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IPAGE
2I
SportsAntiques.com's
written
coverage of the
2009
National
Sports
Collectors
Convention
Cleveland
Ohio
July
29th - August 2nd
A
guest at the hotel I work at tipped me off to Heid's
Hot Dogs in Liverpool N.Y.. So after I got to my hotel in
Baldwinsville, next to Liverpool, I asked the desk clerk if she had heard of Heid's and how
to get there...She knew it well and not only knew it and how to get
there but advised it was tradition to get the chocolate milk with my
dog. This confirmed Heid's was a Syracuse institution and the guest who
tipped me off steered me right. You could tell from the art deco
architecture of the building it had been there way before the Fonz got
his first leather jacket. I can imagine the hot rod car culture in the
1950's and 60's converging there on Friday and Saturday nights. Probably
a lot of romances that turned into families there in Syracuse started at
Heid's. I'm the diner food king, plus I practically
consider hot dogs a food group...so I couldn't have been happier to
learn about Heid's!
The
next morning I headed off to the Antique Fest. What a great place to
hold an antiques show; it was in a very lush green forest . It was raining pretty good
driving over, but stopped just as I got there. Perfect I thought. I
headed in and was taken back by how nice it was...all very clean, and it
seemed to be well organized. Dealers were set up in all different
sections of the park, not just one area. There was a lower flat area to
the left as you walked in with quite a few dealers. Then there were two
higher plateau areas you hiked a short way uphill to get to; both full
of dealers. Then there was a lower back area with more dealers, that
also had the food vendors. Plus another lower flat area along a small
river or tributary of some kind. I wouldn't say it was jam packed with
dealers but overall there were a fair amount. There was only one
problem...the quality! I'd say it ranged from medium at best, to
junky. But that's the way it is when you're hunting for
antiques...you have to turn over every rock...sometimes you land on the
rock, sometimes the rock lands on you. But that's how finds are made.
| ANTIQUEFEST
LIVERPOOL NEW YORK |
 |
 |
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|
CLICK
HERE
to
see 44 photos of the
Antiquefest,
Liverpool N.Y. Friday July 31st 2009 |
However,
I did make a pretty good find!! I have to laugh though, as it would was
a strange way to find something. There was a pretty good sized tent in
that flat area to the left as you enter, that I mentioned earlier. It
was full of pretty junky stuff...Sort of the kind of dealer you didn't
really need to go in, just looking in from the outside you could tell it
wasn't worth even nosing around. As I recall I had seen it on the way
in and didn't go in. But as I was exiting the area heading to a
different section I looked down, and there along the edge of the tent
laying on the ground in the wet grass...and I mean really wet grass...
was a soaked c1880 Spalding ring bat. It looked like it was in pretty
poor condition, as the black center rings and Spalding label were
partially worn away. But you could still make out the Spalding name. Not
being a bat guy per se, because of the condition, initially I wasn't too
excited. But I knew enough to know what it was and asked the dealer how
much...It was that typical scenario where the dealer was busy with other
people and I had to wait. Finally one of his cohorts could see I was
waiting and interrupted him for me and said hey Joe, or what ever his
name was...how much on the bat...as I was standing there holding it
waiting. He looked over at me and thought for a few seconds with
squinted eyes. Hmmm...aw $15.00 he says.
Now
mind you, it seemed pretty ravaged,,,I was pretty sure I wanted it for
$15.00 but I did stop to look it over even at $15.00, that's how bad of
shape I thought it was in....I say thought. However I would soon learn
from bat experts it wasn't as bad of shape as I thought. I was annoyed
the dealer had let it get soaked. I wish I'd taken a photo of it just as I
came upon it soaking wet laying in the wet grass I guess half out of annoyance with the guy and half
because I wasn't sure if it still had value, I said how about
$10.00?...He goes, yeah OK. I'll save what I learned about the bat at
the National for later in this story. But for now I'll just show you
before and after photos of it after Bill Rayburn of Murray Kentucky
carefully restored it.
|
BEFORE
AND AFTER RESTORATION PHOTOS
C1880
SPALDING BASEBALL BAT FOUND
LYING
ON THE GROUND SOAKING WET AT
ANTIQUEFEST
LIVERPOOL NEW YORK |
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| photographed
wet on location shortly after finding |
photographed
dry
before
restoration |
 |
| After
restoration job by Bill Rayburn |
CONTINUE
TO PAGE 3 |
