Greeting from the ChicagoLand show

[Dave]

Well, it is Friday afternoon and I decided to take a break from the show.

The weather is typical for the November show. Cold & rainy.

The show is much smaller than the last time I was here (many years ago).

However, there is not near as much reproduction stuff in the parking lot.

It is still out there, just not as much.

So far, I have refrained from buying anything. I have managed to meet several other members of this forum in person.

I plan on attending the COCA meeting tonight. If anything interesting comes up I will respond to this thread.

Here are some photos from today's activities.

















The witch casting was a reproduction. The owner bragged that it was identical to an original. This is why I will probably never own a Witch.









This machine did not have a correct Treasury mechanism in it. I suspect it was a Blue Seal mechanism.







Always a few reproduction machines that show up. There were also some original machines in this booth but I didn't feel like going in and checking them out.

[Dave]

Well, I just got back from the COCA meeting.

It was very well attended. I would guess there were 100 people there.

They showed the budget for this year and last year. There were no questions or comments and it was passed.

They talked a little bit about the convention last summer and about the convention next summer. The conventions sound like a pretty good time.

They also had Rich Penn and Pete Sidlow who are auctioneers and they talked about the whole auction process.

An arcade collector was also asked to give a profile about himself. That was actually pretty interesting.

They also had a mini breakout section where they asked tabled to discuss questions and write down their answers. Our questions were have you ever had any bad experience with eBay. One person at our table got scammed out of $1,400. We talked quite a bit about this. Another question was how to get more members active. My input was that they need a discussion forum where members can easily talk to each other. The problem with a magazine is that once you get it, you read it and then forget about it. A forum is something that can go on continuously. People at the table seemed to agree.


They collected our answers. I assume they are going to look at the answers and provide something in the next COCA Times issue or put something on the web site.

They also announced the web site is going to have a special section for discounts to COCA members.

The best part of the meeting for me was meeting a new collector in person who is also a member of this forum. We chatted for about an hour after the meeting got over.

They announced that Bill Howard was "outside" signing his new book. I looked at his book earlier in the day and it looks pretty interesting. I will probably post a little more about it later.

I brought my latest find ("Our Baby") and was allowed to show it off. Several of the collectors talked to me before the meeting started and after it ended about it.

Dave

p.s., I received a request for photos of gum & peanut vendors to be posted. Although that is not what I collect, I will try to get some tomorrow and post them tomorrow night.

[Dave]

I got a private message requesting more photos, espeically of gumball and peanut vendors.

So, here you ago. These are reduced in size, if you want the full size of any particular one then let me know and I will post it.

[cpdretired]

Great pictures Dave. Nice to meet you at the show.

[tmhatting]

Very comprehensive pics, Dave. This should give everyone a good idea of how large and inclusive the show is. Enjoyed meeting you and really appreciated the lessons on how to spot repro slots (of which there were quite a few). Thanks also for your help in evaluating and helping in the purchase of a slot for my friend. They said it weighed 130 pounds but carrying it from the car and down into the basement it felt more like 400! Like you, I made no purchases of my own but the comraderie of hanging out and discussing everything more than made up for it. That alone made it the best show I've attended.

[Decent4u]

Hmmm nice collection............

[Mike Gumula]

Hi Dave, was looking at this post after seeing the reference to pictures being on it., and someone was apparently able toopen and look at them. I cannot open them, what do I need to do to be able to do that ?
Mike Gumula

[WS65711]

I can't open them either.. I think Decent4u's post was made in sarcasm . . .

[nvmos2]

I can't open them either;
are we all aware that the photos were posted over 6 years ago?
For some reason Decent4u decided to resurrect an old thread;
I have a feeling the photos were lost in various modifications/upgrades to the site over the years.

[Dave]

These photos were posted 6+ years ago.

I will check to see if they got moved or something.

Dave