EAST COAST TOY SOLDIER SHOW 2009
A look down one of the aisles.
The last toy soldier show for us in the year is the East Coast Toy Soldier Show run Bill Lango. Bill has been running this show for over 20 years and counting. Last year's show was not that exciting and we were not expecting to find much. Boy were we surprised.
We arrived at the show about an hour after it had opened. We had gotten confused on the road work and missed the normal turn off. Fortunately we have been in this area enough times and know our way around and lost only 10 minutes. We quickly got into the show and headed to our very good friend Geri Watts. After quickly checking Geri's tables and leaving our coats I headed down the road. I did not expect to find much because the competition had already been around the tables.
One of George's displays
The first tables we stopped at were George Guerrio's tables. I wanted to pick the last two issues of Playset magazines as I figured that would be one of the few items I would get. George's Tables are enjoyment to look over as he sets up dioramas of the figures he has for sale.
Another look at George's Table
A Civil War Set UP at George's Tables
George's table s were busy every time we went by. He had metal figures and settings for many different time periods
Another of George's displays
George had medieval figures for sale
George also had John Jenkins at his table which was showing a prototype of the death of Gordon. Laurie and I were very impressed with this metal display.
Jenkins Death of Gordon
We left George's tables and headed down the aisle. We ran into Dick Jackson and then we looked at the Russian figures which are always nice but are outside our budget. We did the turn and then my plans on purchasing changed. There laying on a table were six of the MPC Green Berets. This was a series of figures that I did not know about until this past Spring when I pull one out of Gerry Watts' mix boxes. As reported in Comment Time our good friend Mark Hegeman told us that they were MPC and show us at the Marx Convention the ten poses. Mark also found one at the show for me. Now I had several more to add to the collection plus one duplicate. We head down the aisle to see what else we could find.
Bob Thomas of Custom Dioramas had several nice dioramas for sale. He also had a going out of business sign. His wife explained that he was doing better making and selling crèche or managers and was going to be concentrating on them. I am sure if someone wanted to have a battle scene done he would do it.
Close up of one of Bob's dioramas
A sample of one of Bob's Managers
This one of two renactor groups that displaying at the show
We head back down to some of the aisle that had skipped and stopped at the stand of our good friend John Reichle. John told us that the morning had started slow and had picked up. When we saw him a week later he said that he had a good show. Many of the collectors were holding off purchase until later in the show. John said he was steady until he closed up at 3:00PM. We went down John's aisle and had my second surprise of the day. A dealer had in his stock of loose figures Garcia plastic. This was a surprise as I had not seen any Garcia plastic since I bought some in Mexico City 20 plus years ago. I had gone down to Mexico City for a trade show. Bill Lango had clued me on the the figures being made in a shop in Mexico. The story was the grandfather had imported composition molds into Mexico. The grandson wanted to continue the tradition but found composition too expensive so he went into plastic. I had gone down to the shop and met the owner and took pictures for Bill's magazine. Since then I had not come across anything from the company until the show. The dealer seemed annoyed that I knew the figures which I bought up for resale. I also found some other figures including one of the Turkish German soldiers done in orange! This makes me wonder if the mold was sold to Mexico or somewhere else.
We finish down the aisle where we ran into our good friend Chris Salomon who showed us the Handcart Pioneers. As related elsewhere these figures were done for the Church of the Later Day Saints. Going into the next row, I had my third surprise of the day Don Ducotte of Heritage.
Don and his assistant
I know Don for years and he had come up with his assistant from Florida to sell his Swoppable Figures. As Mike Westbay said to us. Don's figures are the best kept secret in the hobby. The figures are base on the concept of the Timpo and Britains swoppet figures. The figures have removable hands, arms and heads allowing you to do many different poses. Don does various 1812 figures which can be used in Napoleonics and also does knights. Don does the work by himself and has some great figures. I was getting some of the sailors he was doing
Some of Don's 1812 Figures.
This box has been full with figures when we arrived at 9:30. This is how it looked at 1:00PM
A look at the knights and other figures Don had for sale.
A look at the Conte Table loaded with items for sale
Once we were done at Don's stand we headed to the first row which we had save for last. At the end of the row was Conte Collectibles manned by Richard and Nancy Conte with the help of their son Travis and employee Zack. Like last year Conte had a wide range of plastic and metal for sale at great prices. We saw several people at the table at various times we walked by their tables buying the items they had to offer. The amount of items left on the table were half or more of what was on the table when we first stopped by.
Richard Conte in a break from answering questions
Many people were stopping by to ask Richard questions about future products and whether certain items would come out. Big on the list were the Immortals, Richard said that he had planned to have them out next summer. One of the hold up was deciding whether to do the cape on the Immortals separate. After a review on the cost only the Immortals where the cape needs to be done as a separate piece would done. People asked about the Alamo set and Richard replied that the sales had dropped down in the later sets that the set had become less cost effective. Also the Alamo sold less well in Europe while the Foreign Legion and Zulu War had done very well.
Samples of the upcoming metal figures
Ed Bielcik from the Marx group found out that the next playset that Conte planning to do is a Foreign Legion adventure playset. Conte would like to do a western playset with Tombstone being where he is leading toward. On display at Conte's tables were metal prototypes of the new Zulu set slated for first part of the year and Zouaves.
Conte's dog Savannah
Savannah with Zack
Laurie got to say hello again to The Conte's dog Savannah. This is one of three dogs that Conte owns and Savannah is usually with them at most shows.
After several hours we had to leave as we had plans to do Chiller and see a very good friend Marcus Boas, who was displaying some of his paintings at the show. We are now looking forward to next year's show which will be on October 31.
Plastic At East Cost Toy Soldier Show
One of the forums had someone ask about the amount of plastic at the show. The person who responded seem to dismiss plastic that was there. I decided to do a separate section as there was a lot of plastic. The plastic ranged from new to old. I have mention some of the newer items. Some of the other new items was Armies in Plastic which had their French and Indians War Figures and TSSD new cavalry and Indians I believe were there as well. For old plastic you had a great selection. Many of the tables had plastic in all price ranges. Our very good friend Gerry Watts had figures available loose or in bags. Another great dealer for buying loose is Glen Finke. I took a picture of his stand and you can see that he had various tubs where you could select your missing figures you needed in a series.
A Close up of Glen Finke's table.
A fun stand to go through is Tommy Shay. His items are so mixed it is like hunting for treasure. Our friend John does loose and put together mini sets. John Stengel has new items and old items in his massive table arrangement.
The Marx Post exchange building and the destroyed cabin were just some of the buildings Rick Eber had for sale
For some of the hard to find Marx you had at least two people Rick Eber and Francis Turner. I always enjoy photographing Rick's tables if not more for the different colors Marx Covered wagons. Rick also has the hard to find tin litho Post Exchange building. This I believe was his second one as I read a report that he had sold one to Rusty Kern at OTSN.
Some more great items on Rick's Table
Some the many different color covered Wagons Rick had for sale.
Francis Turner
Another one with hard to find pieces was Francis Turner. Francis had loose bins and playsets. Some of the playsets that Francis had he had plans to piece the items out of the playset. I know Paul Osiadacz enjoyes when Francis shows up as he can add piece to for caisson and wagon display.
Gerry Watts' Loose boxes with a MPC cannon in the box for only $2.00
Another look at Gerry's table with help from his friend Chris
Still another look at Gerry's boxes Marx Colonial figures for only $2.00 each
So next year you should plan on being there as the show is a plastic paradise. The show will be on October 31.