York Toy, Doll, Holiday & Antique Advertising Show Feb. 18 Top dealers in antique and vintage toys, dolls, holiday items and antique advertising set up at the York, Pa. Fairgrounds, Saturday Feb. 18, 9AM-3PM. There's no other show like this one!
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - Ninth edition of Morphy’s York Antique Toy, Doll,
Holiday & Advertising Show slated for Feb. 18
YORK, Pa. - On Saturday, Feb. 18, Dan Morphy will host the ninth edition of his Antique Toy, Doll, Holiday & Advertising Show at the Toyota Center, York Fairgrounds, in York, Pa.
The semiannual show has developed into a powerhouse event of 350 tables, with approximately 175 topnotch dealers from North America and Europe participating. “It’s already looking like it will be a banner show,” Morphy said. “We have a nice selection of new dealers coming in this time, as well.”
Moving from the previous Memorial Hall location at the fairgrounds to the all-new Toyota Center only a few hundred yards away has been a positive step for the show, Morphy said. The cavernous hall is a state of the art facility with extra-wide aisles, exceptional overhead lighting, food service and ample close-in parking. “Also, the staff is excellent. They go out of their way to look after the dealers.”
Many exhibitors have commented that they like setting up at Morphy’s show because it’s not a long, drawn-out affair – it’s a fast-paced, one-day event with a seven-hour early buying session the day before. Early buyers initially enter the building at the same time as the dealers, at noon on the Friday preceding the show. The number of earlybirds who pay $50 to enter at that time and get first pickings has grown with each successive show.
“Early buyers who come to my show are the serious collectors,” said Morphy. “I’ve never seen a single one of them walk out empty handed. They’re for real.”
The mix at the show is around 35 percent antique and vintage toys, 35 percent antique advertising, 15 percent dolls and 15 percent holiday. Many of the dealers offer a cross-selection from all four categories. “There’s a natural crossover among the collectors and dealers who sell these pieces, anyway,” said Morphy, “but it also makes good sense to diversify. In today’s market, you have to be more general in what you sell. Besides, a lot of people collect in multiple categories, so you’d might as well cater to them.”
Morphy noted that more holiday items are seen at the February edition of his show because of the increased overseas dealer participation. “The Europeans tend to bring more holiday items, since there seems to be more access to the antique holiday material on that side of the Atlantic.”
The show also provides an ideal setting in which Morphy and Tom Sage, Jr. – co-founders of Morphy Auctions, now owned by Diamond International Galleries, which also owns the York Toy Show – can meet one on one with potential consignors, whether they have an interest in selling a single better-quality item or an entire collection. Morphy Auctions’ well-attended events held at Adamstown Antique Gallery are known for the consistently superior merchandise offered, ranging from topnotch toys, banks and antique advertising to premium-quality Americana in all its forms.
It is anticipated that
