I got a half hour to forty five minute nap and headed on towards my next hotel in Hyde park, near the Rhinebeck Antiques Fair. Being completely unfamiliar with the area I was at the mercy of my Garvin GPS. To this day I don't know the route I took, I just did what the GPS said. However, I had the feeling the whole time it was taking me the long route. It was all country roads the whole way. I was ok with it during the day since it was so picturesque and I'd never seen it before. But once it got dark, plus it was rainy a lot of the way, it seemed like it took forever to get there.

The next morning I drove the ten miles from my hotel over to the Rhinebeck show. The Hyde Park and Rhinebeck region is semi rural and very pleasant, about 90 miles from New York City. Apparently it was, and probably still is, a playground area for the rich. Along the way I passed the expansive Vanderbilt mansion you can see from the highway, which is now a national park you can take tours of. Driving thru the small town of Rhinebeck you can see it's loaded with charm, from the quaint architecture and nice looking cafes and shops.

I got to the Rhinebeck Antiques Show about 10:00AM and it was the jewel of the whole pre-con  trip. I would say for it's size it was the best antiques show I've been to in twenty two years collecting. What was great about it? The quality, that it was mostly American antiques, and that it was a good mixture of categories. That is, there were lots of collectibles as opposed to truck loads of oak furniture. The show is held three times a year in May, July and October. As I understand it the spring shows in the east coast are the best, since the dealers have had all winter to gear up. 

As good as the show was I still didn't make a find. Nevertheless I got to meet Doug McElwain who was set up at the show, of Sport and Spool Antiques from North Carolina. Doug had the best looking booth at the show. It was stocked full of antique sports equipment and memorabilia, all in real nice condition. I imagine the Polo Ralph Lauren store decorators have done plenty of business with him. It was a target rich environment, but I still didn't zero in on anything on my flyby.

I also met Stephan Boyer of Finish Line Collectibles from Annville PA. He had a nice booth too, full of Americana and a few sports things. David Pollack of David Pollack Vintage Posters was set up. I had met him at two previous San Francisco Poster Fairs. I believe David to be one of the most prolific dealers of American posters in the world. He speaks and understands antique American poster well. As opposed to typical vintage poster dealers, tables sagging with Euro ones. For what ever reason, American posters are far more rare than European. I would say for every two hundred vintage European posters that exist there is probably one American poster. Even that might be conservative. 

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