker for these old school cards of league leaders, so I decided to jump on this Topps beauty featuring three NHL legends; Bossy, Esposito, Shutt. There's really nothing to not like about this card. For such an old card, it's in incredible condition, too! Definitely couldn't pass this one up.

1978-79 Topps #70 Bernie Parent, Ken Dryden, Don Edwards, Tony Esposito, Mike Palmateer

5 goalies...on 1 card! What a find! Thanks to four goalies being tied for second in the league in shutouts, this card doesn't feature three players, but rather five. This might be one of the more unique cards in my collection, as I doubt I have a card with so many individually recognized players on it.

1978-79 Topps #140 Gerry Cheevers

The last of the '78-'79 Topps pickups for me was this beautiful card of Bruins goaltending great Gerry Cheevers. These three cards are my first '78-'79 Topps hockey cards to date.

1979-80 Topps #191 Charlie Simmer

Another card that trades for a lot higher than the asking price at the show was this Charlie Simmer rookie card. 1979-80 Topps is such a classic looking set (probably conditioned that way because it's Gretzky's rookie card) that any and all owners would be happy to own. I'm pretty sure Shoebox Legends has even built the entire 1979-80 set, too!

1982-83 O-Pee-Chee #64 Tony Esposito

I'll always make a purchase on a vintage card of a Hall of Fame goaltender like Tony Esposito. Despite being a card released later in his illustrious career, this OPC card was walking out with me from the show the minute I saw it! Couldn't pass this one up!

So, it wasn't exactly a "blockbuster" type of card show, but as you can see, I certainly got some cards that interested me. I feel that is the true mark of a great card show.