Went to a stamp show today
A local Toledo club sponsored show. Haven't been to one in years. Decided to go and see if there were any stamps for my store. It wasn't a big show (had about 20 vendors), but was well attended and the vendors had an impressive amount of offerings. A few of the vendors said they do over a dozen shows a year. Observations:
1) Prices were (IMO) quite high. I primarily went through the wares of 4 vendors who had a decent amount of Canada and Newfoundland items for sale. Almost across the board prices were 40-60% of CV. Not just nice MNH stamps, but pretty much all new and used in varying condition. I ended up purchasing nothing. I conclude that shows are for collectors, but not resellers. I guess this saves me a trip to Cleveland (everyone was talking about an upcoming show there....sounded like a pretty big event).
2) I would guess the average age of vendors and attendees to be well over 70. I know that the stamp group worldwide is shrinking, but to see it so blatantly in this small venue was really quite sad.
1) Prices were (IMO) quite high. I primarily went through the wares of 4 vendors who had a decent amount of Canada and Newfoundland items for sale. Almost across the board prices were 40-60% of CV. Not just nice MNH stamps, but pretty much all new and used in varying condition. I ended up purchasing nothing. I conclude that shows are for collectors, but not resellers. I guess this saves me a trip to Cleveland (everyone was talking about an upcoming show there....sounded like a pretty big event).
2) I would guess the average age of vendors and attendees to be well over 70. I know that the stamp group worldwide is shrinking, but to see it so blatantly in this small venue was really quite sad.
Comments
I go to the Houston bourse every so often myself and your second observation is certainly true. BUT...you must realize that the dealers you meet at these shows are dealers...much like you. As you noted, they have their material priced to sell to collectors, not other dealers. It is a good way to develop relationships with other dealers though. I have, however, found material that I can sell occasionally. It is usually stuff that the particular dealer does not specialize in and is looking to just get rid of. Since I deal in worldwide it is probably a little easier for me to find things like that than yourself since you focus mainly on BNA. For me at least, I have much more success in sourcing material from different auction lots. If one is careful and particular and steadfast with your bidding, you can find some really good material that way.
Stay tuned though for a good article coming up in the March IPDA newsletter that will discuss the current philatelic market. I really do not think that the market is necessarily shrinking...it has just changed. Mainly because of the advent of the online market. That was a seismic shift in how collectors acquired material for their collection and how dealers acquired inventory for their own stores. I actually think the market is quite strong...it just operates differently than it was when we were (much) younger.
When I lived in the Chicago area there used to be a lot going on every week. I used to be in a store in the '70's and in the '80's I got out after the coin business started to fall of and I started running my own shows. I had 8 going every month on the weekends and in the '90's they started falling off and I only had 4 left so I sold those and none of them are going now. The internet was their downfall and I got involved with that.
Now I am 71 and I am just trying to liquidate the amount of items I have left so I do not leave it up a to my wife or kids to do that when I finally pass on in 20 years or so.
It gives me something to do. LoL
In the 70's I used to go to stamp shows in the Chicago area weekly. Times have sure changed.
First off you need to understand that depending on the type of show can determine the type of seller that shows up at the show. As a general rule of thumb at most club shows you will find very few of the sellers are usually selling by bulk. At the larger shows you will start seeing more of those type of sellers. For example one of the big auction sellers in the area is Rasdales. They never show at the smaller local shows but they will do the MSDA shows along with Milcopex which are more geared towards the larger sellers and sell more bulk lots.
Spend some time talking to some of the sellers and you may find that if they know you are looking for certain type of material if they handle it, but if they know they have an outlet for it and turn it over quick enough they also can get material for you.
One of the dealers I've known for over 40 years knows what I am looking for and even though he moved to Florida sends me a large priority box about 1 or 2 times a month and right around Christmas he can back to Wisconsin and dropped off 4 bankers boxes.. I also have another dealer that sends me a box about 6 times a year.
In the past 2 weeks I went to 2 local shows. (For multiple reasons one being that I am trying to get back into doing some of the local shows. The second was to look and see if if could find something.) I now have a contact to get 102 cards at a better price. The seller I am getting 102 cards from had 3 boxes of glassines that he has been carrying around for quite awhile and was tired of carrying them (He had gotten them at one time when he bought out another dealer.) From him I got 1 box of 102 cards, a box of #5,7 and 8 Glassines, from another dealer he had some used but unwritten on #4 glassines and I got 1,200 of those. (He has about another 2 boxes worth w which I will get from him at the end of March) For all those I got for a bit less than $210 It's not always about getting stamps.