Table at SANDIPEX Stamp Show

This weekend, the local SANDIPEX stamp show had a calendar collision with a show in Orange County, so there were some empty tables.  Bob called me and asked if I could come down and help fill in.  It was going to be a lot of work.  Over the last two months, in the 1-2 hours a week of "spare time", I have been filling a bin with covers, filling another bin with mixtures, and getting some stacks of album pages into country folders.  But we only have Saturday and Sunday, then I have to somehow be rested before another full work week.  

But he posted a nice blurb about me in the group newsletter, so we figured out a way to get down there, moving bins to Anne's place on Saturday (morning trip & evening trip), then doing some last organization there.

We have a regular car, not a van or pickup like the other dealers, but my usual sense of how objects fill spaces came in handy.  Those two trips were planned as (1) a trunk full, and (2) a back seat full, so the whole mess filled the car when we needed to get on the road.  Dory had to sit on Anne's lap on the way down.  

Our carload did fill the table pretty well.  The show ran from 10 to 2, and there was a nice steady flow of collectors the whole time.  I knew all of the regulars, and there were some new faces, too.  Nobody wanted the mixtures (argh), but the few small boxes of "10 cents each" had some people camped at the table for a while.  There was a father and a son about 12 years old, and except for them speaking Russian most of the time, they reminded me of when I was a kid and my Dad took me to some shows.  Way back then (1974-75 I guess) (the divorce was April 1975), I managed to save up a whole $10 to spend on stamps.  I still remember buying the 1971 and 1972 year sets from the post office of India at some show in NYC or Nassau County, they cost about $3 each back then.

I brought a box full of volumes of my Dad's collections, and it was fun telling the story behind them.  Our only big sale was the binder of Arizona Territory covers -- Nick S wanted it first but didn't have cash (and we couldn't figure out an easy way to do Paypal), and Neil from the library ended up getting it later on.  Chuck Bigler wanted it too, but it was out the door by then.  Other binders sold for $30 (Czechoslovakia) and $50 (AZ Precancels).  My folders of India States stamped papers that I bought from an auction in India back in the 90s finally sold.  They were always too big and delicate to ship by mail.  On the funny side, I slapped a label on there that said $10 each, and there were 4 folders of 3-5 pages per folder, and the bargain hunter interpreted that as $10 per folder, when I meant $10 per sheet.  That's fine, I'd rather get them to a collector and get some $$ today, as opposed to waiting another 20-30 years for someone to be interested at some higher price.

As foreseen, once we were forced to sit at a table, I found time to clean up the boxes a bit more.  We remembered to bring a box of supplies: scissors, paper, cardstock, markers and multiple rolls of tape.  I figured that was necessary for any event like this, since you never know when you might need to change the notes or prices.  At some point, I will replace my handwritten signs with some better-looking printed ones.

We packed up at about 2 and stopped at Filippis for our usual huge anitpasto and meatball.

It was a good day, but a lot more tiring that I expected.  Talking and being social are unusual for me, so I did end up with a bit of a sore throat and headache.  My glucose stayed fairly low, probably from lack of food.  I don't know that the amount we made was really worth the hassle -- it was only about $320 after paying for the table, snacks and lunch.  But that was more than we had the day before, and it was fun showing Anne what it's like to do a table at a public event.  She used to think about selling crafty things at street fairs, but that's too much for now -- crafting 100+ items and hauling tables and boxes?  But there's enough in my closets full of stamps after 30 years of buying lots and collections, so we can occasionally get out and do a show.

I had a terrible night's sleep the night before ... of course, since there were so many details to worry about.  But when we got home we slept most of the afternoon.