Antique Trader Blog with editor Noah Fleisher - Toys

Atlantique City Day 2

Noah — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:04:22 GMT

Howdy folks. We made it through Day One of the March 2008 Atlantique City Antiques Show and, if I may speak for the staff and crew of Atlantique City - and I reckon that I can - Day one was pretty fantastic.

By the 9 a.m. early opening we had at least 2000 people lined up outside the door, many of them grabbing copies of Antique Trader and our various publications at the show, and the trafic flow was steady all day. While official numbers aren't available yet, I'd say we had at least 5,000 people come through the convention center and they seemed interesting. Quality is high, and uniform, and we heard some good comments from dealers.

The appraisal event went very well, too, highlighted by a superb Judy Garland dress, straight off the MGM lot, that ended up in - of all places - Milwaukee, WI. We have to wait and see if the pics cvame out, but I'll post them if I will.

At the end of the day we also hosted a gathering to fete Ellen Schroy and thank her for all her hard work - 28 years worth - on the Warman's Price Guide. Nice stuff, and Ellen is a great lady. She'll be missed on Warman's, but it's a good opportunity for Trader to get her byline in the paper, as we did with the 4/9 issue.

Sunday is usually a bit slower at shows, but there can be some serious buying going on, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for our dealers and ourselves, for a good day today, a smooth load-out tonight, and a nice easy flight home tomorrow morning. Last October we got delayed in Philly for 12 hours. Yuck.

Looking forward to getting home, getting back to work and regular blogging, and seeing my family. I love the East Coast, and have a lot of good memories from these shows and my childhood summers spent here, but I want to get back to Stevens Point, WI - wide open spaces, nice people and great beer - and get back in the swing of day-to-day life and work.

See you there.

Atlantique City - At last!

Noah — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:52:14 GMT

Howdy!

After a long week of vacation last week - agonizing, as you can imagine, spending so much time with my lovely wife and daughter in Phoenix and Las Vegas - I got into Atlantic City last Wednesday night. Travel was 13 hours from Vegas, with a few nighmarish waits in TSA lines at all airports.

It's time for good antiques and the Atlantique City Antiques Show.

We have spent two exhausting days getting the show ready, but as I write this morning, the show floor at the Atlantic City Convention Center looks beautfiul, there is a crowd of 2000 people waiting outside the door and we are hoping for a good show. We know it looks good, and quality is ubiquitous. Now we are waiting for the buyers.

The weather here is a bit chilly and overcast, which means good weather for antique buying, and the attitude seems to be optimistic, which is half the battle when there are such problems with the economy. I don't, however, have to tell any Trader readers that.

What I can tell you is that I'm excited for the opening of this show, proud of the hard work we've done and ready to see this thing come off a success.

If any of you out there are coming today or tomorrow, or go this weekend and read this later, give me a holler and let me know what you think.

I'll post more later today, hopeufully with some pics, but no promises...

When your own life becomes an antique...

Noah — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:57:08 GMT

Tom Schroder, one of the editor's of the Washington Post, posted this editor's note yesterday and I found my self moved by it's insight, and impressed with its ability to convey such depth with such brevity.

I'm not quite at the point where my life has become an antique, but the things I loved as a child sure as heck have become collectible, especially the beloved stand-up first gen arcade games I wasted so many hours as a pre-pubescent boy playing on Satruday afternoons at Prestonwood Mall in Dallas.

Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong, Jr., Tron, Red Baron, Pole Position, Jack the Giant Killer, Red Baron, Jungle Hunt, these were just a few of the games I ruled... Now they're being collected at big bucks. Much like Mr. Schroder, when I see these things now at shops or shows, priced too high, or undervalued, I simply have to walk away...

Antique Trader 3-19 preview, comin' at ya'

Noah — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:45:09 GMT

Here's a first look at our March 19 issue, a special for the Atlantique City Antiques Show, which is owned by Trader's parent company, F+W Publications.

It'll be a glossy front with an extra 5,000 copies distributed at AC on March 29-30, 2008 at the Altantic City Convention Center.

I'll be there. If you are around and want to say hi, please do...

Antique Trader 3-05 preview - Comin' at ya

Noah — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:56:27 GMT

Here's your weekly sneak peak at the upcoming Trader, that literally just went to press.

VIva The Dallas Market Center!

Noah — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:36:52 GMT

In my travels across the Web, a story brought me to the Web site of the Dallas Market Center.

That triple-tiered building, that gigantic atrium with the glass elevators, the vast halls with brown carpets, massive showrooms and juat about anything of any kind could ever want. I practically grew up in the place. My folks had a showroom on the 11th floor, called The Fleishers, Inc., when it was still called the Dallas World Trade Center and didn't have the massive market hall that it has today across the street, where what used the be the Anatole Hotel and, I think, The Wyndham. I don't know if it still exists.

My parents were dealers in fine art and furniture, which where - I'm sure - the seed of antiques was planted. Man, there was a lot of trouble for a kid to get into, unsupervised, in a building of that size. I'm pretty sure my brothers and I were roundly feared. I do recall being somehwere around four or five years old and wading, in my blue jeans, into a goldfish pond in the lobby of the old Trade Mart building, with my brothers watching, ostensibly - I reasoned - to catch a "flying fish." That, however, was the only the begining... We roamed those halls for at least 10 more years...

It's good to know, somehow, that it's still there.

One banana, two banana, three banana four!

Noah — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:48:42 GMT

It is snowing again here in Central, WI, making it a record setting year for snow - In Wisconsin. Did I mention that? At least in Madison, about 90 minutes to the south. Somehow, here in Central WI we manage to dodge a lot of the severe weather just above and just below this.

Going through Heritage Auctions' Web site I cam across a sale that speaks so directly to a Gen-Xer like myself that I had to mention it here. Part of the Dallas Auction firm's current online comics sale.

Man, I remember the Banana Splits like yesterday, along with the freaky cartoons that went along with it. They had a very bizarre version of Tom Sawyer that mixed a live Tom and Becky - maybe Huck - with the rest of the characters being animation. I used to watch in the afternoons - The Banana Splits, that is - as part of a show with an eerie clown who broadcast from a central Ohio amusement park and was always pushing some kind of red frozen treat, whjich I desperately coveted but never got. We moved from Cincinnatti long before the summmer... But I digress.

As you might be able to tell by this Wiki on the Splits, the show and its immortal characters - Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky - had quite a history, part of which was filmed in my hometown of Dallas. I also remember Bingo had a thing about hitting Fleegle.

Check out the sale, and that Banana Splits comic. A steal for $100, and my birthday's comin' up...

World's longest arch bridge to be built in Dubai

Noah — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:27:36 GMT

You just have to wonder why...

And you have to wonder what future alien civilizations will think of our cultures when they excavate our defunct planet millions of years from now. They'll find this bridge, and a building or two from Las Vegas...

I do have to admit that the picture is pretty funky and space age, but I have to wonder about the water in the pictures. Dubai is a desert, no? Also, Dubai? It says that the bridge will allow passage of 2000 cars an hour, that 48,000 a day, right? I guess there will be plenty of men busy driving back and forth on that thing, because they don't allow women to drive over there...

The info above came from a blog called Rocket Boom. Fun stuff.

Effect of eBay changes on smaller antiques buyers

Noah — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:01:07 GMT

One of Trader's online readers, Frank, responded to our question of the week - Can eBay stay relevant with its current changes? - and raised a good point from the view of a "casual" user, of which there are many - myself included.

Here's what he has to say:

Noah:

I was reading about eBay, the current subject for your new blog site. Here are my comments. I'll let you decide if they are "bloggable".

I have been a registered eBay user for nearly 10 years. While my selling has been fairly limited, I planned to increase it in the coming years when I retire. My area is mostly antique toys in the $75. to $800. range (at a few dozen per year, a very small dealer in eBay terms). So I look at every strategic and revenue adjustment at eBay from that perspective.

I don't really think that the site thinks of me as a member of one of their most important revenue categories. If that turns out to be increasingly true, then I may go over to listing quantities of items with traditional auctioneers (some of whom also use eBay or some other internet auctioneer anyway) to appeal to a wider range of buyers. It all comes down to dollars. If it's a wash, who needs the hassle of packing, shipping and the occasional non-payer? The decision will be an easy one.

Frank

I have to agree with what he says. I believe that eBay might be hurting themselves from the standpoint of the small user, like Frank. If, however, these "small" users are spending anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 a year on eBay - listing and buying - that has to add up when you consider the sheer volume.

EBay might get some of the money from users like Frank, using bigger eBay dealers, but alot of that money is going to go to other dealers on other sites that are specifically dedicated to antiques already, and aren't as problematic, like Ruby Lane, et al.