A card show trip recap - feat. Tim Raines

Went to a card show and it was sort of a blur with all the foot traffic and commerce going on - I nearly had an anxiety attack because the room was packed and it was getting stuffy, especially spending too much time at one table trying to conjure up the right combination of cheap-o cards making up the bulk my '3 for $1' and '6 for $1' finds.

I stumbled upon one last table with some boxes of various odds and ends [autos / relics / otherwise 'hit' cards] - maybe a couple of other collectors were going through the other [non-baseball] boxes and giving the seller cards they had flagged.

The seller was literally pricing cards out and telling them to come back in an hour [to presumably finish their purchase] - maybe I'd stop at a table, grab the cards I wanted and see about paying for them right there and then.

Though it may be standard operating procedure, I find the concept of stacking cards for later somewhat odd - maybe I need to actually get to know the seller first before having a relationship where I can pull cards to reserve them.

The seller was looking on dealing for a handful of cards from this one guy [$500-$600 range] and I don't even know if I would be interested in anything - I found a Tim Raines certified autograph for $20 sticker and while Raines isn't quite that popular Hall of Fame legend, it maybe a no brainer picking up a HOF auto on a acetate card printed to be a little more unique.

Besides finishing his big deal, the seller was looking briefly at other cards that some flippers were showing him - he also finished up another deal where he was looked up a card on eBay and charged another collector $3 for a random card pulled from one of the boxes.

When I finally showed the Raines to the seller, he might have looked at for a moment and asked $15 for it - I relented to dig out the required cash out of my wallet and pay up, being able to take this card home for less than a blaster.