By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

For a card show that runs from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., getting there two hours before closing is late. In Garfield, N.J., this long-time running show is for the early birds.

They grab their morning coffees, ready for a show with a couple dozen dealers and head out on Sunday morning. The show occurs every two weeks at the Boys and Girls Club of Garfield.

The best thing about the show is the assortment of items. There aren’t just cards here, but old magazines and programs, bobbleheads, old board games, and, of course, new and vintage cards.

I headed to the show because I had to pick up two cards from a dealer, All Star Sports Cards.

Really? Who goes to a show over the George Washington Bridge (do you know how much it is just to get back?) just for two cards that weren’t even for her?

Yep, I do.

But I wasn’t going to leave empty-handed.

I picked up several cards from various dealers around the show including a 2013 Topps The Greats Derek Jeter gold parallel /99 and a 2011 Limited Hard Hats Derek Jeter /90. I grabbed a couple more Jeter base and inserts to fill the collection, and picked some Rangers items for my boyfriend, who is a huge fan, including a 2012 Topps Update Yu Darvish jersey card from the All-Star Game.

In the end, I got out of there spending $47.

I could imagine how much I would have spent if I got there with the rest of the early birds.

I’m lucky that I live in an area that is plentiful with card shows. This is the fifth card show I’ve hit this year. I may not get to any this weekend because of a big snowstorm, so if you get to hit any, let me know.

In the meantime, check out the pictures from the Garfield show.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor

Many of us woke up New Year’s Day with a little bit of a headache. I woke with the idea of driving 90 minutes to a card show.

Why not? It seemed like the perfect way to start 2013.

We headed to the card show within 20 minutes of getting out of bed. I’ve never been to the card show in Bordentown, N.J., but this area has plenty of Derek Jeter cards, so I try to hit as many card shows as I can.

The show was in a spare room at the Ramada Inn in Bordentown. There were about 50 tables set up, but only about half had dealers. I got through the room in about 30 minutes and bought six Jeter cards, a couple football cards and another 2-3 for my boyfriend, who is a Texas Rangers fan. I spent $25 (I think gas and tolls cost more).

But going to a card show isn’t just about finding cards for collection.

I love searching the tables. There are cards or memorabilia I don’t want to own, but I can appreciate them regardless.

One table had just vintage items on it, some of them had nothing to do with sports. I spent more time looking here than most of the others. It had a Mickey Mouse xylophone that seemingly played itself and other old toys.

The table next to that had what appeared to be signed boxing gloves of Muhammad Ali and old comics and magazines, including some early editions of Playboy, which were more amusing than appealing.

Of course, there were cards, but it was an odd assortment. Usually at bigger shows, there is a lot of vintage, probably 80 percent of the booths are vintage cards.

This card show was different.

There were maybe 2-3 dealers with vintage, one dealer with newer cards – although he took up several tables – and another dealer had a bunch of minor league and oddball cards. There were a couple of guys – all guys, by the way – with some newer hits, but if you were looking for high-end autograph cards, this was not the place.

It was a nice card show, which comes around a couple of times a month. I’ll try to head out to another one that isn’t on a national holiday to see if more dealers show up.

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor | Commentary

Happy New Year!

The last couple days of 2012, I thought about the resolutions I wanted to make for 2013 – cardboard resolutions.

What did I want for my collection?

In 2012, I streamlined my collection greatly. I got rid of about 16,000 commons and inserts for a small stack of Derek Jeter cards, which included inserts and memorabilia cards. This probably puts my Jeter collection at more than 1,800 unique cards.

Progress.

However, my collection is not where I want it to be. I want to trade or sell even more of my non-Jeter or Yankees for cards I want. It would be easy to do if I enjoyed selling cards, but I don’t like the hassle that comes with that.

Sometimes I even have a little seller’s remorse, which takes a couple of days to go away.

But I think I’m ready, so here are my plans for 2013.

Sort my Jeter collection

It should be done already, I know! At one point, I had my entire Derek Jeter collection organized in Beckett’s database. However, I’m working at creating a file I can take with me offline. There are many card shows in basements where there is no Internet service, making it tough to access my Organize.

Additionally, I got to the point where I stopped keeping track of my Jeter cards and right now, I have a big brown box filled with cards in top loaders. I need to get this done so I don’t buy any more doubles.

Get to 2,000 cards

I’d like to reach at least 2,000 unique Jeter cards this year, an attainable goal. The number might also be adjusted based on how many cards I actually have once it’s all sorted.

Write about card shows

I go to card shows a lot (I was actually at one yesterday). I like card shows, even tiny ones because there are so many unique items you can find.

But I seldom write about them.

That’s going to change in 2013. I intend to do more trip reports to give collectors a glimpse of East Coast card shows (So, expect one later today).

Chase non-sports autographs

I have a handful of non-sports autographs of actors that I enjoy from movies and television shows. I’ve already started to make a list of the cards I want, which is about 20 names long.

It includes actors from Eureka, Warehouse 13, Supernatural and Buffy (there is a theme here). I’m sure I’ll add a couple of more people along the way

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

Beckett Media’s Misti Floyd takes us on a tour of the company booth, explaining what collectors can expect when they swing by at the  2011 Toronto Fall Sportcard & Memorabilia Expo.

By Andrew Tolentino | Editor

With a slightly shaky internet connection and the bitter cold moving in, a few folks from Beckett Media have arrived at the 2011 Toronto Fall Sportcard & Memorabilia Expo. Stay tuned to Beckett.com/news and our Facebook page for exclusive footage, photos, interviews and more. In the meantime, feel free to check out a few photos from our first night out on the town.

We’re just getting warmed up.

Toronto's lights beckoning.

The Hockey Hall of Fame glowing gloriously.

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