1,000 Collectors Flocked To York Toy, Doll And Advertising Show

YORK, PENN.

:It was not held in a major metro area, and its target audience is tightly focused, but the recent York Toy, Doll and Advertising Show with its 120 specialist dealers still managed to attract nearly 1,000 attendees.

"Both the exhibitors and the customers were very pleased," show manager Dan Morphy remarked after the event. "It was one of the stronger shows of the last couple of years. There was an especially nice selection of toys, dolls and antique advertising this time around. The dealers really made an effort to bring their best to York."

Although a winter show with a history that includes the occasional blizzard, it was blue skies and mild temperatures for the fair's ninth edition, held at the York Fairgrounds' Toyota Arena.

In keeping with tradition, the setup, buying, selling and knocking down was confined to a fast-paced, 29-hour timeframe.

"This is a short, inexpensive, easy show for dealers to do. There's no standing around during dead periods; if they're not selling, they're buying. Dealers load in at 10 am on Friday, and the show's doors close at 3 pm on Saturday. A lot of business is conducted during that time, then they're on their way back home."

But it is the merchandise that has played the greatest role in developing the event into a semiannual destination for toy and advertising collectors.

The rare and unusual are the norm at this show, which is now owned by Baltimore's Diamond International Galleries.

For example, first-time exhibitor James Hamilton of Kent, Ohio, offered an early Twentieth Century nickel plated salesman's sample of a stove for $3,800. Replicating the Karr model 420 and made by Qualified Range Co., it was in absolutely pristine condition.

While the stove awaited the right buyer, other items sold very quickly from Hamilton's booth, including a "Feed Bill" amusement park ball-throw display shaped as a pelican. The appealing circa 1920s three-dimensional game was once a fixture at the Buckeye Amusement Park in Cleveland.

Hamilton also brought an embossed, lithographed tin sign for Las-i-co Tonic, whose sales pitch promised to correct "sexual weakness" and "nervous debility" in men.

Condition, again, was the first thing spectators noticed about an imposing 1936 OshKosh B'gosh store display of Uncle Sam wearing cloth overalls shown by Barbara and Matthew Protos of Boonesboro, Md.

Obtained from a collector, the colorful display featured a pair of contemporary OshKosh overalls, but as Barbara noted, "The overalls they produce today are very similar in style to the ones they've been making since 1895." The piece was available for $900.

Pittsburgh dealer Ray Haradin's booth always features a beautiful array of cast iron mechanical bank and American toys. Asked about the market for mechanicals, he remarked, "It has never been better; they just keep on going. Some of the older collectors have reached the point where it's time to let go, so their collections are hitting the market and creating interest with newer collectors."

Baltimore-based cast iron toy specialist Russ Harrington noted that early in the day he and his wife, Sheila, had sold "one real good toy - an 1895 Hubley buckboard pictured in the Hubley catalog and the only one I've ever seen."

Another gem in the couple's booth was a 1906-1920 Hubley reindeer-drawn sleigh with Father Christmas driver. With all-original paint, it was priced at $2,800.

John and Nancy Smith of American Sampler Antiques in Barnesville, Md., said they scour auctions and other sources where architectural items are found to keep their inventory of lawn sprinklers fresh. On one table they displayed a cast iron trio comprised of a turtle sprinkler for $795, an alligator for $550 and a very rare Neuydea Co. "wood" duck for $2,200.

The Smiths said they expect the newly formed Figural Cast Iron Collectors Club will boost interest in figural lawn sprinklers, as well as the many other types of Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century American antiques made of cast iron.

Dealers, collectors, auctioneers and even self-admitted curiosity seekers intersected at the York Toy, Doll and Advertising Show, an event whose appeal crosses over many collecting categories.

The next edition of the show will be held on Saturday, August 26, at the York Fairgrounds; the show will revert to its former venue, Memorial Hall in York, because, as Morphy continued, "the York Fair is being bumped up a week in the fall, so we can't use the Toyota Arena. Instead, we are going back to the old hall. This will be a permanent move because we want continuity for our customers and dealers. But nothing else about the show will change. We'll have the same great lineup of dealers."

For more information, 717-335-3435, or www.yorktoyshow.com.