30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Flea Market Finds #88: Cards, Cards, and More Cards

This past Saturday was awesome!  I've already written about the amazing baseball game I attended that night... in which I witnessed a walk-off win, caught a ball from Tommy Milone, and brought home a cool Hello Kitty bobblehead.

But what I failed to mention was my very productive trip to the Branham Flea Market earlier in the day.

When:  Saturday, July 18th
Where:  Branham Flea Market
What:  An Abundance of Stuff
How Much?:  $68

Purchase #1:  2015 Archives and Stadium Club $15


One of my buddies loves busting boxes in search of "The Pull" and I'm the guy who stands around and buys the leftover scraps.

I'm in the process of building the 2015 Archives set and had hoped to complete it with this purchase.  I DIDN'T.  But I'll save my frustration for another post.  I also grabbed his Stadium Club, because I need the singles for care packages I owe, plus there were a few parallels I could use for my binders.


Purchase #2:  Jason Giambi Autographed Card $1


Found this card in my buddy's dollar box, so I grabbed it.  Hard to pass up an on-card autograph of a former American League MVP and member of the 400 Home Run Club.


Purchase #3:  Fred McGriff Autographed Ball $20



Another one of my buddies had a bunch of bags of Tristar Hidden Treasures that were opened.  Saw this McGriff and figured it'd make a nice addition to my San Diego Padres shelf in my office.


Purchase #4:  Bag of Chu-Bops $2


What the heck are Chu-Bops?  Well... they were miniature album covers produced in the early 80's that came with pieces of gum in the shape of LP's.  

Here's a closer look at the front and back covers:


And when you open them up, they look like this:


I vaguely remember these from when I was a kid and the price was right, so I picked them up.  There were twenty-four album covers in the bag.  Here's a look at all of them:


If I ever get really bored, maybe I'll chase down the entire collection of these.  You can see the entire checklist over at Jeff Allender's House of Checklists.


Purchase #5:  Game Boy Advance SP Collection $25


Do you ever buy cards you don't really want, because they seem like a really good deal?  This is the video game equivalent.  I already own one of these, but a working console plus thirteen games was just too good of a deal to pass up.  

This is an example of when nostalgia crashes into bargain hunting.


Purchase #6:  Box of Trading Cards $5


I quickly flipped through the box and found the checklist card for a set I'm building, so I asked how much he'd sell the whole box for.  Five dollars was my limit and that was his asking price.  I'll keep you posted if this box ends up being a good deal or not.

Well that wraps up my busiest flea market trip in months.  Some of my purchases were better than others, but all-in-all... I'm happy with what I walked away with.

I hope all of you have a great week.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

13 comments:

Tim B. said...

Hey Fuji, great finds! If you happen to have any of the Archives Game inserts that you're willing to part with, please let me know. I'm trying to complete that set. Thanks!

RAZ said...

It looks like there are some good Marvel cards in that box of trading cards and the Game Boy package would have been hard to pass up, although it doesn't look like any of the games are ones on my 'have to have' list.

Nick said...

"One of my buddies loves busting boxes in search of "The Pull" and I'm the guy who stands around and buys the leftover scraps."

This is pretty much how I collect in a nutshell, and my "buddies," I guess, are local card show vendors.

Zippy Zappy said...

OMG Rugrats!

Tony L. said...

Awesome flea market, Fuji!

Anonymous said...

This was my reaction as soon as I read the description of Purchase #4:

"AAAAAA!!!!!! CHU-BOPS!!!!!!"

I remember Chu-bops! I can't say I bought a lot of them, but I bought the albums I wanted little mini versions of. That was perhaps their greatest mistake: They let you see what you were buying, so I skipped right past Gary Numan, Rush and Abba and bought only the ones I wanted... Although I wouldn't have minded a copy of Blondie's Parallel Lines (Mmmmm, Debbie Harry....)

Hmmm... My Chu-Bops have to be around here somewhere...

Tony Burbs said...

I have never heard of Chu-Bops before and it might be better that way... I now feel the desire to go out and complete the set for no good reason at all... Other then that they are awesome!

The Lost Collector said...

Giambi has been on the list of autos I've been after forever! Can't believe you found one for a buck! Well done.

Corky said...

I enjoy coming across boxes of random cards, it is fun to go through because you never know what you will find. It can be the start of a new collection and at $5 it doesn't seem like a bad purchase. I am now going to have to chase the Chu-Bops, at least the ones that bring back old memories.

BobWalkthePlank said...

Good deal on the Archives and Stadium Club randoms.

Matt said...

Man love that Giambi card. Can't wait to hear if you got some good stuff in that random box.

Laurens said...

Fred McGriff is a solid pick up - he is grumpy in person and won't sign the middle of the ball between the stitching [the sweet spot].

Fuji said...

Tim B - Sounds good. I'm building that set too, but it looks like I've got several doubles. I'll keep you posted.

RAZ - I was pretty bummed. I only found about 10 cards that I needed for my sets. Oh well. Combined with my other Marvel extras, I'm well on my way for 2nd sets.

Nick - Yeah... Us bottom feeders gotta stick together.

shlabotnik - I'm not sure if I collected the Chu-Bops or not... but I kinda remember them. As of right now... I'm still deciding if I'm going to pursue the collection. They really are pretty sweet, but storage might become an issue.

Tony - They really are cool. Kinda deciding whether or not I should chase down the collection myself.

TLC - Head over to COMC. I've picked up Giambis for around 5 bucks.

Corky & Sport Card Collectors - Finally sifted through the $5 box this weekend. There weren't any memorable sports cards and I was disappointed by the lack of Marvel cards I needed for my sets. However... there was a nice stack of Wizard promo cards for my Promo Card PC. Plus there was this Rommel's Rod model card from the early 70's that was hidden in the stack. I was surprised to see that they sell for a decent dime on eBay. In the end... definitely worth the five bucks.

Laurens - Thanks. I figured it's a nice addition to my Padres PC and the price was reasonable (not great, but reasonable).