MFCA 2009
The MFCA show was held again this year at the Chase Center in Wilmington Delaware. The show is the granddaddy of Toy Soldier Shows. The show has gone through various changes and I wanted to see if the show was any way hurt by the ongoing economy. Laurie and I took off from our jobs to go down Friday as we both had to work Saturday. When we got into the room we noticed right away that the show was down in the number of dealers. There were several dealers missing including Rick Eber, who we were told was doing only the Gettysburg show.
We started to walk around and found on Marxman's table a number of new foam items. These foam pieces are great scenic pieces for your displays and scenes. We will set up a separate page for the photos of these foam pieces.
Our next stop was at our good friend Mark Hegeman. Mark is the consummate Marx collector and has been seeking out various Marx pieces for his collection. He had just gotten a two tier Warriors of the World box with WWI French which contained Marshall Foch character figure. The Marshall Foch figure was unknown.
Mark had a number of interesting items for sale. He had different packaging of the Warriors of the World as well as the Apostles in individual boxes. Mark showed me a 60mm Basketball sports figure in hard plastic painted that had been displayed at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. Mark had a number of 6 inch Figures for sale including the British Army and French which were only sold in Europe.
Another great stand to stop at is George Guerrio. George always has great displays of buildings to use in your dioramas. We were able to get a picture of George with displays as someone else asked George to be position at the end of the table and we thought it was a neat photo too. George has a wide range of buildings that you need for your set ups. They are well constructed and as you are picking them up at a show you are saving yourself the shipping costs.
Another Stand we always stop at is Alan and Betty Ford's of Brandywine Toy soldiers Alan deals in Marx original and Reamsa reissues. Alan had a wide range of figures with original GI's and Germans going for $1.00 each to playsets. Alan and I discuss the effects of Ebay on the shows and some of the prices going on. Alan is one of the spots to go to if you are missing a figure for your set.
Our trip to the MFCA would not be complete without a stop at our very good friend Gerry Watts. Gerry has such a mix of items at various prices you can spend hours going through his bins. Gerry carries both plastic and metal. We were able to find a few things for the lists and Ebay.
One of the reasons to go to MFCA is to see the various well done figures. It is always a treat to see these figures that people put hours of work into make them exquisite works of arts. There is always several that stand out at the show and this year was no exception.
The show for Laurie and myself was a disappointment. We go to a show to see what we can find for either resale and for the collection. This year I bought less than ever before. At one table Laurie stop me and said you bought the good stuff from him last year and these are the items left over. I only got one item for myself a copy of the Lido knight. Don't get me wrong there were many items to choose from and what was one collector's disappoint is another collector's bonanza. There are reports the show may move back to Valley Forge next year. I don't know if we go.