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Nation's Top Sports Collectibles Dealers Report Record Sales at West Coast Sports Collectors Expo

This past weekend (2/11-13) was a record show for many of the dealers participating at the 23rd West Coast Sports Collectors Expo (WCSCE) at the Hollywood Park Casino & Convention Center. The promoters of the event, Hall of Fame Sports & NAXCOM.com, reported that many of the 250 exhibitors had record-breaking sales at the event.

"I have been promoting shows since 1989 and never have I been part of a show where every single dealer does so well," said co-promoter Eric Beckerman, CEO of NAXCOM.com.

"The attendees that showed up this weekend were here to buy. There was a lot of money walking around the room and a lot more of the big collectors flying in from across the country." said Chris Weber of Hall of Fame Sports and founder of the show.

Some of the highlights include: McAvoy Sportscards from Omaha, Nebraska reporting over $35,000 in show sales; Andy Madec Sportscards from Thousand Oaks, California reporting an $80,000 sale to one customer; JP Cohen of Memory Lane in Orange County, California reporting over $100,000 in sales; and American Memorabilia from Las Vegas, Nevada reporting the acquisition of an original 1963 Mickey Mantle Yankees contract, complete with the original press release on Yankees letterhead.

Many of the 250 dealers reported that they had their best Hollywood Park show ever, including Brian Marcy of Scottsdale Cards from Arizona, who has participated in all 23 WCSCE shows. Paul Stark of Starx Cards from Denver, Colorado, a long time WCSCE dealer, also reported a very strong show and made the comment that the Hollywood Park show is the only major show in the country that is actually gaining in strength.

One of the sponsors of the event, Global Authentication, also reported a record number of grading and autograph submissions. Steve Rocchi of Global Authentication commented that their booth was packed the whole time and the amount of submissions received was equivalent to their top three National Shows.

In comparison to previous Hollywood Park Shows which have had guests such as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Willie Mays, Terry Bradshaw, & Barry Sanders, the autograph lineup for this show was modest but well rounded.

Hall of Fame Sports brought in 14 guests to the show including Kirk Gibson and Dennis Eckersley (only their second appearance together since the historic 1988 World Series). Steve Sax and a trio of free Dodger Autograph guests rounded out Saturday’s lineup.

In a rare appearance, Moses Malone, joined fellow NBA Hall of Famers, George Gervin and Bob Lanier on Sunday. NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson was joined by UCLA and USC football stars including, Heisman trophy winner Charles White.

"Autograph sales were strong and all of the guests were in great spirits which added to the positive experience for our customers," said Chris Weber of Hall of Fame Sports.

Chris Berry, Director of NAXCOM.com Events Marketing, commented that the show is growing because of both NAXCOM.com and Hall of Fame Sports growing customer base. Chris also pointed to a very successful radio and print advertising marketing campaign, along with an affordable but diversified autograph line-up that helped spur the February show. "We have been successful in promoting this show because we have the best lineup of dealers in the west. We had terrible weather and we thought that might affect the show - we were wrong. In fact, the only dealer that I can tell you that didn’t have their best show, was Bob Rehl of All-Pro Sports Memorabilia from Tampa, Florida, who had his second best show, right behind last September's WCSCE," said Chris Berry of NAXCOM.com. (For Hollywood Park show and table information, call 310.568.8825 x113).

During the show, NAXCOM.com also announced that it is expanding its shows nationwide with shows in Honolulu (March 4-5), Kansas City (April 15-17), Denver (May 20-22) and San Jose (August 12-14). "We are getting a lot of support from our dealers who want to see us expand," said Eric Beckerman. "The dealers supported us through the first few years of the Hollywood Park show which allowed us to grow it into the great show it has become today. An experienced dealer, like Andy Madec, took the front tables at Hollywood park during the initial slow years and now he is embedded with those front two spots. Any savvy dealer will do the same for our new shows which will probably take a couple of years for us to build."

NAXCOM.com, who sets up computers at the show to sign-up new users to their Online Marketplace, also signed up a record number of new users. "Not only were we thrilled about the record number of users signing up, but these were quality users that will benefit the most from the NAXCOM.com Marketplace." said Bill Elder, V.P. Marketing for NAXCOM. NAXCOM.com was recently ranked the #1 site according to 250 On-line collectors surveyed by Landmark Communications Inc. In fact in 2004, NAXCOM.com became the fastest growing Sports Collectibles marketplace, according to Alexa.com (an Amazon Marketing Research Company) rankings catching Beckett as the most visited Sports Collectibles only site on the net.

Also at the show, NAXCOM.com presented Memory Lane with their $10,000 cash grand prize for winning the first annual Vintage Invitational. At the presentation, NAXCOM.com announced that Vintage Invitational II is starting with qualifying rounds on March 1st. The Grand Prize will again be a $10,000 cash prize. "It will be interesting to see what happens as Memory Lane, Inc. defends their title from the 2004 Vintage Invitational contest." said Kevin Klein, NAXCOM.com Director of Business Development. "I spoke with a lot of the Vintage Dealers at this weekend's show who guaranteed me that Memory Lane will not repeat as Vintage Dealer of the Year. So, we’ll see what happens." For more information about Vintage Invitational II, go to www.naxcom.com or contact Kevin Klein at 310.568.8825 x102.

The next shows at Hollywood Park are June 3, 4 & 5 and then September 9, 10 & 11. Hall of Fame Sports, announced that Hall of Famer Johnny Bench will be appearing at the next Hollywood Park Show on June 3 – 5. For autograph information, contact Hall of Fame Sports at 909.592.1357 or visit HallofFameSports.com.

Source: NAXCOM, Inc.
Date: February 25, 2005

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