Palmer Park Mall Card Show

Source image from Jason Cancellarich on Facebook posting about the Palmer show in the Phillies

Palmer Park Mall in Easton, PA held a card show this weekend. This was my first card show in over 15 years, and I was very excited to go. I could hardly wait on Friday to get there!

Friday Feb 3rd

I had visions of hobby boxes of junk wax going through my mind, even the thought captured my complete imagination, “what if one vendor has a CASE of 1991 Topps!?!” Anticipation was high, and I was hoping not to be let down unlike my prior visit to Logan’s Sport Collectibles, the store which is sponsoring the card show. I wrote about that on the blog here.

Stepping out of the car, the gusty wind pushed artic air across the parking lot. It was cold, temperatures tonight were dipping into the single digits. I went to enter the mall but the door was blocked off, moved to the next set of doors and immediately saw the first table.

1989 Donruss wax box was sitting open with fresh packs staring right back at me. Next to that there was 1986 Donruss, and 1987 next to that one. Football wax boxes followed and right then I wanted to buy everything. I also wanted to get a good look around and I had a hard time focusing on prices because this was the first table. So I struck up a conversation with the gentleman behind the table and he has a shop in a boutique not too far away that has many wax boxes. We will have to make a trip out there. I have his card.

Wax Boxes!!

One of the things I found I absolutely love is unopened wax boxes. Finding these pure joy for me so I went into the show day dreaming of scoring big in the bargain basement of junk wax.

George’s Collectibles did not disappoint! After going past many tables I was seeing no wax boxes AT ALL. I was disappointed to start out, and not having been to a card show in 15-20 years I just wanted to find some great wax to bring home.

A tiny portion of the selection from George’s Collectibles – https://georgescollectibles.com/

Finally I stopped by George’s Collectibles table which had 4 or 5 tables full of wax boxes. Mostly modern stuff, but a vast selection bigger than any other vendor. They also had a flyer for the next show at the Neshamity Mall on Feb 17-19th. Website: https://georgescollectibles.com/

I saw three hobby boxes at the table:

1995 Topps Series 1
2003 Topps Series 1
2003 Topps Series 2

I wanted them all really bad. At sticker value they were out of my price range, and realistically I could see myself walking away with two of the three boxes. First card show in nearly two decades, and here was some hobby boxes I have not gotten my hands on. I struck up a conversation with the dealer, and let him know about the three boxes I was eyeing up. The odds were ever in my favor, as he gave me a deal on the 2003 boxes, and that allowed me to purchase all three boxes riiiight at my max budget!

I know I sound insane. Many people would look at this purchase and say the money would be better spent on modern products where you could gamble on getting a rare hit. That isn’t for me.

I enjoy this journey, the chase in building this set from 1980 to today. I was so excited leaving the building with those boxes I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, and that is the thrill of the chase.

Going back for more

It occurred to me after I was home the next day that I needed to go back to the card show for two reasons:

Mystery packs
Loose Phillies cards

One vendor had mystery packs for $5 each, but only took cash. I got two of them, and they were fun. I took a video of me opening them an posted to YouTube – https://youtu.be/DK3DRpg9Xyg There were a few cool cards in there. There was a DeGrom Marvels card from Donruss/Panini that was a refactor type of card. Additionally there was a 1987 Kmart Mike Schmidt card for our collection. It was a mix of modern and older cards.

Phillies Loose Cards

The following cards were picked up for $0.10 each from various vendors at the show!

1982 Donruss – Manny Trillo
1980 Topps – Tim McCarver
1982 Topps – Future Stars – Mark Davis – Bob Dernier – Ozzie Virgil
1986 Topps – Mike Schmidt – Mini HR Leaders
1987 Topps Traded – Lance Parrish
1987 Topps Traded – Wally Ritchie – Rookie Card
1987 Topps Traded – Chris James – Rookie Card
1987 Topps Traded – Lee Elia – Manager
1992 Score – Dale Murphy
1993 Leaf – Curtis Schilling
1993 Leaf – Lenny Dykstra
1993 Topps Dale Murphy
1994 Topps Gold- Dave Hollins
1994 Topps Gold – Terry Mulholland
1999 Topps – Doug Glanville
2000 Topps – Paul Byrd
2000 Topps – Desi Relaford 2x
2000 Topps – Rico Brogna 2x
2000 Topps – Scott Rolen
2000 Topps – Marlon Anderson
2000 Topps – Mike Lieberthal
2001 Topps – Paul Byrd
2004 Topps – Randy Wolf
2004 Topps – Vincente Padilla
2004 Topps – Jose Mesa
2005 Topps – Tim Worrell
2005 Topps – Chris Roberson
2008 Topps – Tim Lahey – Rookie Card
2010 Topps – Ben Francisco
2010 Topps – Placid Polanco
2011 Topps – Jayson Werth
2011 Topps – Jose Contreras
2011 Topps – Jamie Moyer
2012 Topps – Michael Schwimer – Rookie Card
2013 Topps – Darin Ruf – Rookie Card
2016 Topps – Jeremy Hellickson
2016 Topps – Odubel Herrera – All-Star Card
2016 Topps – Peter Bourjos
2016 Topps – Hector Neris
2016 Topps – Vince Velasquez
2016 Topps – Tommy Joseph – Rookie Card
2016 Topps – Tyler Goeddel – Rookie Card
2017 Topps – Jorge Alfaro – Rookie Card
2018 Topps – Nick Williams – Rookie Card
2020 Topps – Blake Parker
2020 Topps – Cesar Hernandez
2020 Topps – Scott Kingery
2020 Topps – Jake Arrieta
2020 Topps – Hector Neris
2020 Topps – Roman Quinn
2020 Topps – Nick Pivetta
2021 Topps – Spencer Howard – Rookie Card
2021 Topps – Andrew McCutchen – DH Debuts
2020 Bowman – Luis Garcia
2021 Bowman Chrome – J.T. Realmuto
2021 Bowman Chrome – Spencer Howard – Rookie Card
2021 Bowman – Spencer Howard – Rookie Card
2021 Topps Chrome – J.T. Realmuto
2017 Topps Archive – Maikel Franco – 1982 Style
2022 Topps – City of Walk-Off Love
2022 Topps – Brad Hand
2022 Topps – James Norwood

A wonderful time at the Palmer Park Mall Card Show! We got a mix of hobby boxes, mystery packs, and Phillies cards to fill out the collection!! Glad I went on both days, as the second day I really spent time in seeing what each vendor had.

The next show is in the middle of February at Neshamity Mall which I’m considering going to.

Thanks for reading all of this, and if you have made it this far follow me on Instagram -@PhillyJunkWax!