This afternoon was the end of a 5 day journey through the heart of sports collecting world. Baltimore was the lucky home this year of the National Sports Collectors Convention, the 31st annual, and it was a sight to behold. I have attended one sports collectors convention in the past (Baseball's Best in Baltimore) but nothing was close to this convention. There were 600+ dealers ranging from huge corporate sources (Topps, Upperdeck), mega-internet dealers (DA Card World), online auctions, small dealers, and people who were just trying to sell stuff from their den.
Over the next several days I will posting more about my time at this convention, the problems this sector in sports has with the FBI, and all of the photos I took (over 50). While I'm working on that, here are some quick points:
2) Bring a camera. There will be a lot of things you can't afford (or maybe you can, I'm not judging) and you will want to take photos of it.
3) Some booths are amazing because it is people selling or showing their personal collections and they are set up that you walk inside of them and it feels like you are in someone's sports room. These places have bizarre things like sports phone cards, coke bottles, etc.
Anyway, like I said before, as soon as I can I will upload a photo essay here.
