Saturday the 21st of September saw The Queensland Historical Bottle & Collectables Cub host the Queensland State Show at the Morayfield Leisure Centre. This was the third year at this venue. The club was very fortunate to receive good local newspaper coverage, both before and after the show. Unfortunately, the numbers through the doors were still down on the previous year which means a change of venue is most likely for next year's show. Apparently, it is not unusual for the numbers to drop off after three years in the one place. I only hope that next year's venue isn't too far away as I have really enjoyed having the show so close to home.
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| Photo of me taken by "The Caboolture News" photographer to promote the show in our local newspaper. |
For me personally, this year's show was as good as, if not better than, last years. Three of my four displays won first places and my swap and sell table did well. Last year almost half of my profits came from two baby feeders whose sale had been prearranged before the show, so I actually sold a lot more this year. I only bought three small items and would have come home with a healthy profit except for a last minute purchase by my wife, Karen. In her defence, Karen did buy a really nice item, an art deco travel clock with its original case. Overall, we just about broke even, managed to move some old stock and also picked up a few more nice pieces for our own collections.
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| Rob (my son) and Karen looking after my swap and sell table |
The following photos are of the four competitive displays I entered in the show. I seriously thought of only entering two or three displays due to the tight time frame to pack up at the end of the show. So glad I entered four as display numbers were down a little on previous years.
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| My Baby Feeder Display (1st Place in it's category). It is almost expected that I enter this category as I seem to have become known as one of those strange baby feeder collectors. I decided to put on as many feeders as I could as there was no limit to the number of bottles displayed this year. |
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| I decided to enter the General Australiana category for the first time this year and was rewarded with another 1st Place. The Australian flag and a collection of gumnuts were used to compliment the display. |
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| My Movie Memorabilia Display (1st Place). I have shown this display before (four years ago) at the first show that I ever exhibited at. I did, however change most of the foreground items this time. |
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My Depression Era Tool Box Display (2nd Place in the Single Collectable with a Written History category).
This tool box will be featured in more depth in a future post. |
The following photos are of some of the other displays that interested me. You may have been able to sense a preference towards collectables rather than bottles in most of my posts. I believe this is because of my love of social history and of the everyday items that people used in their everyday lives. I have, however, included a number of bottle displays below as well.
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| Dairy Collectables display. Love the stool and the Australia rolling pin. Also love the cream separator as well. |
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| Colourful display of Glass Fly Traps. I could easily find room for some of these in my collection. And just look at the huge one on the bottom. |
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| Fantastic display of tinplate Money Boxes. Many unusual and colourful designs. |
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| Some bottles! Display of Lamonts. I particularly liked the way these were displayed in their cute little timber and tin display stand. Very Australian. |
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| Hard to beat a good display of inks. Here are two displays, side by side. The first of Inkwells and the second of Ink Bottles. Very nicely presented displays. |
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| More bottles! Displays of Coloured Glass Bottles always look stunning. |
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| Possibly one of my favourite items on display at the show. The large size "Mecca" Foot Warmer. I have the medium size in my collection of foot warmers but not with the great graphics that this one has. I had to admit to the owner that I was rather jealous of this fine foot warmer. |
And finally my three purchases of the day.
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| Another buggy spanner for my collection and a very nice twist handle Acme wrench. I bought these two tools from Phillip Hill who had the swap and sell table next to mine. I really enjoyed getting to know him and chatting with him throughout the day. |
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| A diamond frog convict brick for my brick collection. This brick was bought at the end of the day which enabled me to negotiate a reasonable price. |
I have often found that I don't spend much at a show if I am exhibiting and selling items myself. Not sure if it's a psychological thing of not wanting to eat into any profits or if I am just too busy. Either way it's probably a good thing. Let's see what happens at next year's show. And where it will be held for that matter.
