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COVID-19 turned the trading card industry upside down as new collectors entered the hobby and old ones re-emerged.

Last year’s National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. was supposed to quench the thirst of collectors. However, with the pandemic still raging, the annual show was delayed and ultimately cancelled.

NSCC organizers turned their attention to the 2021 show at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemount, Ill., a familiar site for convention goers.

In early 2021, it didn’t seem likely the convention would be a go with the uncertainty that thousands of people would be able to inhabit a single indoor facility. But as the country started to reopen and restrictions slowly began to be lifted — including in Illinois — the convention became promising. On June 11, Illinois