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Collectors and browsers alike seek hidden treasures at Wildwood show
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It's a beautiful Independence Day, and while a crowd of tourists pours into Wildwood for holiday festivities, Matthew Jones could care less about the Boardwalk or the beach.
Instead, Jones could be found inside the Wildwoods Convention Center, sorting diligently through boxes upon boxes of $1 comic books. He's keeping an eye out for Spider-Man, Batman or anything else that catches his fancy.
The East Brunswick, Middlesex County, resident just turned 20 years old, and there's nowhere else he would rather be. Armed with about $200, he is ready to go home with something special.
"I've been coming here for about 10 years now," Jones said. "If I see something older that I want, I buy it. But I do budget myself."
Comics, trading cards of sports and nonsports varieties and toys of yesteryear are in plentiful supply at Wildwood's annual Sports Cards, Toys, Comics and Collectibles Show.
The show includes everything from a rack of sports jerseys to tables filled with trading cards - both desirable single cards and complete, unopened boxes - to comic books featuring Batman and Wolverine before they were big screen successes to a table that had nothing but Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers toys from the 1990s.
The show started at the smaller convention center on the other end of the Boardwalk several years before Rob Gomberg of RK Sports Promotions took it over about seven summers ago.
Gomberg said that between Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this weekend, the show will likely see about 7,000 attendees. He's used to organizing strictly sports card shows, but he's also made sure to include toys and clothing to keep everyone who wanders in from the Boardwalk happy.
"I want everyone on the Boardwalk to come in here," Gomberg said. "I don't want anybody saying, 'Can we go now?'"
People who come in the door have nothing to lose, either, since the show has no admission price.
Most of the shoppers coming in are not big spenders. Vic Bombardt ventures down to Wildwood from Deptford every year to sell sports cards. He's had a lot of people purchasing single cards for a quarter or a dollar, but people are shying away from the premium stuff.
"I've got a hundred dollar Jeter rookie card," Bombardt said. "Nobody's going to buy it."
But those small purchases add up as people who can't find what they're looking for elsewhere are walking away with prized collectibles. Michael Middleton of Brigantine is a huge Boston sports fan, and he was cleaning Bombardt's table out of the Red Sox and Celtics cards he could find.
"Whatever money I've got, I'll spend it," Middleton said.
Single cards aren't the only big sell. People enjoy the satisfaction of ripping open pack after random pack of cards, hoping to score that rare rookie card or hidden autographed card.
Seymour Bernzweig had several tables lining one entire wall of the convention center's ballroom. In a matter of minutes, happy customers were walking away with two, three or four boxes at a time.
"With the Phillies winning the World Series last year, baseball is on fire," Bernzweig said.
The show ended up being a nice surprise for vacationers such as Tom McDermott and his 8-year-old son, Phin, coming from the other side of the country in Sumner, Wash. They're keeping an eye out for memorabilia of Tom's native home team, the Phillies.
"For my mom, I'm looking for Shane Victorino," Phin said. When asked what he was looking for, Phin kept his options open, saying he's looking for "everybody."
E-mail Ben Leach:
If you go:
What: The Annual Sports Cards, Toys, Comics and Collectibles Show
Where: Wildwoods Convention Center, 5401 Boardwalk, Wildwood
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today
For more information about this show and other upcoming shows, including another sports card show in Wildwood in August, see the promoter's Web site at
Posted in Cape_may on Sunday, July 5, 2009 3:10 am
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