Yet another rainy Saturday here, a good day to venture out to the local area toy show, which takes place 3-4x per year. I am usually out of town for most of these - I will be for the ones in May and November this year, but I made it to this one, and I should be able to make it to the one in Seattle next month. As usual, it was an interesting affair. First, a quick snap of what I bought:
The event is held in a community center, and usually sells out of vendor tables. Today’s show was maybe 75% diecast or vehicle content, the rest action figures and other toys. A couple of random shots:
Dozens of vendors, and quite a lot of activity going on even during the “early bird” time - I paid a little extra to go early, as I had something to do after. Tons of HW content as expected, I saw piles of carded 2 for $1 cars and tubs of loose cars that I am sure could be useful to someone, but not me - the list of HWs I seek is small. I was there to look for any odd Matchbox that catches my eye, along with Tomica, and pre-1990 or so Majorette and Siku. There was one seller who I have dealt with before who had a couple dozen decent loose Tomica, but nothing I didn’t already have. Very little older Majorette, none of it small scale, and only a little Siku. There was a bit of Regular Wheels material and a lot of Lesney Superfast, but little caught my eye, and some of it priced unreasonably. Lots of redlines, but those aren’t for me.
I did buy a couple things though - if I get up early and pay for admission, I am not leaving empty handed.
First, the oddball, this ~1:43 Tatra T77. I had never seen one of these before, and as I like the 1:1 car, had to have it. Price was reasonable, too:
A little research shows that this is a British-made white metal kit from the 70-80s, fairly uncommon. To me it resembles a vintage Dinky or Corgi. The glazing has warped, so the glass sags at the windshield (it is screwed together so I took it apart, I can’t mend the glazing issue), and it appears to be missing the front bumper. No big deal though, I like it, and it displays well.
Next up, a duplicate in my collection, but the price was right, and I like these with grey or silver wheels. This is Lesney Matchbox 53c, the MB 220SE coupe, notable for being an early model with opening doors. This dates from 1963, and has grey wheels, which are less common than the usually seen black wheels. The dark red paint on this variety is known for being weak, and this one isn’t 100% perfect, but the price was low. I didn’t need it per se, but the price was right and I wanted to buy something:
Not a bad day. I also passed up a playworn Husky fintail, as it was a little too far gone, and a Lego Ford Taunus, as it was also a bit worn and wasn’t cheap. Maybe I’ll find some Tomica or others at the Seattle show next month.
That is all.