Can you make money going to the the Topps Transcendent Party? For the second year in a row I came out ahead, even with the cost of the pass doubling.
Total Sales: $6,884.77
Cost of Pass: $5,000
Total Fees: $979.33
Flight Cost: Southwest Points
Hotel: $0
Transportation: $50
Food: $15
Total Profit: $840.44
Last Years Party Re-Cap (Updated)
Full list of Cards Sold
What I have left:
21 of the 87 Aaron Judge RC Cards #/87
Hank Aaron Autograph Book Card
Hank Aaron Autograph Card #/25
Aaron Judge 1/1 RC Patch Card
18 other "1/1" Topps cards
Making money isn't the only reason to attend. Here are some other highlights and low lights.
The Sweat
Topps does a raffle during the party where you can hit or miss pretty big. Everyone in the room wins, and a few like myself, won twice.
I live in Las Vegas now, the rush of waiting for your raffle ticket to get pulled is better than any gambling I've done in Sin City.
Epic Disaster
Topps pulls a Panini.
Several autographed cards that were inserted into the exclusive silver party packs at the 2017 Topps Transcendent Party were mislabeled as being 1-of-1. You can see a checklist here.
I pulled two of the three Opening Day Andrew Benintendi cards in my silver packs.
Tweaking
The 6th most popular story on Sports Card Radio last year was: Blowout Cards HACKED: Collectors Hit For $100K +
I like to keep an arms length between me and most people in the hobby. If I was friends with Tom Fish and his website got hacked would I have written an article about it? Probably not.
The Topps Transcendent Party puts people in a small room. While some may shy from awkward situations, in the card world I enjoy them.
Hank Aaron
One of the highlights of the trip was hearing Hank Aaron talk. He appeared genuinely happy to be there. He seemed bitter about the money players made today. And I loved every time he mentioned it.
It was like Hank still had a chip on his shoulder when it comes to baseball. It's probably what made him great.
Make Money Podcasting
After the party I recorded a podcast with group breakers MojoBreak & Layton Sports Cards. Not only was the trip profitable but I got free content for the website.
R-Rated: #30: MojoBreak & Layton Sports Card Interview
