2013 Spring Expo - Not Sure If I Should Go

[30ranfordfan]

It's a great show. Best selection of hockey cards, in one place, you'll ever see.


The vintage stuff, you may have good luck with. There are always several dealers with 70s OPC singles for sale. (Some 80s, and some 60s too).

90s and 00s Upper Deck, you'll probably be hard pressed to find someone selling singles.... though I would suggest checking out COMC.com for those.

The sets you're looking for, hit or miss. There will be some dealers selling base sets like that - but I'd be guessing if I told what they'd actually have.

[Camarotuner]

If you're looking to finish base sets why don't you use the beckett marketplace? As long as you buy all the singles from one dealer shipping is usually like 3 or 4 dollars for the whole order and I've never had a problem and can finish all my sets at once that way. Plus it has the added bonus of you could theoretically finish 12 sets from across all 4 major sports and toss in a wwe set too all from the same dealer lol. Just too easy to do that for base cards. I go to major shows to spend the cash on the cool cards I want to buy in person.

[TheBoxBreaker]

I'm from Finland and I've been there three times. Not the easiest and cheapest trip, but well worth.

Harri

I too am thinking of going. However, I'm currently only 17 years old and don't have the funds to make such a trip all the way from Denmark. The Leafs are my favourite team and when I'll visit Toronto in the future, I'll make sure to cross these things of my wishlist:

- Attend a Maple Leafs game
- Attend the Toronto Expo
- Visit the Hockey Hall of Fame

I think a 6 hour drive isn't bad at all if you're a passionate collector. Like some collectors already stated, it's the biggest and best card expo in the world. Doesn't get bigger than that!

-Ethan

[fantiki]

I am considering coming and have a couple of questions!

1) What is the offering? Is it strongly skewed towards memorabilia cards? Is it worth coming if I am interested in lower print run parallels of non-memorabilia cards (modern)?

2) I understood that you can not buy from UD or ITG directly, you need first to buy from dealers and then go to participate in their activities? How is the price level of the dealers? Is it comparable to DA, blowout, Pittsburgh etc.? How is the price level generally? I saw the Roy's auto is $180. Kind of shocking, as in US you can almost get like Peyton Manning or Derek Jeter for this money.

3) Do dealers accept cards/US cash? Not for like $0.5 dollar purchase, but if you buy say a box?

4) What is the best way to get to the centre from downtown (coach terminal/Union station), preferably with no transfers? I mean not taxi and other republican ways of transportation. I tried to use hopstop or google maps but am getting some routes which look fairly strange.

[piper1]

Others may give you slightly different answers but her is mine:

1. You can find almost anything in hockey cards if you take the whole weekend to search all of the tables. I look for old numbered parallels of Ottawa and Montreal and always come back with something.

2. You may disappointed if you are use to blowout prices in the US. The distributors in Canada rule with an iron fist and have kept prices high across the board.

3. All I can say is some are set up for cards and some aren't. Likewise some will take US money and others won't.

4. You can easily find different transportation options between the downtown and the airport; however, depending on which hotel you select, getting to the Expo without a car may be your bigger challenge.

I am considering coming and have a couple of questions!

1) What is the offering? Is it strongly skewed towards memorabilia cards? Is it worth coming if I am interested in lower print run parallels of non-memorabilia cards (modern)?

2) I understood that you can not buy from UD or ITG directly, you need first to buy from dealers and then go to participate in their activities? How is the price level of the dealers? Is it comparable to DA, blowout, Pittsburgh etc.? How is the price level generally? I saw the Roy's auto is $180. Kind of shocking, as in US you can almost get like Peyton Manning or Derek Jeter for this money.

3) Do dealers accept cards/US cash? Not for like $0.5 dollar purchase, but if you buy say a box?

4) What is the best way to get to the centre from downtown (coach terminal/Union station), preferably with no transfers? I mean not taxi and other republican ways of transportation. I tried to use hopstop or google maps but am getting some routes which look fairly strange.