Ben Reynard: Right, welcome back. And this week we have I'd say Hobby Royalty for the UK. He's one of those that you quietly go around but you're always everywhere, I think, it's fair to say. So we've got Gus and he also has the best Hello Mate ever. It's one thing, whenever at a card show, you know you're a bit flustered and you realize everything's just like it's like a bit of a vocal. Very kind, very kind. No, ⁓ Pleasure to be on. I would definitely not describe myself as that, but I've been around a fair bit, that's for sure. I don't know if you remember you were one of our first custom stands. For sure I was. I've still I've still got them. ⁓ god, I must have them in somewhere. Yeah, I think I've still got them here. Yeah. Literally I was like one of the first. Yeah. God, that was ages ago. ⁓ I remember it coming through. It was most complex one I'd won at the time. My heart just dropped. I was like, I don't how I want to do this. And then yeah. There we go. It came out great. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ so yeah, we've we're obviously bringing you on. You've been a veteran on the national front and it's coming up in a couple of weeks. We're getting asked a lot of questions about it. So we thought we'd best bring in the specialist. I wouldn't go that far either, but there's definitely a couple of ⁓ a couple of bits that I've learned over the last couple of nationals, that's for sure. Yeah. It's the best way to learn in that experience. You learn by your mistakes, all that sort of stuff. For sure. For sure. For yeah. So first of all, Joe, introduce yourself. ⁓ yeah, so I'm Gus, or my handle on ⁓ Instagram, eBay, whatnot, wherever else you can find me is Girls by Gus. ⁓ I've been in the hobby kind of since like twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. ⁓ just yeah, try and vend at as many shows as I can and fortunately got the ⁓ the chance to bend at the upcoming national and the international pavilion. So super excited for that. And ⁓ yeah, hopefully see all of you guys out there. Yeah, that's huge, isn't it? ⁓ yeah, that's like that's something you never think you'll ever achieve. It's like a it's a goal that you set out at the start of or it was for me when I started dealing and vending at like the really early London card shows. It's not something you ever think you'd ever get the access or the chance to. So I would be invited by the International Freddy, it's just a once-in-a-lifetime thing that. Super, super grateful for Luke and everyone who's organized that. How's the prep going for it? Have you changed anything to normal or have you? I mean, you know I I've I've kind of kept it as I'd vendor any other show. ⁓ I'm just super excited to display ⁓ my personal collection. Got a couple of bits for sale, partnered up with Josiah South Jersey Sports Cards as well. So we'll have a bit of everything on our table. and yeah, just excited to have a bit of ⁓ variety at the national, ⁓ which is what I think the international pavilion's kind of about. ⁓ so yeah, really excited for it and really excited to see some some great soccer collectors and other sports vendors bought in and given the opportunity to bend there. Yeah. I think it'll do well to close the gap between 'cause SOCO last year was was insane. ⁓ it it was amazing and like such a great addition to the week. Amazing to see like America our shows are all quite soccer heavy, but Americans, like American collectors, they've never seen a room full of soccer before. So like see their eyes light up, see people come round like they were in a dream. ⁓ so it was amazing to have that kind of thing, like almost a UK Phil show in in the States. Yeah. It was good to see. I think it made it worthwhile for a lot of people that come over from the UK as well. ⁓ a h a hundred percent. It gives it it was kind of I I I explained it myself as like a tipping point, like whether you do or whether you don't. Like I'd been to I think it was two nationals or three nationals prior to the SOCO button. and I was kind of on the edge teetering, like whether I go or not, and it kind of pushed me over. ⁓ just so you definitely know. I mean, we'll get on to it later, but all the trade nights in National are amazing. But to almost have that security of knowing that you'll have three full trade nights there every single night of dedicated soccer is is massive. Yeah, and it it's not like a trade night over here, is it? Is ⁓ no. I mean it's almost so it is basically its own show, ⁓ just alongside it. ⁓ and like it's a great addition to ⁓ everyone does the national in the day, grabs some dinner in between and heads over to Soko after and it's yeah, it's awesome. Yeah. It's but it's a a proper whirlwind, isn't ⁓ it's unbelievable. I mean they they've got everything from like they've got fiver sides going. It's crazy. Like the venue's in like a it's got like football pitches as part of it. Like it's amazing. It's ⁓ it's a really cool setup and I urge anyone to go if they're ⁓ on the edge at some point. Yeah, perfect. I'm sure we'll we'll cover Silica in a little bit, but ⁓ for sure. To start with, how would you describe the national? The n so I I would say it is the largest Sports card and collectible show on the planet. The scale is not really something you can describe. it's kind of it's it's almost like the Excel split into like 20 different huge rooms. It's like 20 of those combined. ⁓ the scale is nuts. ⁓ there's thousands of vendors and a huge footprint of all of the kind of businesses and corporate side as part of the. You've got access to on-site grading, which is amazing and things that like we don't really usually typically have at UK shows. yeah, I mean, the scale is, yeah, I it's almost indescribable, but it's probably one of the best weeks of the hobby calendar and and it's really hard for me to miss one going forward. So I kind of thought I'd do one at the start, that'd be my trip and I wouldn't go back and I've I've done my part, but it just it kind of keeps reeling you back in. Yeah. I I well my first time last year. And I think the the thing that caught me wasn't just like the size. I think in my head I ramped it to be a little bit bigger if that was possible. When you actually deep like dive into every table, there's so much on every table. And you you two hours, three hours and you're just looking through flick throughs or for like folders, things like that, it's it's mental. Then you just turn a corner and then it just keeps going as far as I can see in it. The actual like I say, the scale is uncomprehensive. Because that that Chicago venue, like it's it's almost in like cubes and it's like one off your neck. So like you think you see it all, but then you've got like an entire next room, and you've like the breakers pavilions, the corporate side. Like it's it just sprawls for hours. Like you could you you I mean, I don't think I would have walked around it for maybe like twenty four hours total in my three days and I don't think I'd seen every part. Like it's just it's yeah, it's unbelievable. ⁓ it's it's mental. Where was your was your first one in Chicago or is it somewhere else? No, so my first one I don't remember the year. Must have been twenty twenty, twenty twenty one was at Atlantic City. So I was going right out of lockdown as well then. Yeah, literally coming out of lockdown. Or it might have been a year after that. I can't remember exactly the year, but Atlantic City. ⁓ Which was in itself I heard like a bit more of a kind of negative press about it, just like the area, kind of a bit more like on the dangerous side and stuff. But honestly where the venue was, like it was basically within like a casino almost. So you had all the hotels off it. ⁓ super safe. You really didn't have to leave the complex. ⁓ so that was actually one of my more enjoyable ones. And obviously the first one is always a bit special for whatever venue it was. And then I went into Cleveland and then did Chicago last year. ⁓ in between Cleveland and the Chicago when I got married. So I got a pass for missing that one. ⁓ and then yeah, now back to Chicago again. So I'm looking forward to it. Do you have any sort of memories from that first one? The first one, yeah, I think it's pro it's probably the one that sticks with me the most. I think your first one always does. I mean, I you throw yourself right into the deep end. You book hotel room and like I made my mission to try and be up as long as I could. Like there's the initial trade nights in the hotel lobbies of like where your first meeting and putting faces to Instagram houses collectors from the US, like it's like you don't you honestly don't want to sleep. Like it's crazy. Like you're meeting everyone who you've spoken to. ⁓ you're out for dinners after the show, you're back into Like your hotel lobbies for trade nights that go on until as long as you want. Like I was up till three, four am some mornings. Like it's yeah. It was the one that sticks with me the most. I think it's kind of the same way where anyone kind of starts. Like putting names to like Discord people who you've been in Discord with it's yeah, it's unbelievable. Yeah, people you've done deals with and things like that that you've named for years and just yeah, nothing else. You you almost know what they look like without ever seeing them, but like to then like put the face to the name properly and have a meal, have a drink, have a beer, whatever it is, like, ⁓ priceless. ⁓ it's it's men. One thing, this might be a little bit oversharing, but like one thing that freaks me out is when you see people on TV and then you see them in person and they start talking to you. When they say like you just we have like YouTube on the background in the shop all the time. So we've always like calculated to Mojo, that sort of thing. And then you walk up to them, you say hi and stuff like that. And then they they saw they see your name back and stuff. You're like, this shouldn't be happening, like you should be on the screen. ⁓ for some reason the first two minutes I always just freeze. It's just Yeah, but it's I mean the whole thing is like overwhelming in itself, like especially being your first one, like you are just taken aback. And I don't think there's anything that I could say or anyone could say that would ever prepare you for seeing that, like your entrance into the show. Like the sheer scale of some of the cues, if you've not got early entry, it's just nuts. And like the day before, if you're going to pick up your tickets, like it is insane the number of people. It's manually family. Yeah, like it's indescribable, but it's indescribable in the best way. Yeah, no, it's mental. See, it is how would you if you were going for your first time again walking into that hall, what how would you handle that first hour? 'Cause I think that's what sort of you either smile from there or you sort of you you plan you week really, don't you? Yeah. So I I always I mean, obviously first one did not do this, but having done three or four now I kind of use the first day as an admin day. It's a bit boring and you may miss a bit of some of the some of the maybe like premium stock on the table. Obviously, like you've got first dips being in there first day. But for me, a big part of it is going and accessing like the on-site grading with PSA and stuff, being able to like drop cards off, pick them up within the same three, four days, save all of the The shipping and insurance costs and I mean, obviously it's you you're gonna be set back a little bit more for the grading fee, but for like PC items and stuff that you want that peace of mind for, like beating those cues early on, dropping it off, making like use of the like hundred dollar value level to get it back by end of show is was really big for me and something that I know obviously grading is pretty inaccessible at the minute. PSA shutting down unless you're kind of dropping off regular stuff. So to have s to have that here this year again, I think it's gone up in price again. But just for that peace of mind, I don't think you can really put a price on that and beat those Qs, I'd always advise. Yeah. And then also if you're lucky enough to do I try and do like I know a lot of people have redemptions on their Panini accounts. So I try and I I unfortunately missed out this year on on the booking slots. But usually I tend to aim for that first day. Cause I mean sometimes you run out of your sport specific ⁓ black boxes and white boxes for your redemptions and stuff. So I I kinda like to use it as a admin date. ⁓ I've got less of that this year's and obviously I'm vending so it's a little bit different this time. but yeah I also found the they've got like an interactive map. ⁓ and this year obviously we've got the International Pavilion. So you can almost like beeline to the tables you know. ⁓ have kind of first dibs on that stock, I'd probably recommend this year. And yeah, just on yeah. I would say you can drop pins on it as well, can't you? So you know exactly. Yeah, exactly. So you can literally mark it all up. ⁓ is that it's brilliant. And I I know a lot of people kind of look over that, but and especially sometimes you might not have the Wi-Fi in the room or whatever. So I always advise taking screenshots and at least you know like a rough, rough gauge on where that will be. ⁓ but it'll be amazing having that international pavilion. Because you'll have fifty guaranteed tables or fifty sets of vendors, probably more tables than that, all ⁓ all in a all in a group and all of kind of like your typical modern to vintage to to any kind of sports ⁓ that you're looking for all together in one place, which would be huge for this year, because I mean, of years past, you can spend days sprawling through and like in particular for soccer vendors, there's probably six or seven in the room at once maybe. And then you'll have a sprinkling in the NFL guys tables or whatever. So it'll be amazing to have that this year and somewhere that people can just hang out during the showtime, have that like you have that level of comfort. Come see me, Ben, Luke, all your usual guys you normally see. ⁓ and it'll be really nice to see everyone hang out in that in that space for us. So that's really big this year for for anyone going. I would love to have that. Yeah. It it's going to be cool to see that the UK and and Europe and everyone be represented there. So I think it's a huge gap clause. I think it's massive. I mean, like we were very I originally, I mean, like I said, there's probably like five or six soccer tables. I mean, there was always she collects cards, slab stocks always had a table there. And so like you'd always concrete around those tables. So now to have almost like an area for everyone to come and hang out and chill for the day and not have to worry about leaving your stuff with like there's a there's an area for you to come be and and and like it's almost a ⁓ like a safe space. I mean that every space is safe, but like you can come and hang out. You have f familiar faces. If it ever gets too overwhelming, like it's just a nice place to come back to, which would be great for any new people coming in. Yeah. It's a bit like I I said at the beginning that hello mate that we I've got it we somewhere in the national I remember like the first couple of days I bumped in. Yeah and I just got that I know like all I've done all day is like bump A bit similar to your sort of bump between everyone I was supposed to go see. Obviously the being in business we would try to get meetings in and stuff like that. And just having like a lower mate and a I think we did a deal or something, like over five and I think just that five minutes just it just calms you down, doesn't it? ⁓ massively. It is so overwhelming and and like it it it's almost indescribable, but it's great to have like those people you can always go see. I mean, we've always had it like there's always been A vendor there who we've known or we can go hang out with. I know that Ben and Luke were there last year. Adam Shreman always has a really great stand for soccer. ⁓ she collects cards as well, Hannah. ⁓ so there's always been people you can go to, but now to have that dedicated area would be really great for everyone, I think. Of course. Any nerves about vending? ⁓ I mean, I've tried not to think about it as much as I can, try and treat it as like your run-of-the-mill show. Obviously, it's not. I'm really grateful that. I have ⁓ made friends with Desire over the last couple of years. We've kind of always done nationals together, always walked around, bought stuff together, ⁓ sold stuff together. So it's great to kind of share that burning with him almost. but yeah, no, we're we're super excited for it. really excited to display collections, buy s buy amazing new pieces together, ⁓ kind of like have our fire dance together almost and and be able to kind of achieve a bit more together, I think it's definitely taken the load off. Yeah. But does he just do football as well or does he branch out into ⁓ he he does anything from NBA, NFL, ⁓ bit of WWE sat F1 and prior. So he doubles and doubles where where where he can. ⁓ so it'll be a really it'll be a really cool display case 'cause there'll be bits of everything for people to go create. It's interesting because neither you both seem very laid back guys. We are we are pretty laid back. We are pretty laid back. it's all I mean, fortunately with the International Pavilion stuff, we've had to be ⁓ far more organized than we probably both want to be. so we'd be filling out various forms and making sure like our all everything's in order, hotel rooms, sort of display cases, vaults, ⁓ everything from power, table, Wi-Fi access. So we've had to be way more prepared. ⁓ so we're feeling good going into it. Normally it's kind of rock up on the day, dish it all out, but we feel like we've gotta be we've gotta represent ourselves well because it's it's a one off like experience for us for like a a bucketless hobby moment. So Yeah. Rock up full suits, everything for the day. I mean, honestly, if it was fifteen, sixteen degrees, I probably would, but knowing the Chicago weather, it's ⁓ that it's always it's sweltering. It's Swelter and I'm just praying for the air conditioning to be working 'cause there was one year where it was ⁓ it wasn't working and it was ⁓ yeah. That was that was one to ⁓ one to avoid. At least we're getting a little bit of prep now at the minute with the heat wave. I was gonna say, yeah, we we I've got the shorts, the t shirts on, I'm prepped, I'm ready. We've we've got I've got air con at home that I keep bringing up to the shop and you find everyone stood in front of it. You know, literally everyone's huddling round. Like, I've got one I've got one unit in our bedroom, so like I'm just sitting in there, like, keeping as cool as I can. Yeah. Well that doesn't surprise me. But everyone's all of a sudden got a question for Chris. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, ⁓ pretty much. So from the vending side, is there anything you're wanting to bring away? Is it just the experience or you've you said massively massively for the experience? Great working with under other vendors who you know. And I I just wanna make sure we have a great balance and mix of stuff on our on our on our cases. So having Desire on board, myself, my stock, it'll be it'll be great. It'll be great to have. There's nothing in particular that kind of going in. I've obviously got like those early sets and and cards that I'm always on the lookout for, like the 2014 Prisms, your 2017 Chrome, first year dynasties, ⁓ your Club Crest, your on-card autos, those kind of things will always remain things that I'm looking to buy. But I think I've learned from my various Nashville's. You always go looking for that one card, and sometimes It's not always there. I think you've got to be able to like pivot. And if there is a opportunity for you to go into something else that may not be that same thing you're looking for, I you always gotta just make the most of it and take a bond is a where and when you can. Like I think my first year I was I was just s looking for the like the end of a couple of Don Ross parallels like of like an old Havertz rainbow. And obviously they weren't gonna be there, but you you're told that every card will be there. It's not the case. So it's like making sure you make the most of things. Like I ended up, I think, leaving with like a seventy-one biz DSA four or messy rookie it instead of what I was so like it's like you I think obviously have a a rough plan, guide, idea of like budget, cards you're looking for all of this stuff, but also there's sometimes there's just opportunities too good to pass up. And like you just gotta take those. Yeah. I think it is a bit like so we're obviously bringing to NFL. And over here there's it's a a weird market where a lot of the bigger cards don't sell because the market. So like we'll go around and you find cards that are probably like fifty to sixty percent of the value because it the market isn't there and or they don't quite know what they've got. So a lot of students will like we'll buy a lot over here for that and then we'll take it to the national to to cash out and and bring back. ⁓ it's a bit similar with football the opposite way around, isn't it? Like we were finding like People didn't quite know they had the colour blast and stuff like that. Like they obviously know the card, but they don't know the player. So do you find that is a a thing over there? And sort of is that where there's a lot of gaps that the sort of the knowledge isn't there, so there's there's value to be had? I think I think there's definitely I I agree with that. I think there's definitely there's always money in the room there. It's a great place to go and cash out. ⁓ same with like a Burbank. I put it on a similar level. And it's come at a time where there's all time highs sales in soccer at the minute with the World Cup and everything. so I think a lot of people will be using it to kind of like cash out more stuff than they buy. Market's really hot right now. It's a really interesting point. It's hard it's hard to buy ⁓ the good stuff. it's probably valued where it should be, maybe a touch higher than it probably should be as well at the same time. So it's tricky to buy. But I think there's always pockets where obviously like I'll give the classic boring example. It's not always the case, but like obviously like you can buy polisic chair for next to nothing and sell it over there for ⁓ for for double. It's just like I think I got like a national treasures one one, or actually I think it was an Oir one of one here for like six hundred quid off blooms and then sold it to a guy in the States for double. So it's like obviously there's just gonna be different parts of appreciation for different players. Kind of in end market, like you say, like in the UK, it means it's just not some of the liquidity to take some of the high end NFL stuff. So you can take advantage of that and then sell it into the marketplace where you know that they'll pay stronger. So there's definitely bits and pieces of that to to take on for sure. Yeah. I think we pretty much do that and then we'll trade it into Pokemon packs and just bring them back. Yeah, exactly. It's just knowing your market and where it is and Exactly, exactly. And I'm sure I'm sure people listening will have similar thought processes and had thoughts around it already and have kind of identified various niches and and know what they're doing. I imagine it's been it's I think we've been planning sort of three, four months for it. So I imagine everyone else is the same. Yeah, it exactly. And even if you haven't, like you've still got time to think about it. It's like find those like looking at comps, looking at certain certain cards in the UK, UK eBay versus US eBay, see if there's any differentials or Or or little gaps that you can spot yourself and and try and make the most of it for the national in a couple of weeks' time. Perfect. Now just last couple of minutes on sort of tips and tricks for the national. For sure. Have you got a best time to you said that the first day you you tend to do as admin. Do you have a best day for negotiations? Do you try push it as late and risk the catch or do you try and get it it it's really hard because I don't think there's a better day or a worse day. Obviously that people want to sell things on the last day instead of checking out and don't want to take the cards back and have the cash in their pocket. So there's that's always a that's always a a good time to negotiate with people. Obviously people don't want that stock, but at the end of the day, you're also probably left with some of the stock that's not sold for whatever reasons and might not be the strongest of stock on the last day. But I just think For every person going to the national, there will be that like one unbelievable deal at some point. I don't know when it will be. Like it'll be at a trade night or it'll be at someone's table or like there's like a soccer card in the midst of a bunch of NFL cards that you spot. Like just take advantage of that. Like it there's always one and I I definitely first yeah, I scooted over a lot of those because I was looking for that one particular parallel of a rainbow and like I would never just bank on that. I think there's always a deal to be had at some point in the national. And I just always say take advantage where you can. I don't think there's one day better than the other. Obviously, first day, everyone's stock is their stock. Maybe people are a bit firmer on prices. But at the same time, like every day I seem to sell a card. The next day the same card sells for fifty dollars, hundred dollars more. Like that's just the market we're in. So I remember that vividly. Like last national Luke offered me chance to buy, I think it was the Blue Pulsar National Messi 2040. I think they're roughly out of 55 or so. I think he offered to me four grand. I was hacking him at like 38, 39, didn't get a deal done, sold it for 4K. That car's probably worth 20K now. So like and even that national, I'm pretty sure some the next guy had an offer at 10K or something. So like things move so fast. And there's a lot of money in the room. And sometimes you just gotta pull the trigger. Yeah. It's one thing that shocked me is how I think compared to over here, how he how easy it is to sell. We sat down in the VIP room, we stuck the case down and we had two repackers just sat on your shoulder buying buying eighty five, ninety percent. Yeah. And we're just fishing out all of that. Yeah. Have you got any tips on negotiating over in the US compared to the UK? Is there any sort of little th intricacies you change? I'd always try and speak in dollar terms. So like my spreadsheet has always got pounds and dollars. So like it's easy to for you to go back to. ⁓ so kind of always knowing what those differences in values are, I think that's really important. Make sure you you're not underdoing yourself with the conversions and the currency. ⁓ it is like there's it's there's the most money in the room that there will ever be at a card show. So I think you also got to remember that and be firm with your prices. At some point it will sell. Honestly, you're you obviously don't be ridiculous with it and be way over over comps or anything like that, but like there's always a repack in the room that will take it at ninety percent, for instance. So like if there's anything under that, then maybe you can kind of have a more of a think about it and and and and try and find that collector that you might be able to get a hundred percent for, even more. ⁓ the and like with the World Cup and everything at the minute, like prices are fluctuating like crazy, like I was saying, like One day can sell for one thing and the next the other. So yeah. When you say like the the messy we were just talking about, yeah, it from four to ten K. Yeah. How do you go about that without 'cause obviously you're pricing it way over 200% other comms. Yeah. How do you do you just would you sit and wait for the offer to come in? Would you go fish it out and Yeah, so I mean I I'd probably something like that would be something I'd probably look to try and hold. But like if an offer came in, like it would be in my display case and I would I'd probably I think with that, there wasn't like a sale for like a couple of years. So it was a bit of a ballpark one. You kind of work out, okay, market's well up from there. Let's offer a double that comp or whatever it was to try and get the deal done. ⁓ and sometimes there's not comp and sometimes you just gotta go like you gotta just get out there, get uncomfortable and believe in the card, believe in the set. And it's yeah. Would that be that's through experience and knowing the market again? Yeah, exactly. So yeah. No, it just it it's interesting. It's like as a shop we don't handle that sort of we're in Yorkshire, so we don't deal with that size thing. So like it's always interesting to see how people because if you do that with a £50 card and I put it in the shop at 120, people are going to come in and ⁓ it's well over that sort of thing. So it's always interesting on how you deal with the finer things because that sort of gap is is huge, isn't it? ⁓ it's a massive gap. And I I think that's why it's important. To have your fundamentals in those, like in those sets that really mean something. People are always gonna want to pay premiums for 14 prisms, 17 chrome, they're firsts of things. People like there's actual there's there's rarity and reference ⁓ to those cards and there will always be people collecting those sets because they are the first and that's the history and meaning behind them. There is, and like if you stick to those principles. Like the market kind of ends up following. Like you see what now. Like when I joined, you could buy in 2018, you could buy a flawless souls of the game Messi for five, six K. That card is now like over a hundred grand easily. And it's like the principles of that flawless set. It's it like you can you can see it from from those twenty sixteen sales to now, what collectors really value. And it's the same with like twenty fourteen. Like 2014 Silver Prism Messies, you could buy for 10 bucks. They're now like in a 10, they're like six, seven, eight grand. So it's like there's always gonna be a bit of opportunity and there's also the other side of it as well. Like you don't want to be caught and then there's a bubble and it all bursts. So like with things like that, I I think if you're if you're really ⁓ committed and understanding of the sets and you really believe in the card. Then I think there's no reason why you shouldn't almost overpay for it the time because someone will have the same similar opinions and viewpoints to you at some point in time that made that card as valuable as you believe it to be. I I think in the US as well, you're more likely to find that person that believes the same thing. Yeah, of course. Of course. Right. So ⁓ moving on to SOCOR. Yeah. It was the first time they properly did it? Yeah, last year was the first year of doing it. Was there anything in particular or ⁓ no no how how was it to start? How was it out? Like again, I I thought that was the closest I'd ever get to vending at the national. Like you're vending alongside the show. You set up there at four or five o'clock, just as the show ends over there, and people kind of start I mean, people are trickling in through the journey. Six, seven o'clock I'd say. People get a bit of food in between. Even I mean there's there's food there as well. ⁓ But it was amazing. Like I said, like see some of the guys from the States like have a room full of soccer for the first time. And some of the cards on display were just unbelievable. ⁓ seeing people's collections, seeing people's hands. I remember seeing George's collection, Top City Collectibles in the Australia, his showcase was unbelievable. Like things that you don't think even existed. ⁓ so it was It was a really, really cool experience to see. Like I think it was around a hundred vendors. So it was it was very soccer specific and I would defin recommend anyone going to the national to do Shoko in the evenings. ⁓ it's yeah, it's an awesome experience. ⁓ definit I think even Kaya came with us, my missus, last year. Yeah. And she's not really she loves Disney Book one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But even when she was in there, she was in and Every vendor had a real passion for it. ⁓ a hundred percent. It was like everyone was really taught, they were teaching everything, going through it all, and it wasn't just a matter of like sort of little chatting off, they were sort of showing everything you could do were passing your cards that were worth six figures. Yeah. Six figures and go, No, have a look through this, have a look at that. Yeah. And I think it felt like a real community driven event and I know that Scott and Motor City cars as well, but they worked really hard on it and tried to try to build that kind of space for soccer alongside the national. Will that have been the first time they've been sort of that community together in one place? Yeah, definitely, I think. In inside the series, I mean, obviously there's been like trade nights and stuff off the bat. There's always kind of soccer specific or we try and make soccer specific trade nights outside in ⁓ in hotel lobbies and stuff with the national. ⁓ and in in years gone prior, I think that's kind of where the idea spoiled from. There's always kind of this core group of 30, 40, 50 collectors that were there and you'd always see new faces and it kind of grew from there. I think that's kind of where they came from. And obviously kind of to I think a lot of people had started to question whether the national was worth doing. ⁓ I think for anyone going for the first time, you're obviously shocked by the size and everything. But if you actually look into it, I'd say there's probably Between like 60 and 75% of the hall was traditionally vintage baseball or company spaces. ⁓ so what you were actually looking for was actually quite hard to find. ⁓ which is why I think people, and even me included, that that year I did Soko, I wasn't gonna go ⁓ until the the show popped up. Even though those trade nights and ⁓ that we do often were amazing fun. There was just always that doubt, is there enough soccer? Should I go? And that's why I think the introduction of the international pavilion at the show is so amazing because people can have soccer for 24 hours of the day. Like it will be there all day at the national and then you can go straight into Soka as well. So it's just yeah, it's a it's a it's a really, really ⁓ great place to be for For football collectors and just sports collectors in general. Like you know you're gonna have amazing tables at National and Silicon. Else going on at Solcor as well. I don't even mention side FIFA games as well. Yeah. So they they I think they had I remember those five side tournaments there last year. There was penalty shootout. ⁓ I think ⁓ I think I remember ⁓ Jamie Salt was doing a deal. ⁓ I think it was for his twenty fourteen green cracked ice messy, I think it was. And he and ⁓ another collector made a deal and instead of a coin flip, they did if Jamie saved the penalty, he'd save X. And if the guy scored a penalty, he'd say Y. And and Jamie funnily enough saved it and ended up ⁓ making a bit more money out of it. But just fun bits like that as well. Like just fun memories that you see and And see these massive deals get taking place is yeah, it's just a cool place to be. Yeah. I can imagine Jamie's probably secretly a professional goalkeeper behind it and just Do you know what's hilarious? He I knowing Jamie, he he was a goalkeeper, so it's like and I I think I would I took a couple of practice shots at it beforehand. So it's like I knew the goals weren't massive, obviously they're being five aside. ⁓ so yeah, he yeah, he he made a great save to be fair to him and saved and ⁓ made himself a bit more money. So Jamie was thrilled. Yeah. ⁓ last couple of beats. A any favorite stories from the National? ⁓ God. You've always always lined up. Yeah, I mean that Jamie one was great from last one, Ahsoka. That one sticks with me. ⁓ I always love doing the ⁓ like Dave and Adams kind of do like a they always run like almost like a redemption ⁓ like a redemption you you end up buying boxes and stuff and you redeem towards ⁓ other packs and stuff. And buying those national specific packs over the years has been great fun. ⁓ I remember I think Ben pulled the Mussiala Superfractor from Bundesliga Chrome. No one was even opening the Bundesliga Chrome. We were like throwing it away to get to the other stuff, but Ben ended up opening it and pulling that. So like that was just funny. ⁓ I've seen ⁓ some of the white box and black box one on ones I saw a messy twenty eighteen ⁓ eminence come out of one of those. Just I I think like ⁓ the main thing I think I've really enjoyed over the last couple of them is kind of hanging out with those US collectors, doing a dinner every night or or like one of the nights at least. And having that time like spending time with your your friends you've kind of built up for I mean, prior to my first one, I've been speaking to some of these guys for two, three years and and now it's almost like a an annual thing, obviously, with the national. So so definitely make the time and and and takes and do experiences within those host cities as well. Like that's one thing that I would always recommend to people. You can get so bogged down in the national itself, but you are also there to experience the culture of the cities that they're in. So like try get to a baseball game or I remember last year in Chicago they had like the Premier League friendlies. I think United were in town, like try and go to one of those stadiums or I like doing cultural experiences within the cities, I think is Like Chicago's got an amazing food scene as well. ⁓ so yeah, tr try and give yourself at least a couple of hours to go and explore a bit of Chicago at the same time. ⁓ spend that time with collectors, go out for those dinners and yeah, just experience the city outside of the national as well. So yeah. So I think the Yankees are in town, aren't they? They are, they are. I think I think I saw that. Yeah, I think we're headed over Tuesday for that. And then obviously Soldier Field as well. Exactly, which is like the home of baseball almost. So sorry, Solid Wheel the NFL one, but NFL, sorry, yeah. They've just enough I I I had in my mind ⁓ Chris Chris invited me to the to the game on Tuesday, so I had baseball in my head. ⁓ so I'm looking forward to looking forward to ⁓ to go into that game. But yeah, I mean Chicago is an amazing city and there's a real reason why they have the majority of the nationals there now. It's just all set up so well. You've got all the hotels there, the food, the restaurants are great. ⁓ definitely try and get to Gibson's if you can one night. I mean, I'm sure the reservations are probably backing up now, but even if you try and do a lunch or something, yeah. It's some of the best steak you'll ever have. So I would definitely recommend that. Yeah, we we sold you feel it's their moving stadiums. I think it's one of the oldest ones in the NFL. Yeah. They've just built no they're building that brand new complex, aren't they? So yeah, it'll be pretty cool. I think we're going around there, there's some Pokemon museum thing going on. So we're ready to but yeah, is there anywhere you watch to keep up to date with what's going on? So like there's so many trade nights and things like that, they're like Yeah. I mean there's I think the great thing is I try and keep it as fluid as possible. I obviously bending in the days made it completely different for me. ⁓ normally obviously you got twenty four hours. But I've kind of got now like 12 hours to spend separately. so I think that Tuesday night game watching the baseball ⁓ will be really fun. a time for me to kind of get out of that whole national bubble, which would be great. ⁓ try got some dinners planned. ⁓ I think if you can reach out to your American friends or other international collectors you don't normally get the time with, plan a meal, plan like Trade night, kind of find someone to go with to all of these events. I mean, we're really lucky now we have Soko. It's just like a really easy place to go afterwards. ⁓ there's always an F1 trade night. I know Car Collector 2 does his massive trade night ⁓ within the convention center after one of the days. ⁓ so there's always stuff going on. ⁓ and then also you've got the hotel lobby trade nights, just like unofficial ones that kind of just spawn. So like once you've had enough of soaper, head back to your hotel, there's always something going on. Yeah, it you speak to snowball as well, but you speak to you go out with your US friends and they've always got a few friends with them and then Yeah, exactly. And then you'll meet new people, new collectric, new stuff. ⁓ you end up being in a bit of a bit of a gang and and head out to wherever the rest the rest of the night takes you. I don't think many people have like a regimented structure for the nasty very much go feel the flow, like and work out kind of where you want to be. what what you what you all prioritise. It's amazing where you get invited as well, innit? I think it's unbelievable. Like people are so generous, so kind, and like I feel like everyone's there as collectors and and just try and make the most of the event. Like it doesn't happen often. You've got a year in between each one. If you don't do obviously like the Dallas is and stuff like that. But it's yeah, it's ⁓ it's a really great place to be. Last year we were sat with ⁓ we work a bit with Jesse from SportsCard Nonsense. ⁓ yeah. So we were sat with him and he came in and he got told, ⁓ 20 minutes, you've got to be down here. Yeah. Just come with us. It was like, I was like, all right. Just followed along just in a whim. And it's when they had Tom Brady at the Fnatic's thing and he was interviewing him. No way. Next to when he was doing that, it was a the coolest thing. That's mad. Yeah. Just totally out of the blue. Like never had to do that for you guys or anything like that. But yeah, you're just like, yeah, come with us. I'm like, We just talked with the rest of the NSN S CN group. That's mad. Just a little fist bum from Tom Brady and I'm like. Uh-huh. Life's made, but not washing my hand for a year. Yeah. The funny thing, I thought told Chris and like Chris doesn't get bothered by many people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a bit like, ⁓ yeah, he's Brady and he's not he's a Giants fan, so he wasn't really bothered. ⁓ okay, fine. Then the other week we met that Gardner YouTube fellow at my Yeah. It's like I met his idol, mate. ⁓ Like having a jealous. That doesn't surprise me though. That doesn't surprise me about Chris at all. It's always the roguish stuff with him. Like we were like a jealous, like we were messaging about sight of going and opening some boxes in the garden and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Sat there watching like a and like a jealous girlfriend. Like ⁓ your mates applied again. And I'm like maybe yeah. But that's cool. But yeah, th thanks for coming on. Any time. Last couple of bits. Any cards that we should come and see you for? Anything that you really want to show off for your table? I am going to be displaying my personal collection there, which I'm really excited to do. I haven't been as active on Instagram over the last year. Kind of been chasing ⁓ some really key pieces of my Cole Palmer PC. So I will have that on show. ⁓ see with ClubPress. I'll have a couple of other bits that ⁓ I haven't shared. So I'm really looking forward to displaying it all. And yeah. Just super excited to to be part of that international pavilion and big thanks to Luke again for being able to sort it out for all of us ⁓ international collectors. No, it's cool. For sure, for sure do. Yeah. You you struggle to get Chris away, I think, but I was gonna say he's a magnet to me at the minute. ⁓ yes, he is. Anything shiny as well. So I mean bigger cards will just be there more. Yeah. But yeah, thanks for jumping on there and we'll have to catch up after but we'll see you at the Nashville. Perfect. Thank you.