Hitting the Lists at the Card Show

My family took a quick weekend trip to St. Louis this past weekend to catch a Blues game on Saturday night.  Other than the Blues losing the game 17 seconds into overtime, it was a fun night.  We had seats 2 rows off the ice that included an all you can eat buffet.  My son received a pre game warm up puck, and we all received a nice Blues hooded sweatshirt.  Best part was I only had to pay for 2 tickets, as the other 2 were part of an early Christmas bonus. 

Of course I planned the quick trip knowing there was a card show on Sunday.  This was the first show I had a chance to go to since this July show.  I did not pay to get an autographs this time, but still found quite a few things for my Cardinals collection.

These are the first Topps Bunt cards in my collection.  I was rather shocked to find these in a dime box.  I know Bunt is not a premium issue, but the local mark up usually comes in to play.  Most Cardinals base cards are 25-50 cents regardless of player.

I have very few 2016 Archives yet.  These were also in the same dime box.  I like the 1979 Topps design more than the 1953 design.

There are a ton of Cardinals in the 2016 Gypsy Queen set.  I am slowly getting closer to the set, but still need 5 more.  These were more 10 cent finds.

Keeping up with the dime finds are these 2016 Diamond Kings.  I like the painted look of these cards.  The choice of photos did well to hide the lack of logos.

The last of my dime finds finish of my 2016 Topps and Topps Chrome sets, while starting my Bowman Chrome set.  It is sad that it took until December to finish my base Topps team set.

I also snagged a few 2015 set hits for a dime each.  The 3 Donruss cards are short prints.  It pains me to buy Jason Heyward cards, but to fill a team set need I will have to. 

I found a few other miscellaneous team wants in the dime box.  2003 Topps Gallery was a nice painted set.  I have very few MLB Showdown cards regardless of year.  The Bud Smith card is my second from 2003.  Look at the yellow and green on the 1982 Squirt Sutter.  It was not hard picking this card out.

The last of my dime box finds were these 1993 Panini stickers.  I will snatch up early 1990s oddball Cardinals all day for a dime even if I have them.  I will mention this is the first show I have attended with my smartphone (insert your stone age or old person joke here).  It was so easy to find cards I need with my wantlist a few clicks away. 

The same dealer also had some 25 cent bins.  I had bought a bunch of DAV cards at a previous show for a dime each, but the big names were missing.  The top three completed my 2008 DAV set, but I was unable to find the Pujols card to finish the 2009 set. 

After spending close to 2 hours going through the dime and quarter boxes, my son was ready to move.  We found a few autos and game used in a $2 box that are for other team traders, but did make one more purchase.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a table with stadium give away bobbleheads for $10 each.  Both are a few years old, but I will gladly take them.  Only problem is my two bobblehead shelves are full.  May have to put some of the older ones away. 

I am not for sure if the dealers were looking to move inventory before the end of the year, or just running some holiday deals.  Either way, it was a great show.  I will have to remember to hit up December shows in future years.