The anticipation is over and the 2007 Cleveland National Convention is here. Thousands of collectors, dealers and onlookers are expected to pack the Cleveland I-X Center this weekend.

I arrived late Thursday and first made it to the show today. Reviews are already in from the few dealers and collectors I have had the chance to chat with and have been very positive.

Throughout the weekend I hope to update Gavel Chat with any news and images of interesting items that may pop up at the show.

Hope you enjoy the first batch of photos I downloaded.



The first photo is obviously the line at the door. Not the biggest line I have ever seen at a National, but still quite busy from the start.












The next image is of a collector who brought in some killer unopened packs dating all the way back to the 1940s. Stay tuned for more on this.












The next photo is of my former coworkers at Upper Deck, Big Ben Koebler is looking mighty happy in the middle of Cheryl Loanzon and Tara Martinez. Upper Deck is running many promotions at the show, including the sale of a sharp looking new Lebron James vinyl figure.









Historic Auctions' James Brown and John Clark are pictured here with one of the nicest single-signed Christy Mathewson
balls you will will ever see.