Philly Non-Sports Show

Okay, I must be losing my mind. I had gone to the 50th Philly Non-Sports Card show back on May 2nd and picked up a few Durons there.. but forgot to post them. I had mixed feeling about the show. I guess I'm used to the Toy and Collectible shows from Pittsburgh being held in big Convention Center rooms and had assumed the Philly show would be the same and was rather surprised when I made it thru the line to the show to find the room was maybe 1/3rd or 1/4th as big as I thought it would be. Luckily it was jammed with tables- tables full of sketch cards and autographs and non-sports cards. That brought about more mixed feelings... so many tables yet so little room to walk around- the aisles were just jammed with people. So most of the day I spent walking in a slow shuffle and a sweat (ya, that room was HOT!). I picked up the Duron "Chewy" (pic enclosed) at one dealer's table, then was lucky enough to pick up a "Yoda" Commission from Sean Pence, and also meet Brian Kong, Rich Molinelli, and Kevin Graham. I had also pre-ordered an "Anakin" Commission from Jim Kyle, but he was running late. Then when he got there he said it wasn't quite finished- could I come back in an hour? I agreed, and my nephew talked me into buying two boxes of cards to rip while we waited.. a "2008 Star Wars Clone Wars" box for me, and a "Lord of the Rings Masterpieces II" box for him. I knew unless I got a hot box he'd get twice as many sketches as me in his box, so I had to make mine count. I found my sketch first. Now I've gotten into this habit of keeping a card in front of the sketch then sliding the front card down to reveal the sketch from the top.. when I saw the first few lines at the top I just had this inkling... I've seen enough Duron's to know his style, and as I slowly slid this one down I thought it was one of his. Then came a splash of color and I was really excited! Finally, I couldn't wait any longer- I pulled the top card away to reveal this awesome color "Ahsoka" sketch. WOW! I was so pumped. I had been lucky enough to pull a color Yoda a few months earlier, so this one was going to fit in nicely in my collection. As for the "Chewy" I had bought, being a profile sketch I loved the shading and the way Mike drew his eye, mouth, and especially his nose. What a cool card! Buying one of Mike's cards at a show is always cool, but pulling one from a box is like finding buried treasure. It made the 4+ hour drive home alot more enjoyable. That's all for now- thanks for reading....

Oh, and a happy belated birthday to my Sweetheart Mandy :)