Types of Collectors Seen at Toy Shows

Posted on August 24, 2018 by admin

Types of Collectors Seen at Toy Shows see if you agree or not with Toy Detectives on their list of collectors.

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19 Responses to Types of Collectors Seen at Toy Shows

  1. George Albany says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:11 AM

    Probably some of each.

    Reply
  2. ed borris says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:53 AM

    He didn’t cover my favorite, the guy that looks for hours picks out a 5o cent figure and asks if that is the best you can go or will you take 25 cents. I’m always tempted to say GTFOOH, but I usually reply, no. My other favorite is the guy that goes through every figure and then doesn’t buy any and walks away. I’m always tempted to search before they leave, but I refrain.

    Reply
  3. Barrie Blood says:
    August 24, 2018 at 12:06 PM

    The same can be said about stall holders. The type who justify the price of a figure because its rare, not realising that every other stall holder has the same figure .French dealers who come over to the UK bringing loads of Britains and Timpo figures thinking thats all we collect, no we want French ,Spainish,Belgium figures etc.
    Also the guys in the pub who think we are odd when we get our new purchases out of our plastic bags and put them on the table (we think it is quite normal).
    And finally our wifes /partners who when we our asked if we spent much and we say not this time ,they just smile and think to themselfs ‘whos he kidding’. God bless them

    Reply
  4. Mark says:
    August 24, 2018 at 1:21 PM

    The list is a fairly accurate one, apart from the bulk of people who are just normal regular guys! I say normal but that’s really also not accurate as who in their right mind would go collecting. what my partner says is that all us guys collecting are all on the spectrum and full of obsesssive behaviours. I say that there is plenty of room for us all.

    Reply
  5. Wayne W says:
    August 24, 2018 at 3:29 PM

    I don’t know where I fall; I only have been able to attend one show (though several times) – I usually have certain items I’m looking for. Then there are folks I like to see and shoot the breeze with (have to watch I don’t interfere with their business); my favorite is the loose figure boxes – I enjoy browsing and digging through them. Maybe I’m a digger, but I usually buy – unless the box is a total bust. The one thing I need to watch for is hogging a box so others can’t get to it. But it’s a balancing act I think. Which leads me to one type I think he missed:

    The elbower. I’ll be rummaging through a loose figure box and some joker will elbow through; I try to be polite and not make a scene – by the same token I try not to hog a box, particularly if I know there’s someone else waiting to look. A couple years back I had two instances that stand out in my mind: one a woman came up when I was looking through a box and literally got between me and a box of loose figures I was browsing – then she called her husband. That time I just looked at the seller and said, “That’s all right, I wasn’t looking at anything…” and paid for the figures I’d selected. Later on I found out they hadn’t bought a thing.

    Then there was the guy who actually stuck his head between me and the box. Again, I held my temper in check; but I did tell him he needed to do something about his scalp. I asked him if it was dandruff or psoriasis.

    Then there’s the guy with the cell phone in his hand who looks up everything on Ebay. I don’t know if he’s comparing prices trying to get a deal or figuring out how much he can resell the figure(s) or item(s) for.

    Reply
    • admin says:
      August 24, 2018 at 8:24 PM

      The people with looking up on Ebay make me laugh. They are worse at second hand shops. I can’t remember the last time I looked an item up on Ebay at a show. I use my knowledge and sometimes take a gamble.

      Reply
    • George Albany says:
      August 25, 2018 at 3:55 PM

      In addition to soldiers, I’m a gun nut and I always get a kick, at gun and soldier shows of the “wet behind the ears” guys using cell phones or value books to look things up at shows. I see it at soldier shows and gun shows all the time

      If I were a dealer and some one did that at my table and then made a lowball offer on sonething, I think I’d reply with some sort of jargon and gobblty gook, something like, “Of course you would be right if that were simply a regular [fill in the blank], but this is a prewar irregular Danish style Hungarian manufacture personally owned by [fill in the blank] prior to the famous flood that destroyed all factory records…” You get the idea.

      Like Paul said, it is better to use your own knowledge. You can’t know everything and sometimes the only way to learn is to make a mistake here and there.

      Reply
    • Jack Gibbons says:
      August 25, 2018 at 6:06 PM

      Years ago I took my sons to a Goldberg (?) Train show at our state fairgrounds. Sometimes you can find real bargains on soldiers if the other folks are only looking for train items. Anyway, after wandering around for about an hour the kids went off to play with the trains and Legos in the play center. I finally found a dealer with a fair amount of loose plastic. Unfortunately, some “shopper” had posted yellow police tape around 8 boxes of items. He hadn’t bought the boxes but was the only one “allowed” to search through them. Politely, I asked if I could look through 1 or 2 boxes, or maybe 1 he had finished searching. With his head down he kept responding with a stern “no!” and kept digging. The dealer was too busy with his other train tables to be bothered and, after one last try I gave up. I am not sure how you would categorize this guy, but I still have a few choice descriptors for him.

      Reply
  6. ERWIN F SELL says:
    August 24, 2018 at 11:01 PM

    Shows are very poor today to find much more intersting rare set or figures versus what I have.if looking x deal or bargain you may get some.
    If looking x repeated vintage us brand poses u will get then.
    If want Europeans figures,forget it.
    Best

    Reply
    • admin says:
      August 24, 2018 at 11:41 PM

      This has been a tough summer here in the East. The weather has been either too hot or too wet. The quality that has been showing has been lack luster

      Reply
  7. james nixon says:
    August 25, 2018 at 7:45 AM

    What about the stall holder who gives you the history of the company and every figure they have made and all you want to know is how much they are to buy.

    Reply
  8. Tom Black says:
    August 25, 2018 at 8:39 AM

    So far I have only gone to the regional show every year. I have a Hobby/Toy Soldier shop not too far away and I buy my plastic sets there. When I go to the regional show I am looking for deals on not so common stuff. Part of the problem is the dealers bring the same old stuff such as vintage (expensive) Marx, same recasts Marx, Airfix MPC…So yes, I do go from stall to stall looking for possibly European plastic or something different. After looking through loose bins and such I usually do walk away because it’s the same old stuff. You don’t see any Reamsa, Starlux or Spanish, French, German figures anymore. Only one dealer carries the Eng. Bass. Figures and that is the Owner of the Hobby store I go to. I have never seen

    Reply
  9. james nixon says:
    August 25, 2018 at 8:44 AM

    The stall holder who prices his items so high you know he is never going to sell any of it.

    Reply
  10. Tom Black says:
    August 25, 2018 at 8:46 AM

    Somehow the above got cut off. To continue, I have never seen Publius, Warhansa, Prikaz or Plastic Underground at any shows. Maybe they will be a lot more interesting in the future with more people making 3D printing figures and selling at shows.

    Reply
  11. james nixon says:
    August 26, 2018 at 6:59 AM

    Went to the London toy soldier show a few years back when it was at Islington. There was a stall with Britains detail vehicles on it. There was a German afrika korp kubelwagen with the officer with binoculars. I asked the seller how much it was he said £80.00. I thought that was dear have seen him since he still has the same vehicle.

    Reply

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