IPAGE 6I

SportsAntiques.com's written

coverage of the

2009 

National Sports 

Collectors Convention

Cleveland Ohio 

July 29th - August 2nd

After leaving the Rhinebeck show I headed over to see my friend Bob Mayer's collection, not far away. The plan was to shoot his collection and get on the road for Adamstown PA by 5:00PM...in theory...But of course, the whole trip I was always running late. By the time I got to Bob's I hadn't eaten and was starved. Bob and his lovely wife BBQ'd some hamburgers and we had a nice late lunch/early dinner. So the pace got slowed way down, not that I minded at all...those were great burgers! Bob's collection was so great it was better not  to rush anyway. He has figural trophies that are jaw dropping. I'm going to stop right here…because I’ll be featuring his whole collection, all 282 photos of his collection...you heard right...282...You'll be seeing it all in a little bit. I'm saving it for my bonus feature of the convention story.

Bob's collection was so good, instead of leaving for Adamstown at 5:00PM I left at 10:00PM..crazy but I had to get there..the next day was Sunday and the fleas go off before sunup...When I'm in Adamstown I like to get up at 4:00AM for the fleas....I don't know what happened but somehow with all the stops I made on the way...eating, Wal-Mart, etc..Instead of getting up at 4:00AM...I got there at 4:00AM...oh the life of a collector! So what did I do? I checked into the Holiday Inn, got under the covers and called the front desk and told them to call me in one hour!...got up in an hour and got out and started hunting. Actually I don't know if it would qualify as hunting...closer to wandering around looking at junk. Adamstown had a reputation to live up to, but it had changed..at least that Sunday morning...for the worse. It was raining off and on though the morning so I'm sure that affected the turn out. I did the usual run back and forth between Renninger's and Stout's Black Angus Market. By the time the indoor parts opened at 8:00AM I was really ready to get in and at least see some clean items. Those indoor parts always look so picked over. But I trudged thru it all....both Renninger's and Black Angus, and...you guessed it...nada, nothing. So I went back to my hotel room and was back in bed by 10:00AM...slept till 1:00PM, got up showered quick and got back out there running thru the stores. 

For those of you unfamiliar, Adamstown and the contiguous town Denver are full of antiques stores, and the two afore mentioned antiques markets Renninger's and Black Angus are the two main markets. In their day the area rocked...but that was before eBay. 

Did I find anything? no...it was fun though...I saw some antique stuff...nothing ground shaking but collectors know...all it takes in one find! I hit all the stores in three hours...had dinner and left back for Cleveland.

ADAMSTOWN AND DENVER PA.
CLICK HERE  TO SEE 111 PHOTOS OF THE  ADAMSTOWN & DENVER ENVIRON

I got to my hotel in Cleveland around...you guessed it...4:00AM...slept till noon, got up and took off for the Medina Antiques mall...one of the cleanest and best really, antiques malls. Found a vintage Heisman Trophy dinner plate.

Heisman Trophy dinner plate found at 

Medina Antiques mall