No early buying? I won't be back. The place has turned into a museum anyway. I used to load my van with fixer uppers but not anymore, it all goes on Ebay before it ever gets to Union. This whole hobby is changing and its not for the better, IMO.
--- [email protected] wrote: > I really enjoyed my trip to Union this year. I > traveled with Stan > Stanford and Dan Melvin and we all came home with > some treasures. I have > been attending the Union show off and on for over > twenty five years. > Years ago the show was basically a weekend sale but > over the years, it has > "unofficially" started earlier and earlier. This > year, we arrived in the > Union area on Wednesday afternoon and there were > probably a dozen cars in > the parking lot with twenty collectors milling > about. It was probably as > much a social occasion as anything but people were > there to buy and sell. > On Thursday morning Randy D. announced that only > persons holding > "exhibitor" badges would be allowed to stay in the > parking lot. This > created more than just a few problems because many > "early buyers" had > traveled with "exhibitors" in one vehicle. What > were they to do? Their > options were to leave or pay for exhibitor space > outside ($150 for space > which included two exhibitor passes). People that > talked to Randy came > back with conflicting stories. I spoke with Randy > and it was frustrating > because he really didn't seem to care about the > future success of the show > but he does have some valid points. There are quite > a few early buyers > that open their vehicles in the parking lot and sell > as dealers. His > other complaint centers around the show starting > early in the week and the > inconvenience that brings to his business. His > concerns are valid but I > expressed how important it is for buyers to have as > equal an opportunity > as the sellers at the parking lot deals. Just > before the show opened on > Saturday morning, Mike D. made an announcement to > the effect that there > would be no Thursday (or earlier) selling on their > property. Exhibitors > would be allowed to bring items into the sale late > on Thursday but no > buying or selling would be allowed. Sales would > begin at the same time > for early buyers and exhibitors on Friday morning > and everyone would have > equal opportunity. This should solve the problem > and compact the sale > back towards the weekend. I think it is a change > for the better. In my > opinion, Thursdays and Fridays have been great, > Saturdays have been ok, > and Sundays have been boring. Maybe Saturday will > be good and Sunday will > be ok. About this years show...there were some > terrific machines. Dan > said he saw three machines with asking prices over > $30,000! (several > Class M's and a Wizzard) There was also a mahogany > Triumph (around > $4500?), mahogany Home ($4200?), an Echophone > ($5200?) and an assortment > of Trademarks, Operas, Zonophones, etc. I think the > most expensive > machine that sold was a Toy Gramophone. The asking > price was $18,000 and > I believe it sold at or near that price. The Oregon > group (Stan S., Dan > M., Al M., Bob J. and myself) had a great time and > we're all looking > forward to next year. Happy Collecting, Jerry B. > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://www.oldcrank.org/pipermail/phono-l/ > __________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Find restaurants, movies, travel and more fun for the weekend. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/weekend.html
