Hackensack 2008

Hackensack 2008

The First Sunday in November means one thing for us it is time for The East Coast Toy Soldier Show in Hackensack New Jersey. The show is run by Bill Lango and Bill does a great job in getting this fine show together.

Laurie and I arrive at the show an hour later than planned, so there was no wait to get into the show. Once inside we went to our very good friend Gerry Watts' tables which were also manned by his cousin Ricky. Gerry had as always a great mix of plastic and metal at great prices. I made a few selections and we decided to cruise the show. We started from the front of the show and worked ourselves to the back of the show. Like all shows anymore the aisles were wide and there were less dealers. Still there was much to see and check out.

One of the first things to check out was Conte Collectibles. Richard Conte and his wife Nancy were back again this year with a wide array of plastic and metal figures at discounted prices. One of the items people were buying were the special metal pieces that were done for the various playsets Conte has done over the years. I was able to buy for Laurie a metal figure of medieval woman with a pitchfork, which she had wanted for her collection. I got myself some plastic figures including the Spartan card with bare head Hercules type figure and the army card with soldier with submachine gun in one hand and a Schmeiser in the other hand. I love that figure and I want to take it off the card. I was also able to get Alamo Surgeon which I am going to use two ways one with a pistol to be a bartender and another for the surgeon. They were selling out of many of the items they had at the show.

After visiting Conte Collectibles, we headed up the other aisles and started looking for items for resale and for the collection. We walked the aisles and we were very disappointed. There was not much that interested me this year. I got a Goliath figure from the David and Goliath playset for a dollar and several issues of the Playset magazines, which I will be passing on to a friend in Europe. I also got two books one on Selwyn Smith and another on the Hundred Years War for $20.00 each. The Hundred Years War book had been originally priced at $75.00. For Laurie I got a ceramic outhouse. One of the things Laurie collects are outhouses and this was a nice addition to her collection. That was the extend of our buying other with Gerry Watts. There were items there but they were either over priced one dealer had five Herald Confederates and a metal cannon for $50.00 or I had no use for it. Other people were reporting the same thing there was nothing to buy. I had on my list to buy the Superior Crusaders and Arabs, but no one had them. I was going to buy from AIP some of their new sets, but when he change the deal from the normal buy three and get one free to buy four and get two free I passed as only need a two sets or so. Another table had a large selection of Britains Deetail Foreign Legion and Arabs both foot and mounted. In years past they would have been wiped out. The figures were still there when we left at 2.

Just because I did not get much did not mean there was not anything there. Just the opposite the were many dealers of Plastic at the show. Francis Turner of the Marx Museum was up from West Virginia with a wide selection of Marx. For Paul Osiadacz having Francis Turner at the show allowed him to get items for his Civil War display. Another regular at the show was George Guerriero. George is the go to guy if you need terrain pieces or buildings. Rick Eber was there with playset and some of the character figures and covered wagons in several different colors. Bob DeAngelo had dinosaurs and Marx Disney figures for sale. We talked to Glen Finke who has tubs of Marx figures to go through. Many tables had plastic to look over it just depends on what you need and want.

Hackensack is also a chance to see old faces. We did our annual picture with Mike Westbay. Mike is now teaching in the New York School system after years in insurance. Another old face we saw was Ed Bielcik who we shared his pain on the stock market down turn. We saw Chris Salomon but did not have chance to talk to him. We heard from other sources that his brother is not well. Another old face was Paul Robinson and his crew. Dick Jackson was back after to being away from the hobby for a few months. We did not see anything at his stand. Bill McMasters of BMC had a table and we talked a little. We found out his son is going to Muhlenberg College which is only a few blocks from the house. Mark Hegeman was in a good mood. He had just acquire a set of the Ancient Chinese Ladies in the box. That's right Ancient Chinese Ladies a companion set to the Ancient Chinese Warriors. Mark had only seen a couple of the figures but never the full set. An article on this new discovery will appear in a future issue of Playset Magazine. Some one new to the show was Tom Stark. Tom does the picture puzzles in Playset Magazine. He was buying a bunch of items from Gerry Watts and had to put some back as he did not have enough money. I am sure he will have more money next year. We talked to Artie Rostel the first figure collector I ever met. He told us that a dealer had offered him silly money for his Marx Johnny Ringo Playset.

While we did not find much for resale. We did get some nice items for the collection and had a good time. We will come back next year and will have more fun.

Here are more pictures from the show