I was at a local flea market a couple of weeks ago. There were fewer sellers than usual as some might have feared more wind and cooler temps than we got that day. One guy had an assortment of toys with sealed Johnny Lightning cars (some with cards inside) on a table on which each one was $4. I bought a Hollywood on Wheels one featuring a car from "Blues Brothers 2000." The card shows Dan Ackroyd and John Goodman. I also bought a "Hurst Muscle" car. All the cards in that series feature Hurst spokesmodel and racing celebrity, Linda Vaughn. The seller had some others including several from a KISS series. Maybe next time I'll get one of those. I already had one of the Monkees cards.

The seller told me that he got tired of waiting for that guy who'd come over and buy a bunch of stuff at $10 a piece so he lowered the prices. I assume he got a large lot super-cheap somewhere - already sold the best stuff and made his money. I remember a mineral dealer advising a friend about buying collections. He said, "You sell the collector pieces (at high prices) and then you take the low end and you blow it out the door."

I haven't been finding any cards at flea markets in recent months. I was wandering toward the end of one on Saturday (and wondering if I had struck out again) when I spotted a box of mixed cards in a space of a seller who specializes in Disney stuff. She has thinned out her own collection that way and her success has prompted a few of her friends to sell their stuff through her as well so she often seems to have a fresh batch of items every month. I have bought a couple of kids' science books from the 60's (if anyone remembers the "How and Why Wonder Books" with subjects ranging from science to history) from her as well as the odd souvenir (a Hewlett-Packard multi-tool).

The box of cards reflected the collection of someone who might have started in the 60's and stopped in the 90's, maybe picking up a pack of various sets to see what they looked like. I saw a lot of "You'll Die Laughing" cards but I didn't look through them which might have been a mistake if there were any test cards in there. I saw a few James Bond cards from the Philly 1966 set and a Flying Nun card.

I bought a team bag with Scary Monsters Scare Cards showing on the front and back. It was actually the full set. These cards are promos for Scary Monsters Magazine and they were inserted one-per-issue of the magazine from 1993 to 1995 as indicated by the different years on the backs. Two of the cards are a bit beat-up but it was great to pick up the set in one shot. It's not an in-demand set (maybe $3-5 per card, stuff you can find cheaper in lots) but familiar to longtime promo collectors and monster/horror card collectors with each one celebrating a local sci-fi/horror TV host and one might be Svengoolie's "rookie" card. I got the set for $5 - nice.

The seller also had three Dinosaurs (Nu-Card) cards and I got those for a buck a piece. Two of the cards are worn (somewhere less than EX) but one is nice (maybe NM) and it's one I didn't have. I'm only ten cards short of the set now.

Today, I was lucky again finding promos at a local flea market. I think the seller was the same one who had Arby's Hanna-Barbera cards last year. He had a big compartmentalized box nearly full of cards and it appeared to be a different mix with some 90's non-sport packs, some Batman Forever Unocal cards, and a mix of promos, and various base cards. I looked through it all and picked out this stuff:

Art of Curves, The.; the 3 promos with light blue back and large lettering
Austin Powers - one of the Johnny Lightning/Hollywood on Wheels cards showing Heather Graham sitting on a couch; blank back
Battlestar Galactica Premiere Edition P1
Creator's Universe, The. "Sgt. Major Acre"
Twilight Zone Series 4 P2 (Shatner on front)
Twin Peaks P1
World Wide Collectibles promo pack - promos for a billiards set with the last card stamped "SAMPLE."

I still need to look at what I have to see if I aleady have one or two of the above. The Austin Powers card is not hard to find but you usually have to buy the sealed die-cast car to get it. If you get it online, you're lucky to find it for $5 plus at least that much in shipping.

The real find was that hard-to-find promo pack which I had heard of and had been keeping an eye open for. I think Promoking or Steve mentioned it on one of the Zoom promo meetings.

I got the whole group for $7.

One other thing...from another seller I bought a sealed issue of Wizard #16 (December 1992). It was just $5. I'd seen issues as low as a buck in local comic shops over the years but this one might be the oldest sealed one I've had a chance to buy in person in a while. It has three common promos inserted with it (two different Predator versus Magnus Robot Fighter cards and one of the Wizard Image Series cards (Wetworks #8 with the prismatic foil border). I got the issue not for the cards but to get something to read - might be something interesting about the cards of the time.

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