The Beckett Blog

Starting in the mid-’80s until around 1996, I was active in the hobby in the Chicago area working at several area stores and selling at card shows around the Midwest! It was a fun time in my life, and the hobby seemed much simpler back then.

I recently got a call from my mom, and while she was going through some old paperwork from my college days, she ran across some sales figures (in a tattered notebook) from a show I did in the Chicago area, and the sales brought back some crazy memories. Here are some notable transactions from this show sometime in early-to-mid 1991:

 Sales

Robin Ventura RC’s – several at $5each

1983 Fleer Ryne Sandberg – $25

1990-91 Upper Deck Ed Belfour RC – $15

1990-91 Upper Deck Jeremy Roenick RC – $15

1990-91 Upper Deck Ken Hodge Jr. – $5.00 (This card was interesting because I remember that a bunch of us were building these sets for re-sale and we were ALWAYS missing this card, so it seemed to be short-printed and was an easy sell when we had extras)

1988-89 Fleer Scottie Pippen RC – $30

1987-88 Fleer John Paxson RC – $10

Assorted Ron Kittle RC’s  - $5 each

1990-91 Pro Set Brett Hull PROMO – $15

1990-91 Pro Set Ray Bourque Error – $10

1969 Topps Brian Piccolo RC – $20 (I remember how said I was when I sold this card as it came out of my private collection! But it was pretty beat up, and I was saving as much money as possible to buy some 1990-91 Upper Deck French hockey boxes so I had to make the deal!)

1986-87 Fleer Chris Mullin RC – $10

1987-88 Fleer Chris Mullin – $5

1971-72 Topps Hockey Set – $100 (I remember this set also, as I built it over the course of two years, and it had some of the nicest centered cards I had ever seen! Someone got a steal on this set!)

A $17.00 sale on singles from my 10-cent boxes

A $24.00 sale on singles from my 10-cent boxes

A $9.00 sale on singles from my 10-cent boxes

A small wooden plaque with a Michael Jordan broder card – $5

1990 Score Rookie & Traded Eric Lindros – $10

1990 Score Rookie & Traded Frank Thomas – $5

1989 Topps Traded Baseball Set – $5 (had a BUNCH to sell)

1989 Topps Traded Deion Sanders – $2

1990 Frank Thomas Rookie Cards – a bunch at $5 each

1979-80 Topps Gordie Howe – $10

Assorted Michael Jordan’s – a bunch at $2 each

1987-88 Fleer Detlef Schrempf RC – $10

1990 Upper Deck Kevin Maas RC – $1

1990 Upper Deck Wilson Alvarez RC – $1

1990 Fleer AllPro Barry Sanders – $6

A Santa Claus card?? – $5

1990-91 Topps Blackhawks Team Set – $15

1990-91 Bowman Blackhawks Team Set – $10

1990-91 Bowman Red Wings Team Set – $10

 Trades

I traded (6) 1988-89 Topps Brett Hull RC’s for (6) boxes of 1990-91 Pro Set hockey. I would LOVE to call a do-over on that one!!

(1) 1988-89 Fleer Reggie Miller RC for (2) 1988-89 Fleer Horace Grant RC’s

(3) 1990-91 Upper Deck Mats Sundin RC’s for (3) 1990-91 Upper Deck Jeremy Roenick RC’s

 Buys

10ct lot of 1990-91 Score Karl Dykhuis for $5

1988-89 Fleer Scottie Pippen RC – $10

1989 Upper Deck Baseball Factory Set – $40

1987-88 Fleer Basketball Sticker Set – $25

1976 Topps Walter Payton RC – $20 (I can’t even begin to imagine what condition this was in!)

1990-91 OPC Premier Jeremy Roenick – $15

Have any crazy buys or trades from back in the day that you would like to share? I would love to hear from you!

Bill S.

Project Manager

Beckett Media LP