August 18, 2008 & August 25, 2008 - Michael Phelps 2008 Beijing Olympics

He Did It! Eight Gold Medals!

I don't care that he can swim like a dolphin. All I want to know is, how can I get away with eating twelve thousand calories a day.

I'm seeing brisk sales of all Michael Phelps issues. We're almost out of stock on all of them. Word has it, that he's already signed an exclusive autograph deal with the fine people at STEINER Sports.

2008 National Sports Collectors Convention

Well, another National has come and gone. I initially planned to write updates during the trip, but we were so extremely busy at booth 655, I hardly had time to walk around.

This year, in conjunction with The Edgeman, and The History Of The Game, we had a massive booth: 100 ft long, 50 ft wide. Outside of the autograph signing area, it was one of the busiest sections of the Stephens Center.

We spent seven hours putting the booth together on the first Monday. This is what it looked like every night before we retired back to the hotel - completely draped in olive drab.

Booth 655 unveiled. An impressive collection of Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and other investment grade autographed items - all PSA/DNA or JSA authenticated. THOTG obtains their inventory in quantity from sources such as Online Authentics, Tri-Star, Steiner, and official autograph agents. They buy surplus items signed at private signings and pass on the savings.

The bargain baseball bins were a hit. Where else could you fish out a Rafael Furcal or Mariano Duncan signed Official AL or NL ball for just seven bucks?

Some pretty good autograph guests this year... Dennis Rodman, Stan Musial, Joe Namath, Refrigerator Perry, among others.

The Chicago Bulls set up a booth that I thought was pretty cool. They had all of the championship trophies displayed.

And before I forget, the food in Chicago is pretty good.

I have not had time to walk around the show because the booth has been extremely busy the last three days. So here's a snapshot of it before the unveiling.