Anyone Going to Brimfield?
 

I will be spending the day tomorrow in Brimfield. Any other Net54 members going?

Jeff

I used to love Brimfield, walking around at least. Things have changed negatively for me, but its still something I wish I could do. One thing, I never saw too many great deals there, and an old friend told me years back he'd find decent sports. Jeff, is it "still there" or do the dealers scoop em up early, or is it mainly overpriced 30.00 1955 "Baseball" magazines with coffee stain and a torn Pinky Higgins photo?:)

Digging
 

Hey Scott...I have found that the sports dealers can't spend the time that I do "digging", because they have to work their own tables. They might find some obvious deals, but I don't dwell on what I could have found.

Brimfield is like all shows (in my opinion), you have to work hard to find the good deals. I am always willing to sit and go through boxes looking for something special. I have always had a nose for finding a needle in a haystack and love the process. I have been searching antique shows and flea markets for almost 25 years and as the Grateful Dead said in the song Scarlet Begonias- "once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right".

Any chance you can meet me for lunch tomorrow...my treat?

Jeff

Hope you guys enjoy Brimfield - I was there at the last one (July?) and always enjoy a day there, although I didn't find any hidden gems this time around.

Go for the Pilgrim sandwich from the stand along the street - always a solid lunch choice!

Scott

Back in the mid 80's I found some great stuff there including a nice Spaulding trophy. It's gotten tough now.

Looks like some great equipment was found already.
 

Wow after seeing the pictures in the link...hopefully there won't be a stampede of Net54 members competing with me tomorrow. :D

Success
 

I am back and had a very successful day on Thursday. I filled a case of paper size box with all kinds of ephemera. Really solid deals, especially from other sports dealers. My favorite purchase was not ephemera related , but a vintage card vending machine (I put my own cards in the display). I also included a small sample of some other items.

Hi-
I am glad to hear that you did well! I saw the vending machine in years past but it was not my type of item (it might not have been the same one). Still, it looks much better with the cards in it. I think it makes a great display.
I got back a couple of hours ago from my third trip to Brimfield this week. I arrived with my father on Tuesday morning at 4:45 but did not make my first buy until 7ish (Boy Scout neckerchiefs). I didn't find any sports stuff that I thought was worth purchasing until nearly the end of my trip (we left after about six hours). I found several turn of the century items including an early team photo (pre 1900 but has a corner missing) and a partial booklet (with really cool baseball illustrations) as well as a group of 50s college basketball photos all for 5.00. I also picked up the child's glove (shown in another thread) and a few other ephemeral items. I forgot to mention 6 early 1900s or possibly late 1800s baseballs.
I returned today with a friend and I found what I hope is an early baseball (small, wth a hand stitched cloth cover) and a 1920ish cigar label, but I mistakenly left my cell phone at a dealer's table. I did not realize this until I returned home (an hour away), so I had to go back. I am glad I did. I came back to the dealer and retrieved my cell phone and discovered 4 football "cards" (1920s high school players advertising a newspaper in New Jersey). After purchasing those (at a very reasonable price) I went to another row and bought a very large pennant (ca. 1950s HOFers like Cobb in small images on red felt). I also picked up a cool Detroit Tigers booklet from 1935 and a team autographed 1988 Jets football. I went to a few more fields and bought an extremely large baseball team photo from Eastern MA (ca 1900-1910) as well as an earlier, possibly baseball, team photo.
None of what I bought is "must have" material but I was still shocked at how great the pricing was on the items I acquired. I am always suprised at what turns up at Brimfield. I will try to post some scans in this thread or in new ones as I have a lot of questions about a lot of the items I picked up (what else is new?).
Yours in collecting,
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com

Excellent Alan, glad you did well. I was only able to see about 60% of the fields, but I only had the 1 day. I have always had good luck at Brimfield.

This is the first large display item (non paper related) I have ever purchased...the price was very right (I think anyway).

Jeff

Jeff-
I am glad to hear you got a good deal on the machine as well. Thursday can be a good day to go because more fields are open (in contrast to Tuesday or Wednesday) and possibly fewer buyers. I lucked out with the rain as I think a lot of buyers stayed home today. Let me know when you plan on going in May as it would be nice to meet up and compare finds.
Alan