Saturday November 3 was the closest show I have to my house, the Allentown Toy Show held at the Allentown Fairgrounds. It is only about ten blocks away if that and it has been good and bad for items. It is not as good as it was ten years ago and my very good friend Les who was running security told me that a number of tables were empty due the Superstorm Sandy. Still I planned to go over and see a few friends and have a good time.
I arrived a few minutes after the doors opened. In the old days the line used extend up several hundred feet from the door. Now the line was about ten people in front of me, I got right in and started walking around. I could see that there were some empty tables. I walked down and saw my old friends Rich, Bob and Bill Kozlowski, who I have know in the hobby for 30 years. The brothers come up with a wide array of toys and collectibles for sale. Also with them was another great friend Andy Levinson, who is riot and half. His daughter Elizabeth when she was younger used to sleep under the tables when Andy did shows as a dealer. Elizabeth has now graduated from college and is aspiring actress. From these friends I continued to walk around looking for friends or items.
I ran into Dean from New York and was glad to see him. Dean finds old store stock. He had some Bachmann planes, but the price was not right for me so I continue to walk on. I stop at Chuck from Maryland and was able make a nice deal for Timpo and Hong Kong Swoppet Romans. From Chuck I went to Kerry who I had seen on Sunday and found some Marx accessories. He told me that Rick Eber was in the next row over. Rick had a nice selection figures and accessories which I looked through but could not find anything there. At Rick’s tables was Mike Curry who I talked for awhile. Mike has been a collector for a number of years and besides collecting Marx playsets, he collects baseball cards and DVD of movies and television shows. I clued him in that Peter Fritz was still alive .
I continued on to my friend John’s stand and bought a few pieces that I knew I could resell on Ebay. John told me he was having a better day than he thought he would have. He had hope to see some friends but they could not get out of Long Island due to the gas shortages. I heard from John that Bob Muelro was there. As I started another round I ran into Bob. Bob lives in New York City and just got power back the day before. He had to walk a distance to get a bus to get to Allentown. We talked a little and then I headed back to see other friends. Other people I saw were Steve and Tim my ushers from our wedding and Paul Osaidacz and his wife. Paul had not found much for himself, but his wife had found some circus items at two spots.
After three hours of walking around I got tired and left. I was happy with my purchases, but more happy to see old friends.