NVCF this Sunday 11th May

[Steve]

Anyone from here going?

It's hardly Union or Wayne I know but I will certainly be attending to collect a motor, if nothing else!

I note that even Howard Hope is now advertising on his website that he won't be taking ANY machines along to this years event as he has been asked repeatedly to offer cylinders at fairs like this and will be taking 1300 cylinders along! So at least you cylinder collectors will be catered for.

That leaves only 2 or 3 dealers left who might have a handful of machines for sale between them. That means that the whole event will host considerably less machines than a SINGLE SUV vehicle in the car-park of Wayne prior to that show.

'Tis a pity as I rather liked that odd looking German machine HH has for sale. I would probably buy it given the opportunity.

[Mr Grumpy]

Why not save your money by not going to this event and instead buy a flight to one of the great US shows?
You can even take in some of the sights (Chicago), or come visit us at a CAPS meeting in Toronto (only a short 8 hour drive from
Union).

Another option would be to time your visit with a Stanton's auction in Michigan and go home with a trunk-load of machines.

[Steve]

That's not a bad idea, Mr Grumpy. With the inflated entry fees to the UK (non)event, it'd probably work out cheaper to do just that!

I'll get my Penny jar out right now and start counting how much I've already got.

[AZ*]

Steve,

So how was it? Any good?

[Steve]

Hi AZ,

Thank you for the interest.

Well, let me just say that I was reminded of a wonderful scene in Sergio Leone's gangster epic, "Once Upon A Time In America", (if you've never seen it, I highly recommend the film) where the mob "mourn" the passing of the Prohibition era by imitating pallbearers walking a casket into their club with the word "Prohibition" written on the side of a heavily candle dressed "coffin", that just turns out to be a long rectangular celebratory cake!

If the market supporting dealers of machines in the UK isn't quite dead yet, it's almost certainly flat-lining and in dire need of resuscitation. There were two serious dealers of machines: one of them took his scrap items that even eBay can't quite help him dispose of and the other offered little apart from cylinders.

I noted a further five dealers missing in action this year (have they all given up?) which left just a single stand with odd parts, another run by a collector with over-priced relics from an earlier collection that have been offered for sale for the past 6 years, one stand selling nothing but portables and another full of genuinely made up items numbering less than half a dozen in total. There were a few machines scattered to the wind and being offered by non-gramophone / phonograph dealers but the most exciting of these was probably an HMV portable.

Not very impressive then. Radio collectors would have probably been a lot happier as this event is organised by their society and is supported by many radio dealers / specialists. This event is obviously not for phonograph collectors anymore. There was a time when quite a few dealers could be relied upon to be there with some interesting items. Sadly many have now passed away or decided to take up painting, horse racing or gambling in their retirement.

I noted that HMV portables were now being offered at sky high prices that even the most determined collector might balk at on a 'good' day for eBay.

If the CLPGS had a stand at this years event, I certainly couldn't spot it and neither could several other people I spoke to. Has it become that invisible?

Needless to say I returned home many hours before the event was scheduled to close, something unheard of for me, and spent the rest of the day baking that cake with the letters NVCF on the side. Now where did I put all my candles?

Steve

[AZ*]

Steve,

Thanks for the report. Sorry to hear that the NVCF turned out much as you anticipated. Even Union, which I'll be attending for the 25th straight year in 4 weeks time has contracted a bit over the years as some of the older dealers have quit attending and some of the other shows (New Jersey, California, Florida, North Carolina) have gained prominence. For me, it's still worth going to Union, but over the past few years, the number of dealers on the porch area has shrunk, and the gaps filled in with miscellaneous antiques and what I consider junk that the Donleys have for sale.

[Steve]

Hi AZ,

Yes, I think a little "contraction" is inevitable everywhere as older collectors die off and the number of newcomers fails to match the same numbers. At least in the US, there is expansion in other areas. As you've said, Union is getting slightly lesser in numbers but maybe due in part to the increases elsewhere.

Here the story couldn't be more different. The NVCF is the ONLY major fair / show annually in the UK that is dedicated to this specialist area of interest. If the talking machine element is disappearing (and it most certainly is), it is not being represented anywhere else either. Mainstream antique dealers and auctions don't have any interest in these items. Rarely will you find an item described with more than two words. No effort is made to find out exactly what the item is and we're lucky to see a single photo online of anything coming up for sale. I recently contacted an auctioneer who listed one lot as "gramophone" with no description or photograph. He seemed a little puzzled that anyone should want to know more about the item before bidding! Now just imagine that level of antipathy being shown towards a painting, 19th Century furniture or a piece of porcelain or silverware.

I also think eBay and the internet has a lot to answer for where the level of UK events is concerned. There is the general perception that you can buy anything all year round via http://www.thesaleroom.com or Fleabay, so why bother to attend a tin shed in a field near Warwick, even if it isn't a particularly unpleasant tin shed!

I will not be attending this event again. That's one more regular customer for the past 24 years now deserting the fray. As uninteresting anecdotes go, I note that even the dedicated website for this particular event has thus far been unable to provide any photos from the event since 2009! It has become progressively poorer over the past 7 years with little signs of new items or dealers coming into the event from the talking machine side. Meanwhile the entry fee has risen by over 50%. For the same money I could sit on my own back porch, save fuel, drink quite a few beers and enjoy my existing collection a whole lot more with it!

We all still have the fond memories of 20 odd years ago to carry us through.

Regards,

Steve