Another Windy City National in the Books

With a couple of weeks to let the head rewind everything that has taken place, I have had time to reflect on the latest chapter of The National. For SCD, the show was a great opportunity to meet subscribers, many of whom said they have been subscribers for multiple decades, not years. I was happy to meet them and proud to call them readers.

From what I gathered on the show floor, dealers were pleased with the foot traffic for the show’s run Wednesday-Saturday, with Sunday being a pretty slow day. Some dealers sold out by Saturday morning, and then hit the floor to buy, while others mentioned slower sales compared to other Nationals. You’ll get a different answer from whatever dealer you’re speaking with, and you always have to keep in mind the inventory being offered and the price points before making blanket statements regarding a show.

Being at the front of the show, where SCD was located, you act as sort of a show usher, pointing people in the direction they want to go and answering questions such as, “Do you know who buys or sells (enter any collecting category)?” I noticed a lot of people bringing in things to sell; as the “usher,” I got to see many of the items first. Some were quite nice collections, while others were flea market variety that were perfect for the collector on a budget focusing on local Chicago-area teams.

The show floor is always a treat to walk. And while the number of tables seems to be decreasing with time, there are still a lot of cool collectibles at nearly every table. However, there are always a few items that catch the eye.

SCD had the pleasure of four contributors roaming the convention, aside from myself, taking pictures and plenty of notes. We’ll start this off with installments from Ross Forman and George Vrechek, with photos and commentary from T.J. Schwartz and Rick Firfer coming thereafter.

It’s fun going through the photos from different contributors, seeing what items caught their fancy, and realizing that many shots contained the same items. Like I said, some pieces stand out above the rest.

Thank you to SCD’s contributors and all those of you who stopped by and said hello.