2013 National Sports Collectors Convention

PART 1

2013 NATIONAL SPORTS COLLECTORS CONVENTION

Net54Baseball.com Dinner

The Three Bills Room

Corey Leiby Collection

PART 2

2013 NATIONAL SPORTS COLLECTORS CONVENTION

POST-CON ROAD TRIP

John Gennantonio Collection

The 2013 National

By Carlton Hendricks

.....And for the finale'...at the end of all the National coverage I will feature the collection of veteran sports antiques dealer Corey Leiby...who I visited in Pennsylvania after the show....So it's basically fun staked on fun staked on fun!! And then after all that stay tuned for more when I'll be posting my post-con road trip part...That is, after the National I rented a red camaro convertible and drove thru five states for eight days...from Chicago to New Jersey and back to Chicago where I flew home....You will see a lot of stuff!

he 2013 National Sports Collectors Convention was held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Illinois July 31st - August 4th. In past Nationals I've always done a pre-con road trip beforehand...Arriving a week or so early and heading out in a rented car to see what I could see...But there was a problem with that plan...by the time I got to the National I was wiped out and it was tough to cover the story...This year I fixed that....I went to the National first...then I took the road trip...And so this year, to speed things up a little I'll be posting this story in two parts...The main National part first...then the post-con part later...That way you don't have to wait till I finish the whole thing...

So what's my summary of this year's National?....It was weak....There's just no other way to put it...My take is it was about 60% the strength of the last National I covered in 2011...I'm talking only about my focus of antique display pieces...There were dealers there who in the past had a plethora of merch...so much it was laborious to cover the booth...I'm not going to name names but wow...This year those same dealers typically had just a fraction of the stock of good items they used to have...You'll see it here in a bit as we go thru the story...I can think of one dealer who every year has had a lot of good interesting items but often in kind of mediocre to poor condition...And I would always find a handful of things to feature from his booth....This year? nada....nothing of merit to include....I had to just keep walking...The National was completely sold out of booths...but as usual most dealers were selling cards and modern sports memorabilia. It may have been a great show for those kind of collectors....but for the antique relics collectors it was tough.

OK enough of the blunt truth...but why was it weak?....My guess is the economy for the most part...But what's puzzling about that conjecture is wouldn't you think if a collector was out of work they would be selling things from their collection to raise cash?...So where's the stuff??....I don't have an answer. So it could be a combination of the economy and stuff is just plain drying up....locked up in collections of people who don't need or want to sell.

Lace-up

Collared Jersey

Makers label

"The Royal

Tailors"

Pill Box Cap

Original Double

Buckle Baseball

Belt

c1890 Baseball Uniform acquired by Dr. John Gennantonio via Cell Phone from National

Although, I'm not omnipotent...I was moving as fast I could but certainly some items sold and were carted off before I could get to them. Matter fact I heard talk about a "red" nineteenth century complete baseball uniform with pleated pants that was a walk-in that a dealer bought...I never saw it or heard anymore about it. Then I'm talking to John Gennantonio on the phone and guess what?....pediatric dentist Dr. Gennantonio of Cincinnati couldn't take off work to go to the National....But he got a call from the floor from John Kanuit...Kanuit had bought the "red" uniform from Dave Bushing....Dave was the one that originally bought it from a walk-in...sold it to Kanuit....Kanuit made a call and sold it to John G. on the phone before it even hit the floor!...When you pull the curtain back, this is a little of what goes on behind the scenes you never hear about.

The National....for those who have never been to one....isn't just about the National and getting stuff...it's also about seeing friends who you may only see once a year...The going out to dinner...the parties...like the one at the Three Bill's Room at the Embassy Suites....which we'll get to shortly...and the Net54Baseball.com dinner where everything's on the house including all drinks and food...which we will also be visiting....And for the finale'...at the end of all the National coverage I will feature the collection of veteran sports antiques dealer Corey Leiby...who I visited in Pennsylvania after the show....So it's basically fun staked on fun staked on fun!! And then after all that stay tuned for more when I'll be posting my post-con road trip part...That is, after the National I rented a red camaro convertible and drove thru five states for eight days...from Chicago to New Jersey and back to Chicago where I flew home....You will see a lot of stuff!

HeartofOhioAntiquesCntr.jpg (135588 bytes)

Carlton in Springfield OH. during 8 day road trip

from Chicago to Galloway N.J. and back

And by the way...in the post-con story...On the way back to Chicago I stopped by Dr. John Gennantonio's home in Cincinnati and shot his collection and will be featuring it in the post-con. I had not seen his collection since I featured as the finale' of my 2007 National story and wow has it grown!....Brace yourself...you'll see stuff that'll knock your socks off!

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