East Coast Toy Soldier Show

 Laurie and I got up on time  despite the change in time and after getting the boys out for their morning walk, we headed to the 29^th East Coast Toy Soldier Show. I have been going to this show since it started and I have enjoyed it since the beginning. The show is run by Bill Lango who does a fantastic job in putting together a great show for collectors.  The ride from our house is about 2 hours as we usually stop on the way over for gas in New Jersey as the price is lower than back home. We were able to get gas at $3.25 a gallon where back home it runs $3.34 to $3.39 a gallon. We could have gotten gas as low as $3.19 a gallon. The ride is all highway and we had only one minor scare when someone pull out in front of us with very little space. We arrived at the show about half hour after the show had opened.  At the door was Bill Lango who greeted us and said he was glad to see us.  We went into the door and started to see old friends.  On the left were Mike and Noreen Russo of Stockade Miniatures and on the right was Bob Jones. We walked up to our very good friend Gerry Watts, who looked like he was having a good day. Gerry told me to start walking around as there was a lot of the figures I like.  I headed to the last row and started to walk down the aisle.  The dealer that I had gotten the Marx Nativity pieces last year was not there. We walked down the aisle noticed various people with plastic, but nothing was grabbing my eye.  I picked up a MPC pop head grim reaper figure and asked the price. The dealer wanted $65.00, too much for my collection or resale, but for someone else it could be a buy.

I spotted Bill McMasters of BMC Toys. I bought from him his new Civil War Figures. We said hello and talked for a few moments. Bill mentioned that things were fine but was worrying about this economy and how it would affect the coming months.  A customer came up and we figured on stopping back, but never did due to the rest of the day events. We turned the corner and went down the next aisle. I started to find more items.  The show started off slow. I was finding minor items for resale at several stands. One stand had a Processed Plastic two and half ton truck which I can still sell despite newer models of two and half ton truck that have come out. We saw other old friends and said hello while I was looking for more items.  As we were going to our friend John Reichl’s table a collector butted in front of Laurie to grab a Marx Construction building which John had for sale. Fortunately Laurie was not hurt or the collector would have found he would have had a bigger expense.  Once the impatient person left we talked to John and found he was having a good day. John does little mini sets of pieces mixing figures and accessories together. John’s sets are popular at the show especially to get children started in the hobby.  I saw John later sell a mini set of a group of dinosaurs with pond for $15.00 that young boy going to get from his father. 

We did our first round and were a little disappointed with what we had gotten.  We started our second round and things changed.  We started in the back row again and as we walking I spotted a Renwal Jet, which I have done well selling. I found a few items more items at the stand and asked a price and found the items were priced very fair. I picked up more items and added to our pile. As we were talking to the dealer we discovered that the dealer was Terry Hamilton, brother of Bill Hamilton who had passed away earlier.  Terry was selling items that Bill Hamilton had not been able to sale before his untimely death.  Terry mentioned that Bill had a collection of 125 playsets of which he had sold all but 16 before his death.  We found a nice selection and were glad to help out Terry.

We walked around and started to find a number of other items for the resale and the collection. I found Marx Battleground items still very popular and Marx farm items.  Another source had MPC western front and Dulcop Tarzan figures.  I got at another table a Durham German Transport vehicle.

Bob Muelro Chris Solomon and Laurie

One of the great things of doing the shows is seeing old friends. One of the old friends we saw was Chris Solomon. We have known Chris for years and Chris have been going through a rough time. Chris and I talked about some of the new items that have come out.  As we were talking another friend Bob Muelro came up. Bob had already spent his budget for the day and he was waiting for his friends. Bob was hoping of going to Wheeling next year for the Marx convention. He had to cancel this year as he loaned some money to a friend and the person left for Columbia without paying him back.

         Victor Tocco with us

Another old friend we met was someone we had talked to over the years but never had met was Victor Tocco.  Victor has bought many of my legendary junk lots over the years and he was thrilled as we were to meet him.  Victor heard my voice as I was talking with Francis Turner.  He introduced himself and we had a few minutes to talk.

Mark Hegeman with McNamara’s Band figure

Mark Hegeman another friend brought along a piece he had shown in the latest Playset magazine to show us. It was the Marx band figure done Warriors of the World style.  The box has McNamara’s Band on the box.  Mark had done some research and found that the song McNamara’s Band was popular in 1982. The way to tell the hard plastic McNamara’s Band figures from the hard plastic one done in Germany and Holland is the McNamara’s Band are green on the underside while the Germany and Holland version are white.  Later at Francis Turner’s Table we saw a different Marx toy using McNamara’s Band name.

The McNamara’s Band piece on Freancis Turner’s table 

Eber’s Gas Station

There were several dealers missing this year including Heritage Toy and Conte Collectibles. Bill Lango mentioned that he had nine new dealers for the show.  Most of the dealers reported that they had a good day.  We stopped and talked to several dealers. Rick Eber is the place you want to go to for Marx playsets and hard to find Marx pieces. Rick had some Marx German vehicles in light chocolate and the Marx covered wagon in various colors. Rick had an unusual tin litho item a Marx service station. The service station was a long single one level building similar to the Marx Army PX building. Rick wanted $700.00 for it.

Rick Eber’s Military vehicles for sale

Ricker Eber’s selection of MarxCovered Wagons

Alan Ford was also had Marx playsets besides reissue Jescan and Reamsa pieces. Alan sells the Jescan and Reamsa reissue figures separately so people can pick what poses he wants.  Alan said he had done very well this year at OTS. The attendance was down, but the people were buying.

Bob De Angelo with black eye

Another dealer and old friend we talked to was Bob DeAngelo. Bob deals in Marx Disney figures and dinosaurs.  He had one of the small Miller dinosaurs, which Laurie could use, but it was damaged so we had to pass. Bob had been injured in a car accident going to visit his father who was in the hospital. Fortunately for him the only injury was a bad black eye. 

Francis Turner

We stopped at Francis Turner’s tables to check the latest on the Marx Museum he runs in Moundsville West Virginia.  Francis said that attendance was down this year for the museum which was the first time in its history.  Francis blamed it on the economy as the other main attraction in Moundsville the West Virginia State Penitentiary had seen their attendance down as well. Francis is hard at work in making the museum a nonprofit organization dedicated to the memory of Marx Toys.  He has been preparing various promotional materials to interest people in donating to the museum.

Some of the items that Francis had for sale including the rare figures of Moses, Zhukov Etc.

Francis had a number of Marx items for sale including several of the hard to find figures of Moses, General Zhukov, Captain Kidd and Anthony Eden.  Francis showed us a picture of a Louis Marx figure with the cigar down.  Rusty Kern of Playset Magazine said it was only the second one he had heard of. Francis had 60mm Army figures and various other items for sale.

Laurie and I found something that has not happen in a long time at a show us being over whelm. We were starting to tire out; Laurie got tired and found a spot to sit. I pushed on and was going to buy some items from a dealer but he was not at his stand. I went to the next stand which was Terry Hamilton’s and bought an Auburn train I had been looking at. I was going to go back to the previous stand when Tony of Armies in Plastic saw me. He asked what I thought of his new camel corps. I said that they looked good, but I had not made a final decision on them.  While talking to Tony, Mike Westbay another old collector came up and we talked about Tony’s plans. Tony has about 12 sets he would like to bring out which will depend on the economy.  Some of the figure set Tony has plans are Spanish for Spanish American War, Japanese Boxer Rebellion, Italian Bersageli Boxer Rebellion and enemy for the modern forces AIP did earlier this year.  I picked up the camel corps and some other figures and headed back to Laurie.

Laurie and I went to Gerry Watts, tables as Gerry was finally getting the first break of the day. He had been busy selling various items both lead and plastic. Gerry’s friend and helper Chris Lamont told us an interesting story. The previous week Chris and his wife were supposed to have a birthday party, but it got canceled because of the snow storm.  Chris was rough housing with his son when he fell of the sofa.  His wife told him to get up and Chris said he could not.  At first his wife thought he was kidding then realized he was not.  They went to the hospital that was in the middle of a disaster drill! Once the admittance realize he was not part of the drill they took Chris right into the ER. He was x-ray and given also a MRI. They gave him an MRI to make sure his liver was not damage. The doctor on duty had just read a report on fathers that rough house with their children end up with damage livers.  Chris found his liver was fine, but he had a few cracked ribs.

After a few final purchases we said our goodbyes and headed out the door.  I knew I had missed a number of spots but I was too tired from a busy day and was more than satisfy with what I had purchased.  We went to one of our favorite places to eat the Clinton Diner for Lunch then we headed for home where the boys were waiting for their walks.

This year’s show was great for both collectors and dealers. The collectors had a wide selection of figures to purchase from and the dealers were having a good time. Bill Lango reported that the show had at least 800 people in before twelve. The crowd did not stop until nearer to two.  One nice thing bill did was to let boy scouts in for free, which helped in getting the next generation interested in the hobby. We will be back next year.