Reflections on 30 years of the Philly Show

[bh3443]

I was thinking of all the great dealers that set-up at the early Willow Grove shows and thought I'd list them:
Bob Thing and I were against the long wall near the door with Enor Plastics, Halls Nostalgia and a few other guys.
Lew lipset was on the back wall a year or two and that was the year I bought some Talk of the Diamonds from Kevin Strauss.
The middle rows featured levi Bleam, Dick Sikes and Charlie Sachelli, Phil Spector, Bob Ochs (traded a 51 B Mantle to him straight up for a 51 Mays which started over 15 years of trades), Steve Freedman, Bill Goodwin, Art Taferro, Don Lepore and Richard Gelman, Ted Z, Joe Duggan (the first guy to bring memorabilia in quantity), Bill Gradzewicz and Jeff Miller, Wayne Miller, Ron Oser, Bill Mastro had a table but was always walking around, Barry Sloate was there a few times, Vince Rossi, Terry Knouse, and many more!

Famous guys that walked around but I don't think set up were:
Loe Avon and Joe Pasternack (in 1988 they had over 100 cases of the new Score BB), Gene Ryder (a Boston Police Det that was a big buyer, Rob Lifson was usually there on Sundays, and many more.

Back then, I was known to bring Tobacco cards from the N's and T's plus whatever E's, D's, etc.., I could find. I had a tremendous following of T collectors. I remember a guy and his wife who both made a 206 set and I heard eventually both bought a Wagner! I sold a Mayo Russie variation to Rob Lifson one year.

My goal was to sell as much as possible and re-invest most of it in Boston cards from every year to take back to my store in Framingham, Mass.

I also remember the big dinners we went to on Saturday along with the slew of "Gentlemens Clubs" we frequented,lol, I was 20 and single so it was fun time for me!

Just a little story here to spark some interest in the dealers that made the show great!

Marc Lewis and Warren Karp were always there represented CPU, the early price boks! What a great time we always had!

I'd love to hear more stories of those days!

Regards,
Bill Hedin

PS: Other "National Circuit shows included: Strongesville and Sharonville Ohio, Plymouth, Michigan, St. Louis holidome, Chicagoland by Bruce and Bonita Payntor, White Plains by A. Gloria Rothstien, and who could forget those Montclaire, NJ shows! My first auto shows were in NYC. A small monthly show I think Dan Dishley ran in the city plus a dentist had Mays and Mantle at the Armenian Church on 1rst Ave, plus those Meadowlands Hilton Events and of course CPU's Willie, Mickey and the Duke at the Statler Hotel across from the Garden was a classic.

I had done a few Creation Comic Shows in NYC in that time too!