Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments I am bringing back odds and ends. This was regular part of the old Comment Time on the lists. We will cover a wide variety of subjects so Let’s get started. (Note Actually the title is Ods and Ends. The “and” is missing. This is because SEO considers it a stop word and could effect the ranking. Crazy)
Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments Marx Toy Convention
The Kreuger Toy and Train Museum in Wheeling West Virginia will be holding Marx National Toy & Train Convention on June 14 to 16. This will be a chance for collectors, who loved Marx to get together. There we be meetings and dealers tables. Also you should look at various exhibits at the museum. We hope to have pictures.
Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments Discovery
When I was posting the Replicants Cantiniere for Ebay I went to Replicants page for discontinued figures. I looked at the Cantiniere figure and noticed a difference from the one I had. The one on the replicants page had a dagger or bayonet. My figure did not have it. I checked this matter with Paul Morehead. He checked with Peter Cole. Peter stated that the figure had been redesigned after the mould worn out.
Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments Hart Show
The next show that Laurie and I are planning to attend is the Dave Hart July 7. The show held in Timonium MD. The toy show will have a 100 dealers. If you can not go on Saturday, there is a flea market on Sunday. Many of the toy dealers that were there on Saturday will be there. It is is a great show.
Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments Waterloo
Here is an interesting article on a collector who has been built a diorama of Waterloo
Odds Ends June 2018 Part One Shows, News. Comments Snooze You Loose
Some collectors will take their time in buying items. Sometimes it is because they want to make sure no one else has it at a lower price. Other times they have a limited budget. They run into a potential problem if I am there. If I see an item I will purchase it on spot if it meets my parameters.
Some years Laurie and I were at a flea market. We ran into a friend who had the Marx Alamo tin litho for sale. A person was looking at it and then passed. Once it was no longer in play with that person I bought it. The person came back and found it gone. My friend said it was sold. I could see the person knew I bought it. He walked away knowing he had goofed
There may have been a similar situation at the Plastic Warrior Show we did this year. I have been told that a person got the standing version of the above figure. He missed the kneeling figure. He had seen them last year and had passed on them.
The figure is from a company in Mexico. I called the figures Garcia plastic at the time. Mexican collectors according to Erwin are calling them Ara. The grandfather had done them in composition. His Grandson did them in plastic. I had acquired them in the 1980’s on a business trip to Mexico City. It was one of the many figures I introduced.
Am I upset the person got the other figures, no. I hope he finds others.
I’ve come to the conclusion, like Admin, that when you find something you want at a toy show, go ahead and buy it on the spot.
When I first started attending toy soldier shows in the 80s, that was exactly how I always did it. I got a lot of stuff. Then I decided to slow up, hold on to my money, and take my time looking around. Sometimes that worked, but on several occasions, by the time I had thought about it, considered it, turned it over in my mind a few times, and leisurely explored the whole show, I found that when I finally made a decision, someone else with a more decisive frame of mind, had snatched up the item. The item was gone, gone, gone.
These days, even though I sometimes resolve to go slow, by the time I get to the show I’m so excited that I don’t care if it’s the first room or the first table —- if it’s something I really like and want I make an on the spot decision to buy it.
I think the dealers, of course, appreciate that approach, too. At the Indiana show in April, on Sunday morning during set-up hours, Rick Eber mentioned I was his very first buyer that morning. Of course, it was just $15.00 for a handful of figures — not one of his $1,000.00 boxed playsets. But Rick seemed to like the idea he was taking in money.
On the other hand, John Stengel Jr. mentioned to me once that he and his father had learned never to pack up or close up their tables early — no matter how slow things seemed to be getting toward the end of the show — because they had found that in the last 15 minutes of a show buying seemed to suddenly pick up, and they often made significant sales at the very end.
When Admin published his print newsletter, I also learned when a new issue arrived in the mail I needed to go over the listings right away (as soon as I got home from work and saw what was in the mail), quickly identify what I wanted, and then immediately call Stad to place my order. Even then, sometimes somebody had beat me to the punch and snatched up what I wanted.
The LESSON from years of experience: When you see something you’ve been looking for at a toy soldier show, it’s OFTEN best not to risk it with an interminable search to find the same item at another dealer more cheaply or to make sure you’ve found the absolute lowest price around. Doing that is sort of like General McClellen in the Civil War against Robert E. Lee — so cautious he became paralyzed with fear of a mistake, while the bolder, audacious Lee ran circles around him.
I’ve had it work both ways for me. I was usually a very impetuous buyer. If I saw it, I wanted it right then. Sometimes I was glad, sometimes I found out I could have had it cheaper from some other source. It’s a bit of a crap shoot, but it adds to the fun of collecting. In the long run, I don’t regret much in the way of purchases. The hobby is a relatively inexpensive one compared to a lot of things I could have gotten into. Losing a little money here and there is no big deal and makes for some stories. I’d rather be saying, “I probably paid a bit too much for this one” than, “I saw one once and passed on it, I should got it”.
As reissues and mass new production i often let go x years as i know deals of people wanting get off then will show-appear at shows ,ebay else.
On vintage I often got it if at show right away if not in my collection ,but i avoid repeating poses in vintage at all cost
But i understand those with few money not wanting and trying decide to get others .
Is A Hard decision especially when you can not spend that much.
In Vintage and limited production in this hobby are not cheap at all in most cases considering are just plastic figures with 40-50 years maximum in older VINTAGE made and the new costly short run production.Also with ebay/internet-blogs the brand name and rarity of then info had been spread and sellers know more how high they can list/sale them.
Good fast searchers and buyers with eagle eye(AKA-Paul) are expert in hunting the hardest and best figures in shows else.I will not compete with him Ever ,he can see three tables ahead a good figure and go for ,i experience it with him few times.
I’m particular much slower in it when looking at tables at shows and the big pales in bottom tables often drag me first ignoring others.
my thoughts.
Best
I’m sure we all can tell our tales of the “great find” and “the one that got away” (personally I have a lifetime’s worth), at the end of the day we have probably all paid too much for stuff that nobody else will want but the interest, excitement and enjoyment it has given us is what we have in common and is what keeps us going.
Yes, before my wife and I retired to Indiana, I had a very good toy soldier collector friend in Michigan who collected vintage plastic. He refrained from re-issues or even new production plastic because he said he couldn’t afford to collect everything, and he therefore limited his purchases to vintage Marx, Timmie, MPC, Lido, etc., but especially vintage Marx.
Every weekend he would relentlessly search Michigan flea markets, and really had over the years amassed a very good collection of vintage Marx, even the rare stuff. He had, for instance, three complete sets of the Marx Richard Greene Robin Hood character figures. His philosophy, he explained to me was: when you see it, go ahead and get it, because even if you have to overpay a little for it, at least you’ve now got it.
Of course, he always knew what he was looking for, and had a pretty good idea of how long it would be before he would might encounter a particular figure or set again, if ever.
On the other hand, most of us don’t have such unlimited finances that we can totally indulge the luxury of unrestrained impulse buying.