My local fairgrounds has an indoor garage sale several times a year. This year the show was in a smaller venue due to the promoter being late in reserving the hall so they had to take the smaller half of the hall. I got there 15 minutes before the doors opened and saw the wife of Mike Merwine. Mike was not with her as he was not feeling good. She collects action figures and we talked about the hobby. Her son has kept all of his action figure figures and set them up in displays in his basement. I also a very good friend Les who works security at the fair and told that the tall ships would be in Philadelphia on June 25 to the 28.
The doors opened and I entered the show. There were three long rows so I decided to start up the middle row. I found only one bag of Pola railroad figures at the entire show. The other figures were common and not of interest. I looked at the other items and found nothing of interest. I saw Mike’s wife before I left and she had gotten some loose action figures.
On the way out I ran into Steve and Tim who had been my ushers at Laurie’s and mine’s wedding. Steve and Tim are body builders and some people thoughts they were my bodyguards. Steve and Tim collect Pez among other things. Tim said they would run into me and I would have bought the place out. I laughed and showed them my one bag. Tim told me he had stent put in December.
The show was a disappointment, but I will do it again. The show is close to home and I never know what will turn up. I have gotten good stuff there over the years. I work on percentages the more times you go out the more times you are going to find something.
I’m interested in buying loose Peco pirates, Daniel Boone or accessories !
Mark
Paul, you say you passed on things that were only “common figures”. I can remember when I first started going to OTSN in the 80s. There were tons of Timmee, Lido, and MPC, so “common” that dealers couldn’t give away. Now all three of those vintage brands are getting scarcer and scarcer at the shows, and are starting to cost real money when dealers have them.
Don
What I am calling common figures that I saw today, I was being nice. The figures I saw today were not needed for the collection or did not they have a resale value for me. Some of the figures I saw today were six inch Marx western figures some damage, a four inch Ajax Indian and MPC astronauts. I did not any of the items for my collection. From my years of experience I knew these items had a poor potential for resale.
Many of the items that I have passed over years ago I now purchase for resale. There still figures I do not purchase as they have little or no value. There are also items that were in demand years ago that are now harder to sell.