More on 1969 and the dawn of card conventions

[barrysloate]

It's almost comical that the conventions were held at people's homes.

[Leon]

So you are saying the next one isn't at your place?

Originally Posted by barrysloate

It's almost comical that the conventions were held at people's homes.

[barrysloate]

I have room for four tables, and no more than six customers at a time. Refreshments will be in the fridge...help yourself!

[trdcrdkid]

By the way, my avatar is a picture of Irv Lerner, Ray Hess, Ray Medeiros, and Lionel Carter, taken at the second (1970) West Coast convention at Jim Nowell's house. Last year I sent it to Ray Medeiros, who said he had never seen the picture before but that everybody was taking a lot of pictures that day. I posted about that 1970 convention here:

http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=221637

[Griffins]

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim. At that point there was probably 75 tables and several hundred people, so it had definitely outgrown Jim's house considerably.

[stlcardsfan]

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

Doesn't sound familar to me. The main ones back then for complete sets were Larry Fritsch and Stan Martucci. A year or so later Renata Galasso started aggressively marketing, and was a bit cheaper. Merv Willams was a local LA dealer that occasionally had complete sets, but didn't do nearly the volume of the ones mentioned above.

[SteveMitchell]

Originally Posted by stlcardsfan

When I first started buying complete sets (1975) I used to deal with a guy named Walter Abe from Foster City, CA. Seemed like a great guy. Guessing he may have been at some of these. His name ring a bell with anyone?

Walter was one of the first out-of-state dealers to set up at the Washington State Sports Collectors Association convention. I'm guessing the year would have been sometime around 1975 or '76 - possibly later but definitely pre-1980. He did bring a number of smaller complete card sets. Unfortunately, I do not recall anything about him after about 1980 as we left the Pacific Northwest for 6 years before returning in late 1986.

[talkinbaseball]

If you want to meet one of those fella's in that article(Bob Thing) take a ride up to the Shriner's show in the Fall, he is one of the nicest gentlemen you'll ever want to meet.Talk about history, you'll learn a lot from him.

John

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Griffins

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim. At that point there was probably 75 tables and several hundred people, so it had definitely outgrown Jim's house considerably.

The first three West Coast conventions (1969, 1970, 1971) were in Nowell's house, so you weren't that far removed from those days. The early to mid 1970s were a time of exponential growth in shows.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Griffins

The first one I attended was the '74 convention in Anaheim.

Then again, my first show was this one: