National: Memorabilia side

[Leon]

I have shown this many times but never get tired of seeing it. It is much nicer in person, as they say. I hope photographs can fit over here.......Here is my 2 bit acquisition story....

Last year at the National I saw a gentleman that I barely know but he seemed to know me quite well. He was a very nice gentleman and asked me if I was interested in a photo he had? I said "no, I am more of a card guy UNLESS it is spectacular, as I had been looking for something to be the centerpiece on my office wall". We will have been in our house 9 yrs, in 3 mos., so things had not progressed too quickly. So he says he has this great photo but doesn't want to display it, in the open, as he didn't want all of the dealers and auctioneers to be hounding him. I happily informed him I have an auction business SO I understood where he was coming from . He reached under a table that had a cover on it and pulled the cover back. Both of us were standing behind the table looking into a poorly lit, cramped space underneath, and he says to me "kneel down here". I am like, what, we can't even show this thing in public at all? He says "nope", he doesn't want to tip anyone off. I said ok; knowing us collectors are a little eccentric, and kneeled down and saw a SPECTACULAR photograph. I had Corey S. look at it, who knows photos quite well (I only know a little) and a few other folks, and all said it was really nice. Another plus was that we knew the provenance of it (back to Nixie Callahan's estate) so I felt comfortable acquiring it and about 3-4 mos later I worked a trade out with cash and cards... So, you can find stuff if you look (or get it shown to you, but you have to be there) and I doubt if I got a bargain, but it was what I was looking for, and to me, as I look at it every single day, it was well worth it. So I say that you can still find stuff at the National, as I always seem to pick something up, but the highlight is always the people. And now the Net54 Dinner is usually my highlight, but I don't get out too much. I look forward to seeing and meeting everyone that can make it. kind regards